We hear constantly about how our generation is horrible with social interactions, and it's largely due to cell phones tearing us away from what's right in front of us. I don't deny that this is an issue with a minority of individuals I've crossed paths with. Perhaps it's because I chose the company of excellent people, but I find that most of my friends are more than capable to carry on a conversation.
Sometimes I see pictures like this shared on social media captioned with something along the lines of "look how bad this generation is at communicating!!1! In my day we talked to people!!!!!" That's great and all, but who the hell really wants some random person in line for a restaurant or bus stop or something to start talking to them out of nowhere? I don't mind the occasional friendly hello or brief small chat, but chances are that there's a fair amount on my mind and since I'm clearly alone in the venture that this hypothetical unknown person is speaking to me in, it's fair to assume I'm set in the social interaction department for the moment.
You know what I find rude? When I'm at a restaurant (or something of that nature) with someone, the conversation dies down momentarily, and I look at my phone, resulting in them mocking my social skills. Demanding 100% of my attention solely based on the fact that we are consuming food together is a bit ridiculous. Perhaps if you had something more interesting to say than "derrr you just look at your phone" the issue wouldn't arise.
The strange thing is I'm not basing this off of much life experience. It's almost an ideal definition for a straw-man argument. Still, I'm sticking with it.
You know what else I'm tired of? People complaining about facebook. If you don't like it, please stop using it, and more importantly please refrain from clogging up my newsfeed with articles about why I should stop using it. I understand some obvious issues some people have with it. Privacy is a big one, comparing your dark moments to others' highlights unfairly, the list goes on. But you know what facebook has done for me? Twice now I've connected with friends who became room mates. Both times the individuals were people I had long respected, and thus had not removed from my news feed. Both posted about looking for a room mate they were familiar with, to which I responded. Both times it has worked quite well and I feel extremely fortunate to have made these connections years ago.
In addition to finding places to live, I have the opportunity to retain a vague idea of how many of my friends who reside in lands afar are doing in life. From time to time I have the opportunity to reconnect with people who I haven't spoken to in years.
It is extremely easy to both remove annoying people from your friends list, or to simply hide their posts. Even with the knowledge and ability to do this at any time, I still maintain a handful of facebook friends who regularly post things that make me want to scream. Part of this is because I enjoy having my opinions challenged regularly, and another part is to boost my self-confidence, because despite my many flaws, at least I don't harbor opinions that childish.
Anyway, here are 3 things you need to stop doing when you use Uber.
1.) Ordering an Uber when you aren't ready to use an Uber.
-Uber is an on demand service. When you use the app, you are given a relatively (within roughly two minutes) accurate estimate to when your driver will arrive. If you are in a large city during a busy time of day (e.g. downtown Seattle) and you order a car, be on your way to the damn curb when you do so. Parking is not an easy feat in metro areas, and if you aren't ready to hop in, there's a good chance you'll be waiting an extra five minutes while I circle the block through a barrage of red lights, one way streets, and entitled pedestrians.
2.) Using the location service to determine your location versus typing in an address.
-The number one reason I cancel rides is due to riders not entering their location correctly. If you are using a data connection (3G 4G LTE etc) your location will not be very exact and may even show a cross street if you're in a funny location. At worst it will put you several streets away, which wastes both your time and ours. If you want your driver to arrive accurately and without you having to walk far, type in the address of your location manually.
3.) Not entering a drop off location prior to entering the vehicle.
If I'm essentially extracting your from a war zone, (i.e. picking you up in a very busy area while being honked at because I'm stopping to pick people up) then please be certain to take the two seconds to type in your address before I get there. Having to stop and wait for you to type in the address before taking a wrong turn and adding 10 minutes to the trip is extremely frustrating. Also, if you haven't entered the address by the time you get in the car, please just tell me the address. It will be faster for me to enter and confirm in than it is for you to do the same and send it to my phone. I promise that at this point I am a faster typer than you are, and my phone is already unlocked and in my hands.
4.) Giving verbal directions versus giving an address
I don't know you. There is a good chance you give excellent directions. There is a better chance that your ability to do so is utter shit. 95% of the rides I give, I operate using the GPS. If you know where you're going and insist on telling me turn by turn rather than giving me an end point, you're simply a dick. It's wonderful that you know the city so well, but it's extremely immature of you to demand that I change my work routine because you want to be macho.
5.) Giving an intersection instead of an address
You get in the car, you haven't put in an address yet, I'm already a bit ticked but I am covering it up because there's a chance you're friendly and as usual I'll let it slide. I ask for an address, and you say something like "Pike and 11th." I politely ask for an address, as opposed to an intersection. You repeat "Pike and 11th," already frustrated by my incompetence. I am not a taxi driver. I do not claim to know the entire city of Seattle by heart. It's difficult to input an intersection into a GPS. It's also stated in the Uber application that as a rider, you have two options: providing an address, or giving turn by turn directions. An address and an intersection are not the same thing.
6.) Asking your driver to take you through a drive through.
UberX drivers make (80% of) $1.35 a mile, and 24 cents per minute. Clearly, we would rather be moving as sitting in one place is very profitable at all. If you absolutely have to exercise this option, at least offer to buy your driver something. Especially if it's during peak hours (late night Friday or Saturday) you're really cutting into prime earnings. Most drivers will not want to refuse requests like this because it will likely result in a poor review.
I realize that I originally said I would give three reasons. But once I got going I couldn't help myself.
The vast majority of my riders are extremely polite and friendly people. As usual it's the frustrating minority of people who tarnish the overall experience.
I suppose that's all for now.
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