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Personally, I didn't find this disproportionately disrespectful. The driver makes a couple unsubstantiated claims (perfectly ok--it's a car discussion). Travis

Personally, I didn't find this disproportionately disrespectful. The driver makes a couple unsubstantiated claims (perfectly ok--it's a car discussion). Travis does the same. The driver starts making accusations ("you keep changing every day"). Travis asks for clarification. The driver keeps up his attack ("You changed the whole business! You dropped the prices.") If someone accused me in such a fashion, and persisted despite me asking for clarification and trying to actually explain my view to them, I'd probably be a lot more vitriolic than Travis was. (It's a character flaw of mine.) And saying that some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit is, well, true? I don't like that billionaires are held to a different standard. People say, "they don't need protection; they're rich." Ok, but if you discount something a billionaire says for no reason other than that they're rich and have easy lives, you're not a dispassionate truthseeker.

gingerbread-man 10y ago
The Fowler post is grounds for questioning Kalanick's leadership; this just shows that he's not in PR mode 24/7. Being kind-of-a-dick is tolerable, as long as you're good at your job. The bigger leadership issue is that he can't seem to maintain happy drivers (or employees.)
- jhayward 10y ago
  > Being kind-of-a-dick is tolerable, as long as you're good at your job It's hard to believe someone would say this today. It seems you missed the whole point of the "but he's a high performer" excuse that Uber has (allegedly) been making when not addressing harassment and worse.
  - mi100hael 10y ago
    I think there's a difference in being "kind of a dick" and criminal discrimination and harassment.
btian 10y ago
From the Bloomberg article - > In 2012, Uber Black cost riders $4.90 per mile or $1.25 per minute in San Francisco, according to an old version of Uber's website. Today, Uber charges $3.75 per mile and $0.65 per minute. The least a CEO could have said is to thank the driver for his feedback and promise to look into it. Just because you're disrespectful doesn't mean the CEO of a consumer facing company can treat its partners like that.
- dongslol 10y ago
  I spent the last half hour thinking about this on and off, trying to shift my perspective. I feel sort of guilty. Advocating for objectivity and dispassionate truthseeking is the second easiest way to curry favor on HN, and it feels cheap. (The easiest is still outrage, never to be topped anywhere :)) If anything, I find it sort of funny that Travis got mad. He handled it pretty well at first; they were just having an honest disagreement. Then it was like he just decided, "fuck it, I've had a bad day, and I don't need to take this guy's shit." He might meditate on the fact that this guy spends his evenings being the reason that Uber's business model works.
  - randycupertino 10y ago
    The whole thing reminds me of when Tommy Carcetti becoming mayor scene from the Wire. The old outgoing mayor is giving him some advice and he basically explains that when you're mayor you have to smile and eat shit from everybody- the unions, the lobbyists, the press, the teachers, the churches... and smile and act gracious while you're doing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjzqO6UOPFQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjzqO6UOPFQ Travis should have just smiled and eaten this guys shit, because that's just part of being CEO. "Thank you for your feedback, we'll look into it. Keep up the good work and thanks for the ride!"
    - Hydraulix989 10y ago
      Even then, at some point, you're off stage so to speak when it comes to managing that "impression" for others. You can't always be fake all the time, it gets draining.
mojowo11 10y ago
It's not because he's a billionaire, it's because he's the CEO of Uber talking to an Uber driver about Uber. Even if the guy isn't making particularly solid points or is being accusatory, it shouldn't be that hard to hold it together, be conciliatory, and avoid saying something nasty. This should be child's play for a CEO discussing/defending their company. (That said, on the whole, I agree that it's being blown pretty out of proportion.)
HugoDaniel 10y ago
He did clarify: Fawzi: We started with $20.
phonon 10y ago
It's called noblesse oblige.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
panglott 10y ago
Obviously the general statement "some people don't take responsibility" is in this context not a neutral general observation, but rather a personal implication of the driver.
crestedtazo 10y ago
I believe that being rich is more important than being a dispassionate truthseeker.
ifwewereallTK 10y ago
> And saying that some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit is, well, true? I find this argument laughable in the contexts it is usually brought up. Travis has had a much more gifted existence than many. His upbringing is publically available. Educated family and access lots of others, including a number of people Travis relies on to drive for Uber, did not have these things. All of them supplied by a culture around him. A culture that protects the haves and shits on the have nots. Our economy demands for a very specific reason: if we strove for equality, the powers that be would not be the powers that be. To ever say these people are some mythical "self-made" person is utter nonsense. It sounds good in a vacuum, but reality is not a vacuum. If Uber drivers took responsibility for their own shit, there wouldn't be Uber drivers. That TK can claim to be successful on his own given this is just more evidence he truly does need to grow up.

