An Uber Driver recorded his interaction with a "Karen" who demanded he tell her her name first, which is a common scam for folks looking for free rides.
Using rideshare services like Uber and Lyft requires certain safety protocols. There are several horror stories of 1099'ed employees driving for popular taxi applications stalking/assaulting/harassing customers and there are even instances of people pretending to be Uber drivers and picking up customers waiting for a ride that they called, which is a chilling thought.
But safety concerns also apply to drivers from unruly or untrustworthy customers as well. Like a Miami doctor who went on a drunken rampage against an Uber driver, attacking him and destroying his vehicle while insulting him the entire time.
And just from a monetary perspective, there are certain scams that passengers try to play on drivers in an attempt to get a free ride, which could have financial implications for the driver, or even get them in trouble with the app should they pick up the wrong person and the intended customer ended up shilling out for a ride that never showed up.
That's what appears to happen in this video uploaded to the Dustin is Driving YouTube account, which is titled, "Karens Gets Mad When Uber Driver Does NOT Say Her Name."
You might be wondering to yourself, well what's the big deal? Why won't the Uber Driver say her name? There are a few reasons for this.
If I'm waiting for my Uber, for my own safety I can ask the driver to tell me their name so I can check and make sure it matches whoever I booked on the application and I'm not being picked up by someone looking to recreate that final chilling scene in Jeepers Creepers.
On the flip side for their own safety, they're going to want to make sure that the person who booked the ride is the one actually getting inside the car and they're not picking up some weirdo themselves or a person who is trying to get a free ride somewhere.
Sure, you generally put the final destination of wherever you're headed, so you may be asking yourself, well, why in the world would anyone get into a car that could be headed in a completely different direction than wherever they want to go to?
What'll often happen in these instances is if an Uber Driver ends up picking someone who is posing as the original purchaser of the ride, they may ask to have the ride rerouted to a different location. Those requests are usually made in the app themselves, but it's much better to just avoid that situation entirely than having to stop a car and kick someone out of your vehicle while you're already driving.
In Dustin's clip, we can see the woman in question becoming irate with the fact that he won't say her name first, because then she could just lie and say that is her name (securing the free ride). While there were some commenters who thought that his attitude and the way he handled the entire situation could've been improved upon, others also expressed that they understood where he was coming from.
Some also theorized that perhaps the woman in question wasn't exactly trying to score herself a free ride, but rather was a "Karen" who got into a petty argument with the driver and just wanted him to do what she said. In any event, it seems like he saved himself the trouble of having to spend time in the car with the individual.
Do you think the Uber driver acted accordingly?
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