QUOTE(okavango @ Jun 13 2016, 10:00 AM)
My weekend experience.
1. An African couple pinged me to pick-up from One World Hotel, BU. I arrived at the lobby and called them. The man answered saying he will be down soon. I said" soon but cut short of asking how long", he ended the cal abruptly. So waited for about 10 min, they came down with bags.
After putting their bags in the boot, they both got into my car and sat on the back seat. The lady said "drive fast"
My pressure went up immediately as she said drive fast. Politely I started to advise that our roads are bound by speed limits and I have to adhere these rules so I cant drive fast. This got her annoyed and started mumbling at the back. Her boyfriend who was on the phone the minute he got in later tried to calm the situation down and said please drive as fast as possible.
Without uttering further, I just drove normally and dropped them off at their destination. There was no any expression of courtesy when they left.
2. I was at Jln Nagasari when I received a call from a rider (Caucasian lady) asking to pick-up from Jln Changkat. It was a busy Saturday night with heavy traffic. So I drove through the back lane to avoid the traffic. While on my way she called me and said you were 1 min away just now and now you are 5 min away and asked "are you coming. I said" I am stucked in the jam and on the way. I explained to her that I tried avoiding the traffic in order to get to her fast and in the queue now heading towards her. She sounded drunk and started to accuse me of lying and went on bitching and ended the call. Five minuted later she called again continued her abusive language on me. She said" I am fucking lying again" I told her she can cancel me if she cant wait which she did after a couple of minutes.
To avoid getting another request from her I went offline and moved along the jammed street. A few minutes later she saw my car from far and started confirming from her phone if I were her Uber driver. As i neared her she came to my passing car and knocked my door window but by then I have locked all my doors. I just waved at her indicating that I not interested and drove pass.
Moral of the story here is be polite, patient and be respectful. When riders get bossy or abusive or have a perception of master and slave mentality it get my blood boiling.
1. Very typical, without stereotyping any race or nationalities. What I will do is when I reached, I will try to contact them. If they reply, I will start the trip after 5 min, regardless whether they in the car or not (although Uber rules said that drivers must only start the trip only when rider enter the car). If I unable to contact them (i.e. no pickup no reply sms), I will also wait for 5 min, then, I will cancelled off the trip. I still earned the cancellation fee.
2. This is very typical, happen all the time, they expect you to wait for them, where it near impossible for you to even stop the car at that location. Also in Zouk, they expect you to drive to door front. Whenever I received such request, I will tell them, please wait for me at requested pick up location, I can't stop there. If I don't see you waiting at road side, sorry, I will stop further, and you got to walk towards me.
3. Another incident yesterday, these HK tourist, unsure about Malaysian culture, ask to pick up right in front of Pavillion, full of taxi drivers....and further sit behind. Distance travel, just to Jalan Imbi. When I told him nicely, actually the distance is very near, can walk, save money and time, he rudely say, I got money, I like to waste cannot ah?. Reached, not even thank you. Thank God nothing bad happen with taxi driver, else today myself will be out in newspaper, quickly drop them off, out from Bukit Bintang area.
Sometimes, it worthwhile spending few cents to give them a call, to gauge them, as it not worthwhile to take risk picking up some drunk or unruly riders who may risk damage your car. Of course, you can always write to uber subsequently to complain, but, I doubt they will do anything. They are practically useless, doesn't care about the driver welfare, but, will reply you in standard reply template. Yes, rating may drop due to this, but, with my limited 7 months driving, I would say, I meet more pleasant rider than unpleasant one, thus, no matters what, my rating still ok (at least not yet till borderline being suspended

)