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A profound apology

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Re: A profound apology

#181
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of Trump, Jon Stewart pointed out something interesting recently - it's clear he's always lying, because no-one says 'believe me' when they're not lying. And Trump says it all the time. "I didn't take the last cookie... believe me"

it's clear he's always lying, because no-one says 'believe me' when they're not lying. Is that an general thing in English-speaking countries or just American? Where I grew up I think it would be perfectly fine to say this even when I have been speaking the truth all the way. (Don't want to defend Trump. I don't like him. Just curious about the idiom or whatever this is.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A37&...

"Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil."

Re: A profound apology

#182
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Name some.

How about Bill Gates? Nobody could have seen him being the most prolific philanthropist of all time back when he was leading Microsoft in the 90's.

I don't know if those are orthogonal though (ruthless business leader and philanthropist). Andrew Carnegie is another great example.

Re: A profound apology

#183
post #167
post #124

Here's the conversation that took place: Travis: So we are reducing the number of black cars in the next few months. Fawzi: It’s good. Travis: You probably saw some email. Fawzi: I saw the email [that says] it starts in May. But you’re raising the standards and dropping the prices. Travis: We’re not dropping the prices on Black. Fawzi: But in general. Travis: In general, but we have competitors. Otherwise we’d be out…

I completely agree with Travis and I don't think he did anything wrong. I think it was a bad move on his part to apologize for the video.

It's a good tactic -- blow off all the worse things you do, then apologize for the one time you weren't at fault, people notice and give you sympathy, and start to forget those worse things.

Re: A profound apology

#184
post #183
post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree with Travis and I don't think he did anything wrong. I think it was a bad move on his part to apologize for the video.

It's a good tactic -- blow off all the worse things you do, then apologize for the one time you weren't at fault, people notice and give you sympathy, and start to forget those worse things.

That's interesting; I hadn't thought of that.

Re: A profound apology

#186
post #153
post #124

Here's the conversation that took place: Travis: So we are reducing the number of black cars in the next few months. Fawzi: It’s good. Travis: You probably saw some email. Fawzi: I saw the email [that says] it starts in May. But you’re raising the standards and dropping the prices. Travis: We’re not dropping the prices on Black. Fawzi: But in general. Travis: In general, but we have competitors. Otherwise we’d be out…

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 persiste…

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.)

Re: A profound apology

#187

The driver covertly filmed a passenger during a ride he was being paid for and disclosed the footage to a news organisation. This is extremely unethical IMO. Even if this is the CEO of Uber, it is entirely inappropriate, and he IMO is still entitled to an expectation of privacy equally as you or I would when we are paying for the exclusive private hire of a vehicle.

Every taxicab I have been in for the last few years has had internal video cameras. Where are you getting the idea that someone has a reasonable expectation of privacy in someone else's vehicle, for hire or not? In general in America, this expectation extends no further than one's home.

Why would the inside of a vehicle not be private?

https://www.quora.com/Are-Uber-drivers-allowed-to-have-a-cam...

> A California appellate court has ruled that the Penal Code statute applies to the use of hidden video cameras to record conversations.

You think Uber would still be in business if drivers made a habit of publicly posting videos of passengers?

Re: A profound apology

#188

Sorry Travis; once an asshole, always an asshole; all the leadership training in the world isn't going to change that. You're 40 years old, how long would you have us waiting? Even brother J. was on your tail in noting that bad trees don't give good fruit. Claiming 'profound' for PR-bullshit like this when you're in that kind of mess is just another nail in the coffin.

In my experience the most effective agent for change is gratitude. Learning to be really thankful for the things that you value in your life, leads to giving them respect and leadership in your actions. I know that sounds waaaaay over the top but in my experience it has been the only way to get past emotional blocks and to change effectively.

Re: A profound apology

#189

I'm a bit unclear what is so negative about this. While there is an argument that a leader should be able to handle criticism without losing his/her temper, he appears to respond to the driver as an equal with whom he profoundly disagrees. He didn't write the man off or act as though he wasn't worth his time, he simply responded in a frustrated manner to an interaction that he clearly was not in the mood for. Does be…

>Kalanick: You know what? >Kamel: What? >Kalanick: Some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit. They blame everything in their life on somebody else. I think that is a very insulting and superior thing to say to someone.

Out of curiousity, what do you think could have caused the driver to go bankrupt? It sounds like he bought an expensive, UberBlack-eligible car, intending to pay for it with his fares, but the fares were reduced and now he can't make the payments. How common is that scenario amongst Uber drivers?

If Uber drivers are, in fact, independent contractors, then they have some responsibility to determine whether the business they're engaged in is a profitable one, and to judge the risk involved. It seems like it would be very easy to underestimate both the costs and the risk.

Re: A profound apology

#190
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, the issue is all of what he's done (or not done) leading up to this. The time for a fireside chat has long since passed, and it's only happening now because it's literally the least that can be done .

Agreed. I am simply referring to this video in isolation as the catalyst for an apology.

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