Are you an Uber driver and have experienced one ride where the passenger was quite intoxicated that you have no idea how to manage it all? Lucky for you, there might be one trick that can help you ease the tension.
Uber is fast becoming the ride-hailing technology right now, and it would not be strange for drivers to encounter a drunken scenario. There is a trick that can tame the drunks.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, the service is providing drivers a "Bop It" toy to keep their drunken passengers occupied. A classic misdirection so that the sober Uber drivers can safely bring them from point A to point B.
Ferrying around passengers, whether intoxicated or not, is part of the hazzard of the job sometimes and Joe Sullivan, Uber's Chief Security Officer, blogged online that some drivers in the area have found a way...
...to keep drunk riders entertained so they don't distract their driver.
Using the toy to keep them occupied can help manage tantrum-like behaviors from drunken adults.
What most Uber drivers and users know is that the system relies on both parties to be rated. Passengers get to rate their drivers for their service and if they had a hard night of partying, they tend to forget that their Uber drivers can rate them, too.
These passengers are not just annoying for Uber drivers. Sometimes, they can be life-threatening as well. With the power of the internet and social networking, these drivers have congregated and shared tips on how to deal with such passengers.
That's a great way to make sure drivers are protected in such cased. On the other side of the coin, Uber is also experimenting on a program that ensures passengers are driven around safely with the use of accelerometers, GPS devices and gyroscopes.
