From Car Guys vs. Bean Counters (one of Lutz’s excellent books):

an app came out. people decided to choose to make themselves and their livelihood fully dependent on how that app worked. now they expect that the app maker owes them for having used the app. what...?

Sounds like a good day to be an uber scab. At least if drivers get any of that sweet surge pricing money.

I can’t believe I’m saying this but I totally agree with her to a point.  Parents need to recognize when their kid is causing problems for those around them while in public and get them away from people as soon as possible.  But then, I can’t stand kids to begin with  so there’s that.

Meanwhile, inside the patrol car...

Plenty of reasons. He may have just been too distraught to add carrying his mother’s cremains to his misery. Maybe he didn’t want to be caught in a situation where they pull him aside at security and go through his stuff in public. It could even be that he was flying coach and a guy that big habitually never brings a…

Easily remedied:

Please appreciate that this brutality is not the fault of capitalism, but the fault of governments artificially distorting a market.

How is it capitalism? From what I understand from the article, the $700K medallion is a government policy designed to limit the free market. Blame the government.

They didn’t have to. It was a commodity with limited supply that had been artificially inflating for decades. Then, much like the real-estate/housing crisis, someone woke up and found they really weren’t worth that much. The last guy holding the hot potato when time is up loses.

Down with Jacquard Looms! Will no one think of the weavers who invested in expensive looms, that now can’t make a living with machine looms undercutting then, and are taking their own lives!

Add to that the very reason for Uber and Lyft’s existence is because the taxi industry (read: companies not the individual drivers) refused to innovate and make it more convenient for consumers. Before, when we would call for a cab in San Francisco, one would only show up about 20% of the time. It was ridiculous.

This is terrible for this man and other people like him, but the problem isn’t with Uber, it’s that a medallion is $700k. This artificial economy has always been problematic. There are also issues with ride sharing, but the answer lies somewhere in the middle, not protecting this outdated system.

I hope Uber resumes after a full and public analysis of the incident, regardless of how quickly it happens. Responsible engineering means taking time to do things right.

You can’t test for human behavior in sanitized conditions.

This might also mean a return of the Domino’s DXP specialized delivery vehicle that was previously based on the Chevy Spark.

“Pfff. That’s nothing.”

Okay. I’m sure 12 hours of forced sensitivity training will have a huge impact on people who have consistently been rewarded and promoted for being bigoted assholes.

Is he at least sending a nice gift basket in his absence?