I love everything about the Uber platform. It is the absolute essence of the Great American en·tre·pre·neur·i·al spirit.
Every King in his own castle, no bosses, no deadlines, no interference, save for the guiding hand of the miraculous function of the Uber platform.
Like the Captain of a ship, the driver is as as free as a wholly owned and utterly autonomous entity.
Like our magnificent early American pioneers, an Uber driver charts his own course when, where and how they choose to do so.
To my utter surprise and great sadness, I must report that my idyllic vision of Uber was marred by a disquieting and deeply troubling incident.
It began in the early hours of the morning when I discovered that my driver was parked in the back of my house instead of the front. He insisted that the GPS had directed him there. The delay lead to me almost missing my train to Los Angeles.
We arrived at the station with only 2 minutes before the train was to depart and as I attempted to make a mad dash, I told the driver I would give him a maximum tip and place five stars on his account.
As I began to run, the driver rolled his window down and screamed at me, “Hey you! why did you slam my door”. I apologized saying It was an accident but he jumped out of the car and in the blink of an eye was in my face. He offered a pugilistic stance and was ready to throw down right there and then.
In a much younger day, I would have engaged in my defense and he would have been met with an instant dose of retribution to his affront. However, I am knocking on the eighty year old door of life, So, reason prevailed and I simply walked away shaking my head in disbelief.
The belligerent fellow persisted yelling and wildly gesticulating then ending with ” I will kick your Effing ass”.
I fully expected him to escalate, So, I kept walking briskly away his voice still echoing through terminal hallway.
I contact Uber immediately and was met with a swift apology and an instant refund to my account.
During this devastating civid pandemic environment our population is tense, angry and confused, but this does not mitigate this driver’s over-the-top behavior.
Wether or not I drop the Uber service will depend on the follow up to my complaint by Uber management.
I will make an update to this article in the near future.
Al Graham.
Editor: Coronado Clarion
Update: Dec. 20th 2021.
I received a phone call from a very friendly and highly competent Uber representative. We talked in depth about my bad Uber experience and I was quite pleased that my complaint was thoroughly vetted and the I received a follow up message ending with…
Sent by Nila B. on Monday, December 20, 2021 at 6:08:57 PM