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Another recent anecdote. A friend was recently in Milwaukee (first time ever. He was there for a conference). He, his wife, and another friend, wanted to go o

Another recent anecdote. A friend was recently in Milwaukee (first time ever. He was there for a conference). He, his wife, and another friend, wanted to go out to eat. They were given a wrong address. Could have been the source, or it could have been they screwed up writing it down. It was definitely a wrong address, though, that they gave to Uber. The driver picked them up, and took them to the address, which was deep in Da Hood. Not a good area for three middle-class white folks to be wandering around. The driver insisted they get out, even though it was clearly a wrong address, and a downright dangerous neighborhood (my friend has some experience with rough neighborhoods. If he said it was bad, it was bad). My friend offered to pay whatever it took, to get to the correct address (they had figured out their mistake, by then), but the driver refused to do that. It was probably algorithmically prohibited. My friend had never used Uber before (and never will, again), so wasn’t aware that you are supposed to be able to appeal to Uber. I have a feeling that my friend offered to rearrange the driver’s dental work (Did I mention that he was familiar with tough neighborhoods?), and got the driver to drop them off in a better area, where they caught a cab. Sounds like a bad customer experience. I doubt Uber ever heard the story. My friend never bothered contacting them, and I will bet that the driver didn’t.

School-Cotton 1y ago
Huh? Your friend paid uber to take them to an address, and they did.
- ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
  Actually, it sounds like my friend was robbed. Classic gypsy cab robbery.
  - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 1y ago
    The confusion around getting the address wrong is an interesting tell. If you think you’re not likely to make that mistake, anyway. It’s also a bit late to realize at that point since you’re already in the bad area. But it reminds me of tech support scams which usually have an element of convincing the victim that they made a mistake.
    - bena 1y ago
      Yeah, but the route is on your phone as well. The driver cannot deviate from that course without you knowing.
      - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
        Unless they cancel the ride, and you ignore the notification. I was talking to someone recently, and they were telling me about how they got a (Lyft, I think) ride from the airport (JFK), and the driver picked them up, and said that the ride had been canceled (as they got into the car), but that for $20, he'd take them where they were going (I assume the ride was less than $20). Apparently, this is fairly common. There's been a couple of articles about how the Uber and Lyft drivers around JFK and LaGuardia have learned to game the system. They can also conspire to drive up the pricing.
whimsicalism 1y ago
The only difference with the Waymo experience would be that there would be nobody your friend could threaten to assault for putting in the wrong address.
- anon84873628 1y ago
  The Waymo also can't force you to get out. Probably you can just give it a new address.
  - whimsicalism 1y ago
    Have you ever used a Waymo?
    - fc417fc802 1y ago
      Is that relevant? It's a driverless car. Simply don't get out. Maybe it drives you back to dispatch or to the police station. Maybe the police show up to the current location. Regardless its got to be safer than wandering around a neighborhood you definitely don't belong in.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 1y ago
  Heh, from the sounds of things it’s more likely the Waymo would have simply driven to their actual destination. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44281694 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44281694
  - whimsicalism 1y ago
    these tales are generally the apocryphal dreams of suburbanites. the uber driver would have pulled a gun on you? i’m sorry but i grew up in urban America, nobody is mugging people under an account tied to their name/DL
    - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
      I grew up in substantially more dangerous environs than urban America. It's entirely possible to live quite safely, in urban US areas, but the opposite is also true, and those folks are the ones that like people that live in the bubbles.
raptorfactor 1y ago
If your friend thinks it's okay to threaten to assault a driver, especially for an issue that wasn't the driver's fault, then it sounds like "da hood" is where he belongs...
- ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
  Not sure if he did. He probably didn’t have to. He’s a big guy, but also one of the most decent people I know (but let’s not assume anything). He never said he did. It was my assumption (ASS out of U and ME). It’s also possible he bribed the driver enough. He could certainly afford it. I didn’t actually ask him. I do know that he (and the two women with him) were pretty terrified of being left in the middle of that area, and scared people can get pretty pithy. This guy used to run night clubs in Miami. It would probably have been a lot less of an issue, if he had been alone. What he was amazed at, was the driver’s insistence that they get out, without any recourse or care. A Waymo could do the same, I guess, but they could also sit in it until the company contacted them, or the cops showed up. A New York cabbie would probably threaten him right back, but would also have known they were headed for a bad patch, and maybe have asked if they had the right address. This was their first time ever, in Milwaukee, and I suspect Milwaukee cabbies are of a similar stripe to New York cabbies. I know quite a few former cabbies. Funny how the least verifiable thing in the story is the one everyone hooked on. I guess I could ask him. It happened last week. Not sure if I’d want to spoil everyone’s good time calling him a criminal, if it turns out he was just able to shame the driver into accepting a couple of Jacksons to get out of there. If he did, I suspect Uber would sanction the driver, for accepting a fare, outside their system.
  - School-Cotton 1y ago
    So basically, you’re admitting key elements of your original story were made up? > A Waymo could do the same, I guess, but they could also sit in it until the company contacted them, or the cops showed up. How’s this different from an uber? If this guy is as big and strong as you say, the uber driver has no more ability to force him out than a Waymo does.
    - 1y ago
ghushn3 1y ago
If I was that driver, you bet I'd be contacting Uber to try and get your friend banned for life. Threatening a driver is never ok, even less so when it's not his fault.
- raverbashing 1y ago
  Then maybe don't threaten to leave a family in a dangerous area while they're offering to pay it
  - seivan 1y ago
    This is the address they gave to the driver,full stop. After the job’s done, you can’t just tack on extra requests like it’s a buffet. He delivered exactly what you asked, not a mind reading bonus round. It’s not his fault you gave the wrong address, he’s not clairvoyant.
  - roenxi 1y ago
    I don't think that'd hold up against a legal review. It seems like an unreasonable position that some neighbourhood is so terrible that standing there for 20 minutes is an imminent threat. It might even be true, but that isn't a baseline a judge should really accept. The residents who live there obviously get through the day. It may well have been very dangerous, but realistically it is hard to make dropping someone off in a residential area a crime. Threatening a driver with physical violence is definitely a crime though.
  - FireBeyond 1y ago
    The driver is under precisely zero obligation to provide you a service. He provided the service asked for, too.
- kulahan 1y ago
  Threatening someone for being a complete asshole is always okay, and even cool. I really do not care how uncomfortable it makes the driver to move a family a few extra blocks to somewhere vaguely safe. I’d similarly threaten him if he tried to drop my family off in a forest, or on the side of a highway, even if that’s what the GPS, God’s Position System, tells them to do. If your job ends in a way that someone who was your customer is now in danger, you absolutely deserve to be threatened.

