
My Surreal UberX Experience  - ASquare
http://tomtunguz.com/uber-ride/?utm_source=HackerNews&utm_medium=Anuj+Adhiya&utm_campaign=Anuj+Adhiya
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ynniv
Nothing a cab stand, cash, and pen and paper hadn't already solved.

A wise man once said: "Don't be too proud of this technological experience
you've constructed. The ability to incorporate technology into a solution is
insignificant next to the power of human ingenuity."

Or something like that.

~~~
joshdance
I don't carry a sign language dictionary with me. The driver might have had
one in his car. But regardless, the problems are now solved better than before
and that is a little surreal.

~~~
ynniv
_I don 't carry a sign language dictionary with me. The driver might have had
one in his car._

OR A PEN.

PROTIP: COMMUNICATE BY WRITING WITH THE PEN.

Edit for clarity: I suppose that I deserve the hate for using caps, but I'm
amazed that people think access to a sign language dictionary on your phone is
a better way to communicate with a deaf person than a pen and paper. Sure the
poster was able to learn a single sign that he ended his interaction with, but
he could have nodded or waved to the same effect and would not be able to hold
a conversation. With a writing implement he would be able to richly
communicate with the driver, including diagrams for route choice or drawings
of landmarks to navigate to a place he didn't know the address or name of.
There are many impressive capabilities that modern technology provides us, but
sometimes we get lost in thinking that they are revolutionary. There's nothing
wrong with reveling in an experience, but you should recognize that it is only
indulgence.

~~~
ChrisClark
He wanted to learn the sign, as a form of respect. Yes, respect could be shown
other ways. But to communicate back to someone in their own language can show
that you care enough to learn something new for them.

------
applecore
I'm surprised you still have to communicate your destination to the driver
_after_ you get in the car. Shouldn't Uber let you specify your destination in
advance, entirely through the app?

~~~
pgt
Uber does not disclose passenger destinations to drivers to prevent
discrimination, e.g. far-away pick-ups with short rides.

~~~
dave5104
A month or so ago, I made the mistake of answering a text message from my en
route driver asking where I was going. I thought, "Oh nice, he's plugging it
into GPS beforehand." But I was wrong. He must have not liked my destination
because the trip was promptly canceled by the driver and I had to spend
another 15 minutes waiting for a new one.

Lesson learned: never tell your Uber driver your destination before you get
into the car. :\

~~~
JoshTriplett
They have a very small limit to how many pickups they can cancel, though.

~~~
dave5104
That's good to know. Just to be clear, I don't fault Uber at all for this
happening, and it's nice to know that they're attempting to put limits in
place to prevent it. But it was aggravating in the moment.

~~~
late2part
Why don't you fault Uber? It's their driver who reneged on the offer to drive
you and inconvienced you. Don't you want them to prevent this and make your
experience better?

~~~
dave5104
Because it doesn't happen on a regular basis, and they seem to have reasonable
blockers in place to prevent it when they can. But, their drivers are people,
and some people will do anything they can to get around that system.

If I had other poor experiences with Uber, then I'd be faulting them... but
they've done a good job making sure that hasn't happened more than once.

------
vivekpreddy
Had a similar experience with a Lyft driver recently. Thought he simply didn't
want to talk, but realized he was deaf shortly after.

Decided to navigate him myself and didn't have any issues at all. Glad to see
that those less fortunate are finding more opportunity due to improvements in
technology. Hope to see more of this in the future.

------
batbomb
I worked at Sorenson VRS with deaf people for six months while they were
developing the mobile VRS app, as well as "BuzzCards", which was precisely a
digital notepad with many saved notes of things you'd say often, like
Starbucks orders, addresses, basically just canned phrases or stuff to create
on-the-go.

While I was there, I never had to actually learn sign language to even
communicate with my deaf coworkers, and this was in a technical environment.

One coworker could mouth sounds adequately enough to understand. Most could
read lips just fine. In some scenarios, we'd communicate with a small portable
whiteboard. The deaf people I knew could write very quickly and tersely, which
would be much more efficient than anything you could do via phone.

This experience is only surreal if you've never spent any significant amount
of time around deaf people.

------
adamio
The technology to give this deaf man hearing, and eliminate the need for
drivers is the really interesting thing

~~~
mikeryan
_The technology to give this deaf man hearing,_

You mean like a pen and paper?

~~~
samstave
Can you hear through your eyes?

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maxisnow
Funny everyone is picking on the tech part. Being a SOMA-dweller I immediately
wanted to pick on the idea that Sightglass is "deep South of Market". Every
direction is single digits of blocks out of SOMA.

------
bjeanes
I had the exact same experience except with Lyft and it was a Galaxy Note hah!

------
antonioevans
I am not deaf or blind, but podcasts give me the same experiences.
Specifically Radio Lab or This American Life. Growing up in the TV generation
we are so use to one stimuli...the visual one.

We forget about the way the other ones are so fresh and sensitive.

------
ulfw
Wow what qualifies as 'surreal' these days...

~~~
JetSpiegel
Dalí must be ejaculating in his grave...

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debt
I think I've had this same guy near the same area. I thought initially he was
doing it to avoid conversation with passengers and to hopefully over hear some
juicy valley gossip.

Or he was just deaf.

~~~
avree
Why would you immediately assume such a negative scenario?

~~~
oh_sigh
How is that a negative scenario? Not wanting to have a conversation isn't a
crime.

~~~
avree
Are you serious? You don't see how immediately assuming that he's faking a
serious disability in order to avoid normal conversation and eavesdrop is a
negative scenario?

~~~
njharman
Nothing in the description indicates driver was faking serious disability.Why
did you assume that?

~~~
avree
Do you see the comment I am replying to?

The user said " I thought initially he was doing it to avoid conversation with
passengers and to hopefully over hear some juicy valley gossip. "

"it" refers to "being deaf."

~~~
njharman
it refers to "Without saying a word, the driver passed me his iPhone."

