I Thought I Was An Uber Driver. Wrong! I Am Their Customer!
Specious, for a long time now, has been one of my favorite words, and with the current Uber CEO's pronouncement that everyone driving for Uber are "their customers," and certainly not some kind of employee, I find the word very helpful in describing this statement, and bringing into play another appropriate word, sophistic. One definition for specious is "having a false look or genuineness: sophistic. Sophistic means "plausible but fallacious," the word's roots dating way back to 5th Century BC Greece and a group of philosophers collectively known as the Sophists, hence the term, sophism. Sophism means "an argument apparently correct in form but actually invalid; especially: such an argument meant to deceive."
This is how specious is applied to Dara Khosrowshahi's assertion that all of us utilizing the Uber app around this great big world are the company's customers, and not in any "way, shape or form" employees deserving of usual employee benefits. Using this kind of specious argument and logic, it must then be true that all the folks I have picked up the past three weeks are not my passengers at all but people I have employed to give me money, their destinations more than incidental. And if you believe that, then you certainly believe, "hook, line, and sinker" that I and millions of others like me are Uber customers despite their control over our workplace reality. My last comment is one I have used before and that is "Ha Ha Ha!" Ain't it funny!?
"Flee for Your Lives! The RoboTaxis are Coming!"
Yes, it's true, in San Francisco where GM Cruise and Waymo have been operating RoboTaxis in limited areas of that great city, they are now planning on expanding the service despite real concerns expressed by City safety regulators. They want to increase their car's speed limits from 25 MPH to 55 MPH. But one recent problem is that a mere five days ago all 300 of GM's robotaxis have been recalled because one of the them ran into a city bus. Lucky it wasn't going 55 miles per hour!
One thought is, why are they picking on the skilled workforce comprised by professional cab drivers? Here in Seattle, given that 95% of everyone driving a cab owns the car, and hence, mostly " at fault accident free," why must this kind of professional operator be replaced by a robot? Talk about specious!
Don't Spill That Entree!
I can't recommend more highly the NY Times Sunday edition article about Uber Eats and Door Dash delivery drivers in LA. The title is "$388 in Sushi. A $20 Tip." The sub-heading is "Apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash make it easy to get restaurant food delivered to your door---and for drivers to earn very little." Reported by Kellen Browning with photos by Mark Abramson. In the print edition, its on page one of the Sunday Business section. It features four drivers and their ensuing reality of trying to scrape out a living in an expensive city. The writing is great. Are these folks having much fun? No, not a lot.
Go See the Geese
Last Friday, I drove up to view the migrating snow geese and glad I did. I found a spot where I was sandwiched between thousands of the birds eating lunch in a farmer's field. Take exit 221 off of north-bound I-5 and proceed west on Fir Island Road. The birds were everywhere but hurry because they will be heading north soon. A bonus are the many nearby fields of daffodils and tulips. Incredible fields of startling color. Check out the internet for more instructions.
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