School-Cotton 1y ago

Huh? Your friend paid uber to take them to an address, and they did.

ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
Actually, it sounds like my friend was robbed. Classic gypsy cab robbery.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 1y ago
  The confusion around getting the address wrong is an interesting tell. If you think you’re not likely to make that mistake, anyway. It’s also a bit late to realize at that point since you’re already in the bad area. But it reminds me of tech support scams which usually have an element of convincing the victim that they made a mistake.
  - bena 1y ago
    Yeah, but the route is on your phone as well. The driver cannot deviate from that course without you knowing.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
      Unless they cancel the ride, and you ignore the notification. I was talking to someone recently, and they were telling me about how they got a (Lyft, I think) ride from the airport (JFK), and the driver picked them up, and said that the ride had been canceled (as they got into the car), but that for $20, he'd take them where they were going (I assume the ride was less than $20). Apparently, this is fairly common. There's been a couple of articles about how the Uber and Lyft drivers around JFK and LaGuardia have learned to game the system. They can also conspire to drive up the pricing.

whimsicalism 1y ago

The only difference with the Waymo experience would be that there would be nobody your friend could threaten to assault for putting in the wrong address.

anon84873628 1y ago
The Waymo also can't force you to get out. Probably you can just give it a new address.
- whimsicalism 1y ago
  Have you ever used a Waymo?
  - fc417fc802 1y ago
    Is that relevant? It's a driverless car. Simply don't get out. Maybe it drives you back to dispatch or to the police station. Maybe the police show up to the current location. Regardless its got to be safer than wandering around a neighborhood you definitely don't belong in.
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 1y ago
Heh, from the sounds of things it’s more likely the Waymo would have simply driven to their actual destination. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44281694 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44281694
- whimsicalism 1y ago
  these tales are generally the apocryphal dreams of suburbanites. the uber driver would have pulled a gun on you? i’m sorry but i grew up in urban America, nobody is mugging people under an account tied to their name/DL
  - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
    I grew up in substantially more dangerous environs than urban America. It's entirely possible to live quite safely, in urban US areas, but the opposite is also true, and those folks are the ones that like people that live in the bubbles.

raptorfactor 1y ago

If your friend thinks it's okay to threaten to assault a driver, especially for an issue that wasn't the driver's fault, then it sounds like "da hood" is where he belongs...

ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
Not sure if he did. He probably didn’t have to. He’s a big guy, but also one of the most decent people I know (but let’s not assume anything). He never said he did. It was my assumption (ASS out of U and ME). It’s also possible he bribed the driver enough. He could certainly afford it. I didn’t actually ask him. I do know that he (and the two women with him) were pretty terrified of being left in the middle of that area, and scared people can get pretty pithy. This guy used to run night clubs in Miami. It would probably have been a lot less of an issue, if he had been alone. What he was amazed at, was the driver’s insistence that they get out, without any recourse or care. A Waymo could do the same, I guess, but they could also sit in it until the company contacted them, or the cops showed up. A New York cabbie would probably threaten him right back, but would also have known they were headed for a bad patch, and maybe have asked if they had the right address. This was their first time ever, in Milwaukee, and I suspect Milwaukee cabbies are of a similar stripe to New York cabbies. I know quite a few former cabbies. Funny how the least verifiable thing in the story is the one everyone hooked on. I guess I could ask him. It happened last week. Not sure if I’d want to spoil everyone’s good time calling him a criminal, if it turns out he was just able to shame the driver into accepting a couple of Jacksons to get out of there. If he did, I suspect Uber would sanction the driver, for accepting a fare, outside their system.
- School-Cotton 1y ago
  So basically, you’re admitting key elements of your original story were made up? > A Waymo could do the same, I guess, but they could also sit in it until the company contacted them, or the cops showed up. How’s this different from an uber? If this guy is as big and strong as you say, the uber driver has no more ability to force him out than a Waymo does.
  - 1y ago

ghushn3 1y ago

If I was that driver, you bet I'd be contacting Uber to try and get your friend banned for life. Threatening a driver is never ok, even less so when it's not his fault.

raverbashing 1y ago
Then maybe don't threaten to leave a family in a dangerous area while they're offering to pay it
- seivan 1y ago
  This is the address they gave to the driver,full stop. After the job’s done, you can’t just tack on extra requests like it’s a buffet. He delivered exactly what you asked, not a mind reading bonus round. It’s not his fault you gave the wrong address, he’s not clairvoyant.
- roenxi 1y ago
  I don't think that'd hold up against a legal review. It seems like an unreasonable position that some neighbourhood is so terrible that standing there for 20 minutes is an imminent threat. It might even be true, but that isn't a baseline a judge should really accept. The residents who live there obviously get through the day. It may well have been very dangerous, but realistically it is hard to make dropping someone off in a residential area a crime. Threatening a driver with physical violence is definitely a crime though.
- FireBeyond 1y ago
  The driver is under precisely zero obligation to provide you a service. He provided the service asked for, too.
kulahan 1y ago
Threatening someone for being a complete asshole is always okay, and even cool. I really do not care how uncomfortable it makes the driver to move a family a few extra blocks to somewhere vaguely safe. I’d similarly threaten him if he tried to drop my family off in a forest, or on the side of a highway, even if that’s what the GPS, God’s Position System, tells them to do. If your job ends in a way that someone who was your customer is now in danger, you absolutely deserve to be threatened.