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A New Video Shows Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Arguing With a Driver Over Fares (bloomberg.com)
A new video published by Bloomberg shows Uber CEO Travis Kalanick arguing with an Uber driver over fares. It all started when one of Kalanick's "companions" appears to say that she's heard that Uber is having a hard year. Bloomberg reports: That pleasant conversation between Kalanick and his friends in the back of an Uber Black? It devolved into a heated argument over Uber's fares between the CEO and his driver, Fawzi Kamel, who then turned over a dashboard recording of the conversation to Bloomberg. Kamel, 37, has been driving for Uber since 2011 and wants to draw attention to the plight of Uber drivers. The video shows off Kalanick's pugnacious personality and short temper, which may cause some investors to question whether he has the disposition to lead a $69 billion company with a footprint that spans the globe. Uber declined to comment on the video. Here's part of the conversation:
Travis Kalanick: "So we are reducing the number of black cars in the next few months."
Fawzi Kamel: "It's good."
Kalanick: "You probably saw some email."
Kamel: "I saw the email [says] it starts in May. But you're raising the standards and dropping the prices."
Kalanick: "We're not dropping the prices on black."
Kamel: "But in general."
Kalanick: "In general but we have competitors. Otherwise we'd be out of business."
Kamel: "Competitors? You had the business model in your hands you could have the prices you want but you choose to buy everybody a ride."
You can read the transcript of the conversation here via Recode.
UPDATE 2/28/17: Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has issued "a profound apology."
Travis Kalanick: "So we are reducing the number of black cars in the next few months."
Fawzi Kamel: "It's good."
Kalanick: "You probably saw some email."
Kamel: "I saw the email [says] it starts in May. But you're raising the standards and dropping the prices."
Kalanick: "We're not dropping the prices on black."
Kamel: "But in general."
Kalanick: "In general but we have competitors. Otherwise we'd be out of business."
Kamel: "Competitors? You had the business model in your hands you could have the prices you want but you choose to buy everybody a ride."
You can read the transcript of the conversation here via Recode.
UPDATE 2/28/17: Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has issued "a profound apology."
The only thing he's sorry about is the fact he got CAUGHT. If there was no video, he certainly would NOT feel "ashamed", and the need to "grow up", and that driver would probably be finished. But his bitch-ass got caught, now he's sorry. What a douche.
Isn't Uber "Over" in German anyway? Kinda prophetic.
In English, "Over" can mean "above" or it can mean "finished". The German word "Uber" shares only the first meaning, but it can also mean "superior".
These sorts of unshared dual meanings are one of the things that makes machine translation difficult. For instance, in Chinese the word "kai" can mean "open" and it can also mean "turn on". So when a native Chinese speaker is learning English, they will sometimes ask someone to "open the light". This can be especially confusing since the English phrase "close the switch" when properly translated to Chinese is "open the switch".
....well, yeah?
Wanna buy a shirt?
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Yeah this is starting to look like a hit job. An 'uber did X' story every 2-3 days. Anyone willing to dig and see the connections? Too lazy myself to do it. But it smells 'odd' and put on.
Until recently almost all the Uber stories were presented as "cool disruptive Uber blocked by boring old laws yet again". This is just part of a correction to the overwhelmingly gushing treatment Uber have had here up to now.
And, of course, I must be a shill for the legendary and all-powerful Taxi Cartel for daring to criticise Uber.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it