gingerbread-man 10y ago

The Fowler post is grounds for questioning Kalanick's leadership; this just shows that he's not in PR mode 24/7. Being kind-of-a-dick is tolerable, as long as you're good at your job. The bigger leadership issue is that he can't seem to maintain happy drivers (or employees.)

jhayward 10y ago
> Being kind-of-a-dick is tolerable, as long as you're good at your job It's hard to believe someone would say this today. It seems you missed the whole point of the "but he's a high performer" excuse that Uber has (allegedly) been making when not addressing harassment and worse.
- mi100hael 10y ago
  I think there's a difference in being "kind of a dick" and criminal discrimination and harassment.

btian 10y ago

From the Bloomberg article - > In 2012, Uber Black cost riders $4.90 per mile or $1.25 per minute in San Francisco, according to an old version of Uber's website. Today, Uber charges $3.75 per mile and $0.65 per minute. The least a CEO could have said is to thank the driver for his feedback and promise to look into it. Just because you're disrespectful doesn't mean the CEO of a consumer facing company can treat its partners like that.

dongslol 10y ago
I spent the last half hour thinking about this on and off, trying to shift my perspective. I feel sort of guilty. Advocating for objectivity and dispassionate truthseeking is the second easiest way to curry favor on HN, and it feels cheap. (The easiest is still outrage, never to be topped anywhere :)) If anything, I find it sort of funny that Travis got mad. He handled it pretty well at first; they were just having an honest disagreement. Then it was like he just decided, "fuck it, I've had a bad day, and I don't need to take this guy's shit." He might meditate on the fact that this guy spends his evenings being the reason that Uber's business model works.
- randycupertino 10y ago
  The whole thing reminds me of when Tommy Carcetti becoming mayor scene from the Wire. The old outgoing mayor is giving him some advice and he basically explains that when you're mayor you have to smile and eat shit from everybody- the unions, the lobbyists, the press, the teachers, the churches... and smile and act gracious while you're doing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjzqO6UOPFQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjzqO6UOPFQ Travis should have just smiled and eaten this guys shit, because that's just part of being CEO. "Thank you for your feedback, we'll look into it. Keep up the good work and thanks for the ride!"
  - Hydraulix989 10y ago
    Even then, at some point, you're off stage so to speak when it comes to managing that "impression" for others. You can't always be fake all the time, it gets draining.

mojowo11 10y ago

It's not because he's a billionaire, it's because he's the CEO of Uber talking to an Uber driver about Uber. Even if the guy isn't making particularly solid points or is being accusatory, it shouldn't be that hard to hold it together, be conciliatory, and avoid saying something nasty. This should be child's play for a CEO discussing/defending their company. (That said, on the whole, I agree that it's being blown pretty out of proportion.)

HugoDaniel 10y ago

He did clarify: Fawzi: We started with $20.

phonon 10y ago

It's called noblesse oblige.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

panglott 10y ago

Obviously the general statement "some people don't take responsibility" is in this context not a neutral general observation, but rather a personal implication of the driver.

crestedtazo 10y ago

I believe that being rich is more important than being a dispassionate truthseeker.

ifwewereallTK 10y ago

> And saying that some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit is, well, true? I find this argument laughable in the contexts it is usually brought up. Travis has had a much more gifted existence than many. His upbringing is publically available. Educated family and access lots of others, including a number of people Travis relies on to drive for Uber, did not have these things. All of them supplied by a culture around him. A culture that protects the haves and shits on the have nots. Our economy demands for a very specific reason: if we strove for equality, the powers that be would not be the powers that be. To ever say these people are some mythical "self-made" person is utter nonsense. It sounds good in a vacuum, but reality is not a vacuum. If Uber drivers took responsibility for their own shit, there wouldn't be Uber drivers. That TK can claim to be successful on his own given this is just more evidence he truly does need to grow up.