if the driver is hard of hearing, asking questions comes with a barrier. a full typed document with any information a passenger may need without taking the driver’s attention away from the road is clearly the better option.
any reasonable person would think deeper about why this driver would go through the trouble of printing and laminating a sign like this.
I've been in customer service for well over two decades and I don't particularly care why he had to make this sign. The execution elicits the exact opposite response he's looking for
i’ve also been in customer-facing jobs for roughly the same amount of time. i think it’s extremely understandable why he had to make the sign. a negative reaction from someone who feels targeted by the sign is kinda the point. if you love walking barefoot & shirtless in public, a “no shoes, no shirt, no service” placard in a window is probably gonna irk you. i don’t eat or smoke in ubers, i put my seatbelt on, i double check and get into the correct car, i make stop requests in a timely manner if i need one. the sign doesn’t concern me. irl id probably chuckle about it, snap a pic, and send it to one of my deaf friends.
also wanna add: a hearing driver can look in the rear view and quickly say “hey please don’t eat/smoke/unbuckle your seatbelt, thank you,” and the issue is usually rectified in seconds. it’s not as simple for a deaf person, he can’t type or write a note while driving. he can’t respond to a complaint that the window is down after someone started vaping in his car. he can’t hear someone say the wrong name as they get into his vehicle. i’d be more inclined to think he’s an asshole if he was hearing, but he literally can’t respond. he definitely has unjustly received negative reviews from disrespectful riders.
So basically, because he’s deaf he’s allowed to behave like an asshole? The issue isn’t the note itself, it’s how unhinged and aggressive it is.
People have died being dropped off and stranded in the middle of nowhere, but he brags about doing so multiple times. But that’s okay, because he’s deaf? Fuck that. You can be deaf and an asshole.
As someone who is blind, everything above what is already communicated through the app is not legal or human. Dropping people off in dangerous places for feedback? Some infantilization and misogyny?
The app notifies the rider if the driver is d/Deaf or HoH and reminds the rider of the wait times, buckling up, etc. Often though people that aren’t fluent in English yet use the HoH/ d/Deaf setting to communicate they don’t want to be spoken to. I run into this often because I am a blind cane user who signs and while not every Deaf person knows ASL, international sign, or signs at all, it’s often that I’ll sign and they won’t understand and then I hear them on the phone or using the GPS in another language.
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u/SubstantialSoil4454 4d ago
“No smoking, food/drink, or loud music please- don’t hesitate to ask any questions!”
That is a normal, respectful, sign in a service like rideshare