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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

#31

Post by erdojo »

I believe the driver was itching for a confrontation (he stopped Kalanick as he was getting out of the car to start the conversation).

It was only after being berated for a minute or two and interrupted that Kalanick's composure started to crack. Before then, I don't think anything Kalanick could have said would have mollified this driver. He had an axe and he was going to grind it. Kalanick could have handled it better, but he didn't totally melt down either.

And I think the guy is pretty terrible in general.

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

#32

Post by jimrandomh »

RandomInteger4 wrote: post #23
envy2 wrote: post #5

Unfortunately, that driver is about to find out what "two party consent" for recordings means.

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.

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

#33

Post by inverse_pi »

jbob2000 wrote: post #11

But was the driver right? Did uber black fares drop?

I think what the driver is arguing is that Uber changed its business model from black car only to including UberX and UberPool which drove the price of a trip down and less people using black car. I think this is perfectly reasonable, it's just maybe the way Travis responded was not very nice.

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

#34

Post by save_ferris »

envy2 wrote: post #5

Unfortunately, that driver is about to find out what "two party consent" for recordings means.

Granted, this is all still speculation, but what would such a lawsuit do to the Uber brand? They'd basically be telling all of their drivers in two-party consent states not to not use dashcams because of the liability, which seems tenuous given some of the terrible videos of riders abusing drivers we've seen. Legal liability over safety seems like a hard sacrifice for people who make so little as it is.

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

#36

Post by ProfessorLayton »

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 insurance premiums, for example).

- Not Uber-specific, but technically-not-full-time employment that just barely allows employers to bypass benefits owed to full-time employees needs to be fixed. See Walmart and how they help employees sign up for government benefits as part of their on boarding in some areas.

In the end, somebody is paying for these costs. Why shouldn't it be the companies doing business?

Interesting how it ends with "Some people don't like to take responsibility for their own actions"

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

#37

Post by atomical »

dswiese wrote: post #19
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #16

To me this illustrates one of the biggest problems we have in america which is the crazy firewall between rich and poor. Kamel wanted to have a serious discussion with Kalanick about how his decisions as CEO were affecting Kamel's life and Kalanick gets upset about this. That's your job! At least it should be. If you can't even handle light criticism from the people you employ, you shouldn't be at the top.

This is driven by the argument that drivers are not employees. He has no vested interest in the drivers circumstances.

I showed up to uber to pick up a phone that my girlfriend at the time had left in an uber. They told me to wait in line behind the drivers. "Sir, we are all customers here."

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

#38

Post by harigov »

MegaButts wrote: post #22
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #16

To me this illustrates one of the biggest problems we have in america which is the crazy firewall between rich and poor. Kamel wanted to have a serious discussion with Kalanick about how his decisions as CEO were affecting Kamel's life and Kalanick gets upset about this. That's your job! At least it should be. If you can't even handle light criticism from the people you employ, you shouldn't be at the top.

> If you can't even handle light criticism from the people you employ, you shouldn't be at the top. I ask this in all seriousness: what qualities make for a good leader assuming the ideals of capitalism? I understand many people here will say they would prefer to work for a moral leader who can handle criticism and adapt to make sure his employees are taken care of, but do those leaders perform better at growing comp…

Turning that question around, what sort of a leader do you want to work for? Or folks usually like to work for? This whole idea of growing a company as the only (or most important) thing that matters is something that should die. We want people who we genuinely respect and imitate as our leaders. We want to build products that are genuinely useful and bring about a positive change in the society.

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

#39

Post by camillomiller »

Typical and unfortunate outcome: there is a serious problem with a company's policies. Suddenly everything slightly controversial coming from that company is newsworthy. In doing so, the original well-founded and important criticism is diluted. This is just a more refined form of clickbait.

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

#40

Post by noobermin »

Watching as someone who already doesn't like Kalanick due to recent news, but at first, I didn't really take sides. The driver engaged first, and his tone was a little more tensive than Kalanick's. Moreover, Kalanick's argument seems sensible[0] regarding why he might have had to lower rates.

However, once Kalanick's retort essentially becomes "you're not taking personal responsibility and blaming others (ie., me)" he loses me. It's a fair discussion up till that point and each party's argument is reasonable (even if the tone isn't polite). What does Kalanick know about the driver's situation that he can say that?

When taken along with current news regarding Uber's culture, this doesn't look very good for Uber and Kalanick as a person.

[0] I'm not judging it based on its merits because I am not in the know regarding the numbers of the issue.

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