Rideshare situations are somewhat of a gray area when it comes to customer service. On the one hand, to maintain a high rating on the app and get a good tip, many drivers adopt a ‘the customer is always right’ attitude. On the other hand, the customer is in someone’s personal vehicle – not a public establishment. One Florida-based Uber driver found himself in that exact qualm when two women he was driving got into an argument with him that was so heated, he kicked them out of his car!
According to the woman who posted the video, she had hired an Uber to drive her back from the hospital. Apparently, the issue started when the woman cursed and spoke loudly in the car. It’s worth noting that the vehicle did have a sign saying ‘please use headphones’ prominently displayed. Furthermore, there was a second sign requesting riders to refrain from using ‘foul language.’ After a heated debate, the women exited the car and presumably did not pay for the ride.
With the clip making the rounds online, people are debating whether an Uber should be treated as a private space or a place of business. Some argued that the driver has the right to make any rules he wants in his own car. Others suggested that since he was using his car for work and knowingly allowing strangers into it, he didn’t have the right to dictate how they spoke.
One person commented, “You’re a guest in his car. If he mentions language and you double down instead of toning it down, this is what can happen.” On the other hand, someone else countered, “Um, why does the Uber driver have the right to censor the passenger’s speech? I doubt he informed them of that before they got the ride.“
Regardless of where people stood on the issue of a driver asking a passenger to speak a certain way in their car, pretty much the entire internet agreed that the women’s reaction to the man’s request was unacceptable. One person used the OP’s own words against her with, “‘We’re grown women!’ Then act like it. Have a little dignity.” Another noted where the pickup was from by sarcastically writing, “I’m shocked that she had no friends/family to take her home after a hospital stay.“
Many people took issue with the women bringing race and gender into the debate. One Redditor wrote, “How are they making this about being black and how he’s a traitor because he won’t deal with their entitlement?” Another asserted, “These are the same women who will say ‘why is a good black man so hard to find.’“
Whether or not an Uber driver can ask a passenger not to curse is still up for debate. However, the fact that neither that driver nor the internet has patience for those two women is indisputable.
