MORE Conversations From the Professional Front Lines

[Venator]

I know it's a sore spot, but she does have a point. Dispatchers are almost uniformly rude and unhelpful, you end up twiddling your thumbs waiting for a cab that often never shows up, and almost every cab driver I've ridden with has been an idiot or a nut job and they've all pitched a fit about credit card payments. Their payment terminals also blare ads. If I could be sure to get someone like you as my driver I'd use cabs every time but the average experience with Lyft/Über is orders of magnitudes better than the average cab ride.

I'm not sure why, except for idiotic reasons, taxi drivers don't move onmass to something like GetTaxi. It's incredibly popular here and it just works. I order a cab, I see where it is, I see the drivers rating, I can give him directions beforehand. And I still have the same legal garuntees as a regular taxi ride, just without dispatch. It's honestly made me use taxi's far more than beforehand where I had to pick up a phone.

There's probably immense pressure from the dispatchers not to have their entire department out of work.

To the original topic; people tend to have good Uber and bad cab experiences, and as a result aren't likely to see the flipside till they get kidnapped or raped no matter how much people like Raw Shark try to change the stereotype.

Add to that the media coverage of cab protests blocking ambulances and assaulting Uber drivers (or anyone with a cell phone dock on their dash) and people immediately have a small-business champs vs big-establishment thugs opinion slanted heavily against taxis to start.

[Raw Shark]

The company I work with has had its own smartphone app for iPhone and Android for years now, and it works fine, but nobody knows about it because they refuse to spend a fucking dime on advertising. The only ad I've ever seen for it is the hold message when you call the main number, which includes a cheerful-sounding woman chirping, "Never wait on hold again!" every thirty seconds. This makes waiting on hold when you actually need to talk to those evil bitches because you're a driver with a break-down or other problem about ten times as infuriating.

[Zaune]

You know what? If I'm ever in Denver and I don't have Raw Shark's phone number, I'm just taking the bus.

[Raw Shark]

Trust me: You don't want to take the bus in Denver. They're one of the best advertisements for my services that exists. They're never on time, they're filled with sketchballs, and one of them blew a red light at the bottom of the steep hill with a blind corner at 8th and Lincoln and caused an eight-car / one bus pileup that killed a few people a couple years ago.

Also, business number available by PM if you're actually coming here.

[Zaune]

Sounds pretty much like riding the bus in Luton to me.

But if I ever find myself in Denver I may take you up on that.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Sadly, no, or at least not only. It was a very calculated chess move to attempt to turn the kid against the Dad, at the expense of its own emotional well-being. She cared more about keeping the kid on-side than its feelings.

Because that totally will not backfire on both parents later on down the road. [/sarcasm]

[U.P. Cinnabar]

I know it's a sore spot, but she does have a point.

On her head, perhaps.

Dispatchers are almost uniformly rude and unhelpful

Add stupid, lazy, and don't give a shit, and they're even worse to the drivers. Had one who claimed she could drive from Tulsa to Mac(alester)in a half hour. Mmmm hmmm. It's only an hour and five minutes from Muskogee to Macalester, and thirty to forty-five minutes from Muskogee to Tulsa, but, whatever....

you end up twiddling your thumbs waiting for a cab that often never shows up, and almost every cab driver I've ridden with has been an idiot or a nut job and they've all pitched a fit about credit card payments. Their payment terminals also blare ads. If I could be sure to get someone like you as my driver I'd use cabs every time but the average experience with Lyft/Über is orders of magnitudes better than the average cab ride.

The couple of times I've used cabs, they've been prompt, and the cabbies have been reasonably friendly. And, no trouble at all accepting plastic, except for the usual headaches which go with using those card swiper apps with the mobile phones. YMMV.

[Zaune]

Frankly, I think anyone paying by card card in any venue that doesn't have a landline Internet connection should accept there's a non-negligible chance of problems simply due to the vagaries of cellphone reception. The smart thing to do if it craps out is ask the driver nicely if they'll run you to the nearest ATM and back.

[Ace Pace]

Frankly, I think anyone paying by card card in any venue that doesn't have a landline Internet connection should accept there's a non-negligible chance of problems simply due to the vagaries of cellphone reception. The smart thing to do if it craps out is ask the driver nicely if they'll run you to the nearest ATM and back.

What the hell is wrong with your infrastructure? Maybe in rural areas but I've never run into issues paying by card whether in urban or suburban areas.

[Raw Shark]

Frankly, I think anyone paying by card card in any venue that doesn't have a landline Internet connection should accept there's a non-negligible chance of problems simply due to the vagaries of cellphone reception. The smart thing to do if it craps out is ask the driver nicely if they'll run you to the nearest ATM and back.

