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In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

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Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You may want to rephrase that, because it sounds an awful lot like you're attributing "stubbornness" to the fact that this guy's an immigrant. I am. This sort of behavior is common among older people from the country my family member -- and I -- emigrated from. > He's not a stranger. He's the boss. That's a bit of an exaggeration. Travis isn't directly overseeing this specific driver's operations (ignoring the whol…

Travis is the CEO that is responsible for the flow of money into the driver's paycheck.

So is Jamie Dimon if I'm a janitor at JPMorgan Chase.

But he isn't my boss.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#62
"You know what? You know what? Some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit. They blame every single thing in their life on somebody else". Less than a minute after having blamed the lowering of prices on his competitor(s). That delicious irony.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#63

How is this video not illegal, especially in California? And sure rates went down, but it's still 3X the price of UberX. It didn't go down precipitously. From $4.90/1.25 to 3.75/0.65 won't cause someone to lose $97k and probably he got more activity overall. I agree with the CEO that this guy sounds like he's blaming Uber for his problems, when there are plenty of UberBlack drivers making hand over fist otherwise the…

> How is this video not illegal, especially in California?

You agree to surveillance when you enter the car. Just like a taxi, a bus, a train or a trolley.

You actually don't have an "expectation of privacy" in these spaces either. So a drone cam or telephoto lens is okay too. That's where state law is interesting.

California is actually surprisingly permissive for photographers and videographers.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#64

I hope that at the end of all this, we as a society realize that we need to actually enforce, as well as update the rules we set regarding employment. We're effectively subsidizing companies that find loopholes, or simply ignore laws. - Contractor-not-a-contractor employment merely pushes costs and risks on to the worker. We all end up paying for the worker's social safety net, and costs of doing business (Such as in…

> Why shouldn't it be the companies doing business?

Why should it be the companies doing business? Just because someone happens to work for Walmart/Uber/whoever, I don't see why it means that employer suddenly becomes responsible for meeting any particular set of needs that person might have.

If we, as a society, decide that there should be minimum standard of living for citizens than we should fund that from taxes paid by all.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm ... fare-ly ... certain certain this law does not apply to recordings for security purposes in a place of business; the vehicle being the place of business of the Uber driver. EDIT: Er, scratch that. Didn't realize there was audio attached. I think audio might be the incriminating factor in the two party consent thing. I mostly just wanted to make a bad pun.

There are separate laws for video and for audio. Recording video is allowed in most places; audio recording is much more restricted, and as far as I know making this recording was not legal if it was in California. However, litigating it would cause so much more PR damage that it will almost certainly won't be.

You agree to surveillance when you use these cars.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#66

1. Uber should really put up a policy against drivers using cockpit cameras to record passengers. Most of them do it without any consent. I usually give them 1 star if someone uses cockpit camera. 2. I have been a big Supporter of Travis Kalanick since last 2-3 years, just for the fact that he's willing to take harsh steps to win. This ultimately helps Uber. Uber's Drivers are not its employees, it doesn't want them…

I have been a big Supporter of Travis Kalanick since last 2-3 years, just for the fact that he's willing to take harsh steps to win.

Sir/Madam, I don't really want to be offensive.

And I know that this is a stupid comparison, but I cannot help myself and I need to ask:

Would you apply the same logic to Hitler? He took really harsh steps to win. And it would've ultimately helped Germany. Other people were not German citizens after all (like drivers are not Uber's employees so who the hell cares). Right?

I mean, I understand Travis. He has a billion dollar business now. I totally get that he might decide to say you know what, fuck the drivers, I'm doing this. There are huge interests for him to make this decision. Maybe (probably) you and I would've done the same.

But I don't understand why would you be a big supported of him? Why would you cheer for someone who is mal intended to win? You have 0 stakes in his winning.

Again, I didn't mean to offend. I genuinely want to understand why would someone with 0 stakes support an ill intended person.

Edit: I'm not necessarily saying Travis is ill intended. But the parent says he supports him only because he is harsh, therefore not caring about any other point.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#67
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are studies that have shown that CEOs are more likely to be psychopaths than the general population. If you assume being a psychopath also makes you an asshole, and some level of success is required in order to become a CEO, it wouldn't be unreasonable to claim that being an asshole makes you more successful. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/13/1-in-5-ceos-are-p...

That really is an atrocious article; they compared numbers which are loosely correlated at best: > "The study of 261 senior professionals in the United States found that 21 per cent had clinically significant levels of psychopathic traits. The rate of psychopathy in the general population is about one in a hundred." They should have applied the same standard to both groups, but instead used a very loose definition fo…

I can't speak to the methodology of the study in the article, but it appears that the author of The Psychopath Test found that the rate was 4x the general population[1], so I feel like the argument still stands

[1] http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2015/04/why-a-disproport...

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#68

1. Uber should really put up a policy against drivers using cockpit cameras to record passengers. Most of them do it without any consent. I usually give them 1 star if someone uses cockpit camera. 2. I have been a big Supporter of Travis Kalanick since last 2-3 years, just for the fact that he's willing to take harsh steps to win. This ultimately helps Uber. Uber's Drivers are not its employees, it doesn't want them…

You're a cruel person. Cameras help keep drivers safe from abuse and are often mandated by other agencies.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#69
post #24

A bit of a tangential point: last week there was a post here about Facebook "changing the rules" and a significant number of small businesses disappearing as a result. Whether or not Uber's black car reimbursement really did change, it strikes me that drivers probably made business decisions (e.g. car purchases) based on Uber's initial reimbursement and are now seeing the rules change and grossing far fewer profits t…

Do you have a link to that Facebook thread?

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#70

I hope that at the end of all this, we as a society realize that we need to actually enforce, as well as update the rules we set regarding employment. We're effectively subsidizing companies that find loopholes, or simply ignore laws. - Contractor-not-a-contractor employment merely pushes costs and risks on to the worker. We all end up paying for the worker's social safety net, and costs of doing business (Such as in…

We all should pay for the worker's social safety net. That shouldn't be dependant on a worker's employer, or even employment status. In the US, tying health insurance to employers was one of the worst public policy mistakes we ever made.
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