# Maureen Dowd Feels Judged



## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/2...nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=0&referrer=

*Driving Uber Mad*
WASHINGTON - ON a reporting expedition to Los Angeles recently, I realized I could stop renting cars.

I would never again have to brave the L.A. freeway behind the wheel. I would never have to obsess, like the characters in the "Saturday Night Live" skit, "The Californians," about taking the 101 to the 110 and Canyon View Drive over to San Vincente to the 10, then switching over to the 405 North and getting dumped out onto Mulholland.

I had Uber.

Even in the land of movie stars, you could feel like a movie star when your Uber chauffeur rolled up. Standing in front of the Sunset Tower Hotel, I tapped my Uber app and saw five little cars swarming around my location. But, suddenly, they scattered in the opposite direction. I stood in the driveway, perplexed. Finally, a car pulled up, and the driver waved me in.

"Do you know why no one wanted to pick you up?" he asked. "Because you have a low rating."

(Uber drivers see your rating once they accept the request and then can cancel.)

I was shocked. Blinded by the wondrous handiness of Uber, I had missed the fact that while I got to rate them, they got to rate me back.

Revealing that I had only 4.2 stars, my driver continued to school me. "You don't always come out right away," he said, sternly, adding that I would have to work hard to be more appealing if I wanted to get drivers to pick me up.

Uber began to feel less like a dependable employee and more like an irritated boyfriend.

I know Uber has the image of an obnoxious digital robber baron, a company that plays dirty tricks and proves that convenience "makes hypocrites of us all," as John Naughton put it in The Guardian, noting that its very name has connotations of Nietzschean superiority. (Travis Kalanick, the C.E.O., coined the word "Boob-er" to describe his greater appeal to women because of his success.)

But it is a boon for women out on their own - unless you get a driver who harasses you and knows where you live. (After a driver allegedly raped a New Delhi passenger in December, Uber introduced an in-app emergency button in India.)

What I had loved about Uber was that, unlike in every other aspect of my high-tech world, I didn't feel judged. My worth wasn't being measured by clicks, likes, hits, views, retweets, hashtags, Snaps, thumbs-up or repins.

Except then I learned that sitting in an Uber car was pretty much like sitting in my office: How much have you developed your audience? How much have you been shared? How much have you engaged your reader? Are you trending?

I was trending on Uber, all right, and not in a good way. I had avoided Lyft not only because of that pink mustache but because I had heard that you were encouraged to sit up front with drivers and give them fist-bumps. It seemed more like The Flintstones' car than Cinderella's pumpkin coach.

But, now, instead of quietly sitting in the back seat of my Uber and checking my phone or reading the paper, I had to start working to charm.

"Your husband likes oysters?" I enthused to one woman driving me in San Francisco.

"What are the kids up to this summer?" I chirped to another.

It was starting to have the vibe of friending, liking and sharing on Facebook, and that always gives me acid flashbacks to the '80s when I was forced to go to my brother's house and watch slides of his wedding. Finally, my nephew explained that I didn't need to grovel or gush. I simply needed to say, as I got out of the car, "Five for five." If I promised to give them five stars - even in the Wild West of Uber X, where the drivers often seem so unfamiliar with the local terrain it's as though they've arrived from Mars - they would give me five stars.

Bribery. Lies. Cover-up. My Uber app turns out to have all the usual Washington vices.

An article in Business Insider advisedgiving an extra cash tip and not passing gas if you want a five-star rating. Enough passengers throw up that there's an official policy. (A fine between $50 and $200.)

Coming from a family of Irish maids, I had been looking forward to the concierge democracy, where we could all be masters of Downton Abbey, butled by drones and summoning staff by just touching our smartphones.

As The Wall Street Journal recently reported, "There's an Uber for everything now. Washio is for having someone do your laundry, Sprig and SpoonRocket cook your dinner and Shyp will mail things out so you don't have to brave the post office. Zeel delivers a massage therapist (complete with table). Heal sends a doctor on a house call, while Saucey will rush over alcohol. And by Jeeves - cutesy names are part of the schtick - Dufl will pack your suitcase and Eaze will reup a medical marijuana supply."

There is also Luxe, which uses GPS to offer a personal parking valet dressed in a blue uniform who will meet you at your destination and park your car for you.

But they'll no doubt all have mutually insured destruction rating systems, too, so Saucey will reveal how politely I grab my bottle of Grey Goose.

I've only yanked my rating up a tenth of a point in the last two weeks. I'm hoping Uber's self-driving cars will like me more. But somehow I think the robots will be even more judgy.


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## Backdash (Jan 28, 2015)

Classic bubble think.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

"..._an additional tip_..."
Another ignorant 'smart journalist' who feels disappointed at discovering she is expected to treat all people with courtesty, consideration and respect.


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## Nucleus (Mar 18, 2015)

She is a blathering c**t, the epitome of a useful idiot.