If the company network bounces a card, I usually try it again, then one more time a couple of blocks away in case we were sitting in a dead spot, and then get them to buy me some gasoline. The ATM is my last resort, since it costs the customer money that will inevitably come out of my tip.

[Zaune]

Oh, yeah, that's a point. I'd forgotten you guys still have ATM fees.

[Raw Shark]

Oh, yeah, that's a point. I'd forgotten you guys still have ATM fees.

It varies. Usually there's no charge if you go to your own bank, but who knows how close that will be. Others usually charge about two bucks, unless it's a secure location in a dangerous area, in which case the sky's the limit.

[Bedlam]

Oh, yeah, that's a point. I'd forgotten you guys still have ATM fees.

It varies. Usually there's no charge if you go to your own bank, but who knows how close that will be. Others usually charge about two bucks, unless it's a secure location in a dangerous area, in which case the sky's the limit.

That's a surprise to me, here in the UK most banks share a single network (you can take money out from almost any ATM although some other functions, like itemised statements might only be available from your own banks machines) and there's no charge regardless of your home bank. There are a few third party machines which charge, but they're rare (I can only think of 2 or 3 I've ever seen).

[Venator]

Oh, yeah, that's a point. I'd forgotten you guys still have ATM fees.

It varies. Usually there's no charge if you go to your own bank, but who knows how close that will be. Others usually charge about two bucks, unless it's a secure location in a dangerous area, in which case the sky's the limit.

That's a surprise to me, here in the UK most banks share a single network (you can take money out from almost any ATM although some other functions, like itemised statements might only be available from your own banks machines) and there's no charge regardless of your home bank. There are a few third party machines which charge, but they're rare (I can only think of 2 or 3 I've ever seen).

Well, see, that would make sense. Can't have that.

In Canada using an ABM that's not from your home bank usually nets $1.25-$5.00 service fee (the latter usually at convention centres and sports arenas), plus $2-5 from your bank for not using their machines, because fuck you.

[Broomstick]

The couple of times I've used cabs, they've been prompt, and the cabbies have been reasonably friendly. And, no trouble at all accepting plastic, except for the usual headaches which go with using those card swiper apps with the mobile phones. YMMV.

I can't recall ever having a bad cab experience.

Well, there was the guy who got lost in the Chicago Loop but he knock a chunk off the fare for the lost time and compared to some other transport nightmares I've had it was pretty minor.

I will note, however, that I was riding in cabs before paying with plastic became an option.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

I'll be honest. I didn't even know cabbies took plastic til the last ride I took in one almost two years ago, from Hillcrest South Hospital in Tulsa, to where my car was parked in Coweta. I'd drawn cash to pay for the ride, but not enough, and the cabbie had one of those swiper thingies slotted into his mobile to let me use my card instead. Even gave him a ten-dollar tip.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

The last time I rode in a cab, the driver left the meter running while I unsteadily hobbled inside on brand-new crutches that I wasn't used to in order to get my credit card. He did not offer to help and the fare ended up being $18 for a 1/4 mile trip. The time before that, the driver spent the entire time telling us about how he had been saved by Jesus. The time before that, the guy drove 5 minutes in the wrong direction over my protests because I couldn't remember the exact name of the street I was headed, which made me late for a meeting and doubled the fare.

Maybe I've had unusually bad experiences or the cab companies in SF are unusually shitty, but as far as I'm concerned the local taxi companies should go die in a fire and the ashes should be buried deep.

[Raw Shark]

The last time I rode in a cab, the driver left the meter running while I unsteadily hobbled inside on brand-new crutches that I wasn't used to in order to get my credit card. He did not offer to help and the fare ended up being $18 for a 1/4 mile trip.

Until I get paid, you are taking me away from other customers and the meter stays on, barring circumstances more extenuating than crutches. I would've helped, though. I practically carried a guy with a broken knee into the ER a year ago, and for my effort received as a tip what Dennis the Menace would refer to as, "A whole dollar!"

The time before that, the driver spent the entire time telling us about how he had been saved by Jesus.

This one goes both ways. Aggressively-Activist Bible-Smokers are dicks no matter what they do for a living. I've had passengers refuse to get out of the car until I've heard their sermon out, essentially making me a captive audience unless I called the cops or resorted to violence, including one time when my best friend was waiting for me to pick her up outside by herself in the snow, when I very nearly did resort to violence.

The time before that, the guy drove 5 minutes in the wrong direction over my protests because I couldn't remember the exact name of the street I was headed, which made me late for a meeting and doubled the fare.