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## Lidman (Nov 13, 2014)

I think some of these journalists/celebrities mistake uber for a chauffer/limo company where the driver is paid hourly/salary.


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## Chicago-uber (Jun 18, 2014)

"5 for 5" automatically earns you a 4


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## frndthDuvel (Aug 31, 2014)

Thanks for the find. I read all 200 plus comments. Most were folks extremely bummed they were being judged. LOL It may be passengers who force the end to the rating system as we know it. A few Drivers popped in. However it was a bummer NOBODy, not even a driver mentioned that the lowly UBER driver could be deactivated at a 4.7. Most of the commenters were from a week ago. So likely too late to note that in a comment. If anybody is already a NYT registered user, you might as well leave a comment if you have time. I think if many of the responders would have seen that the Driver's rating could cause them to lose their job perhaps they would not be complaining so much about them getting ratings. Lots of obvious cabbie comments.


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## Sydney Uber (Apr 15, 2014)

This Maureen Dowd must think she walks on water. Reminds me of the piece of work in the following funny video


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## Lidman (Nov 13, 2014)

Ann Coulter and Laura Ingram would make great uber paxs. Might as well add in, Bill OReilly, Rush Lindmore etc.


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## Casuale Haberdasher (Dec 7, 2014)

Lidman said:


> Ann Coulter and Laura Ingram would make great uber paxs. Might as well add in, Bill OReilly, Rush Lindmore etc.


POST # 9 /Lidman : While You were 
Unavoidably Indisposed
the Rush character, that You previously mentioned, legally changed his Last 
Name to Limbaugh.

Bison nicknamed him Rash Lumbago
eons ago.


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## Casuale Haberdasher (Dec 7, 2014)

Sydney Uber said:


> This Maureen Dowd must think she walks on water. Reminds me of the piece of work in the following funny video


POST # 8 /Sydney Uber: This is the 3rd DIFFERENT
Attempt to LISTEN
to this YouTube..and the 3rd w/No Audio!

Kinda takes the "OOMPPH" right out.
Bison peeved.


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## Sydney Uber (Apr 15, 2014)

Casuale Haberdasher said:


> POST # 8 /Sydney Uber: This is the 3rd DIFFERENT
> Attempt to LISTEN
> to this YouTube..and the 3rd w/No Audio!
> 
> ...


Either turn the volume up or go to YT and search it. It is worth the effort it's hilarious.


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## Lou W (Oct 26, 2014)

4.2! She must be a real piece of work


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## thehappytypist (Oct 9, 2014)

Heaven forbid that customers are held responsible for bad behavior.


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## secretadmirer (Jul 19, 2015)

thehappytypist said:


> Heaven forbid that customers are held responsible for bad behavior.


happytypist I was just curious to if you've taken an uber ride. You're rating would always be 5.0


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## thehappytypist (Oct 9, 2014)

secretadmirer said:


> happytypist I was just curious to if you've taken an uber ride. You're rating would always be 5.0


I have not! If/when I do, UP will have taught me how to be a 5 star rider.


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## Gemgirlla (Oct 16, 2014)

She's probably rude that's why she has a low rating... Frankly, I don't mind the quiet paxs at all. Then I don't feel like I have to be chatty


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## secretadmirer (Jul 19, 2015)

Gemgirlla said:


> She's probably rude that's why she has a low rating... Frankly, I don't mind the quiet paxs at all. Then I don't feel like I have to be chatty


But I thought chatting was your specialty. Plenty of topics to cover. Weather, sports, food recipes, hollywood's latest romance gossips etc.


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

JaxBeachDriver said:


> http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/2...nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=0&referrer=
> 
> *Driving Uber Mad*
> WASHINGTON - ON a reporting expedition to Los Angeles recently, I realized I could stop renting cars.
> ...


Give a dollar tip *****!


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## Gemgirlla (Oct 16, 2014)

secretadmirer said:


> But I thought chatting was your specialty. Plenty of topics to cover. Weather, sports, food recipes, hollywood's latest romance gossips etc.


Hmmm. I don't cook, don't watch sports or Entertainment tonight so those topics are out. Ok weather is highly discussed LOL, sometimes politics w/ the right paxs... and of course, Uber. Sometimes it's exhausting and I would just like to listen to music


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## GooberX (May 13, 2015)

Gemgirlla said:


> Hmmm. I don't cook, don't watch sports or Entertainment tonight so those topics are out. Ok weather is highly discussed LOL, sometimes politics w/ the right paxs... and of course, Uber. Sometimes it's exhausting and I would just like to listen to music


I cook, watch sports, and follow politics.

I talk to the ones that want to talk, and I shut up tot hose that get into their phones.

As long as a genuine sounding "thank you" is spoken at the end, I let them slide.

Preferably they would all just read their phones and let me drive, so we are in agreement.


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