That's total bullshit, but unfortunately common. We're not supposed to move if we don't have a clear destination, which has left me obstructing traffic or sitting on the side of the road (or sometimes in an alley or parking lot, if one is convenient) for several minutes on many occasions. A lot of drivers get away with that sort of thing if the passenger is wasted and/or in too much of a hurry to catch another cab, but it's completely toxic and gives the industry a bad name.

[White Haven]

So this one wasn't so much a full conversation, as it was just a customer that left me exercising my thespian abilities to avoid simply goggling in stupefied wonder. I expect customers to be inexpert in the arcane sorceries that comprise modern IT. But this...this...

Older woman: I don't really know how to unplug the computer, do you make house calls?

[U.P. Cinnabar]

This one goes both ways. Aggressively-Activist Bible-Smokers are dicks no matter what they do for a living. I've had passengers refuse to get out of the car until I've heard their sermon out, essentially making me a captive audience unless I called the cops or resorted to violence, including one time when my best friend was waiting for me to pick her up outside by herself in the snow, when I very nearly did resort to violence.

And, had you called the law or resorted to violence, you'd hear no end of their bleatings of being persecuted.

Did you at least keep the meter running the entire time you had to endure their divinely-inspired assholery? Cause I would have.

Seriously, the entire time you have a cab engaged in your service, that cab driver has the perfect right to charge you for that time. No different than consulting with a lawyer.

[Elheru Aran]

So this one wasn't so much a full conversation, as it was just a customer that left me exercising my thespian abilities to avoid simply goggling in stupefied wonder. I expect customers to be inexpert in the arcane sorceries that comprise modern IT. But this...this...

Older woman: I don't really know how to unplug the computer, do you make house calls?

To be fair, depending on age/technological ineptitude, she may have been the type whose kids set everything up for her, wrote down how to do most of her basic tasks, turned up screen magnification 40x and told her to call them when she had trouble... and then don't answer their phones, so she called you. My grandparents (both sets) pretty much fell into that category.

[Lagmonster]

On the subject of shitty cab rides, most of the ones I've had were flawless, with one exception. I was a young teen, travelling to meet my grandparents, which meant crossing the US/Canada border. The bus I was on ran everyone through customs, but me and another kid got stopped as "possible vagrants/runaways" and refused entry to the U.S.. At 1:00 in the morning, in a strange city, as a kid who'd never been outside of white suburbia but ever.

I cleared my paperwork with the border guys, called for a taxi, and told the driver that I need to get across the bridge and to the bus station roughly two blocks in, so I could get back on my route. I told the guy I only had 20$ cash on me (having had no plans to do anything but sit on one bus for the whole trip and eat snack food out of my backpack) and would that be enough, sir? He says yes, and we're off.

We get there, and the meter clearly reads only a few bucks, so I'm happy. Guy then turns and says, "Okay, 20$ please". I confusedly read the meter back to him. He says, "No, don't pay any attention to that, it's wrong." I give him the 20$ because frankly, I'm scared shitless, I'm alone in fucking downtown Detroit at two a.m. in the 1980s, and I just want to go home and cry.

That guy? He can die and rot.

[White Haven]

So this one wasn't so much a full conversation, as it was just a customer that left me exercising my thespian abilities to avoid simply goggling in stupefied wonder. I expect customers to be inexpert in the arcane sorceries that comprise modern IT. But this...this...

Older woman: I don't really know how to unplug the computer, do you make house calls?

To be fair, depending on age/technological ineptitude, she may have been the type whose kids set everything up for her, wrote down how to do most of her basic tasks, turned up screen magnification 40x and told her to call them when she had trouble... and then don't answer their phones, so she called you. My grandparents (both sets) pretty much fell into that category.

Oh, I'm absolutely certain that that's close; as with a lot of older customers, we get regaled with an entire life story before they'll get to the reason they're here. I do not, however, care; it's unplugging a computer. I get people who are afraid they'll have trouble plugging it back in -- it's simple, but if you don't know it's simple then there's some understandable 'what if I don't know what goes where?' wariness that I totally understand and do not deride.

Unplugging, however...everything goes un. Can you unplug a lamp, or an iron, or a phone? Great. Do that a few more times.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

She probably wanted someone to talk to, since her kids couldn't be bothered to visit, unless they wanted money.

[Simon_Jester]

Perhaps she thinks 'unplug' means 'disconnect all the peripherals?' With an iron or a lamp there's one cord and no way to 'get it wrong.' With a typical computer there are anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen peripheral ports and plug-holes.