Sorry, but as an Iraq veteran myself I am getting tired of Veteran whining. Yes, we have significant issues and yes the VA and all the parties need to do a better job taking care of us. It took me 9 months alone to get my disability rating and VA benefits card - and many wait much longer - which is time that they aren't getting treatment.
The broader population only know about these issues through Jon Stewart or from recent press, but have no connection with it otherwise nor could they really care. Should they? I don't know, probably, but not necessarily.
Even within the military only those who are have been in the Army, or were deployed to a combat zone, really understand the significance of a CIB. So expecting anyone to recognize it, let alone start a conversation around it would be unexpected at the least - I know I wouldn't start a conversation around it. Putting it on display is hack and is looking for attention.
I don't think that the US population owes us anything, but many veterans don't agree. This is part of a broader conversation about how the US public sees and interacts with it's veterans and the military more broadly. At the end of the day though the Stolen Valor shaming, demanding veteran/military discounts just reeks of entitlement. Given that we have been an all-volunteer force over the past 40 years I don't think anyone can claim they didn't know what they were getting into, granting that there are shady practices with recruiting that go on.
In the end, I feel like stories like this just isolate veterans further. Rather than bring us more into the community as someone who has a unique experience and valuable point of view, it keeps the division between "civilian" and "military/veterans" alive and I think that is damaging on the whole.
I agree with your statement. I think the clamoring for entitlements and awareness is driven by veterans advocacy groups, not the veteran community as a whole. In my opinion, it's a reaction to the neglect and apathy that veterans of previous wars experienced, most recently the Vietnam War. (If you want to be depressed, read about the maltreatment of WW1 vets in the US.) The veterans groups fight for entitlements because they believe they are subject to revocation as soon as awareness drops.
Through the lens of being a veteran, I find most of it to be overblown, though in the case of the author I think it's perhaps somewhat justified. However, he should admit that his issues aren't systemic; they're personal. His issues are 99% due to psychological issues from his combat service, not a tech-industry imposed Jim Crow Era (the Driving Miss Daisy comment in the article).
I don't think I'd ever comment on a CIB on display, it seems about as appropriate as the proverbial ignorant question, "Did you kill anybody?"
A good half of my friends who returned from combat had significant difficulty fitting into normal American life, and experienced psychological and relationship issues. I wish veterans groups would focus their rhetoric on that specific problem. Pay for servicemembers has increased far beyond parity with civilian jobs for the vast majority of occupational specialties, the Post-9/11 GI Bill truly solves the post-service employment training issue, and the stigma of being a veteran is essentially nonexistent. The hard problem that needs to be focused on is the significant therapy and rehabilitation need for the minority of veterans who actually were in combat.
What gets me is that he's whining about his raw deal as a veteran (pysch issues aside, is nonexistent), but he fails to accept responsibility for his life choices of 1) graduating (for free) with what I presume is a creative writing degree and failing to take internships, 2) failing to live in an affordable city (what's wrong with living in Oakland or Union City and driving over the Bay Bridge?), and 3) lamenting his lack of money as he wastes it at the bar (presumably in SoMa, and expensive).
The reason for the above is not because he's intentionally avoiding reality, it's because veterans often self-segregate in veterans groups. He lives in the TL because that's where his veterans organization operates (originally for Vietnam War vets with a more dire situation than his). Hopefully now that his Vice article has gotten him some more exposure, he'll have more interaction with non-vets and gain some perspective.
I think one of the unfortunate things is that most people don't understand what the military experience is, and how it might help their companies. Veterans should do a better job selling it to help bring awareness too.
Veterans often deserve some fault as well - many don't make good decisions with their life due to some desire, and end up regretting their choices. I've seen many not make every effort to set themselves up for long term success, and often shoot for & encourage short term success, even if it ends up in a long term dead end. Perhaps they are not much different than a lot of the US population in that regard, but wishing for things to be different based on past experience is not going to do anyone any good.
Yikes. Way to betray your brothers who risk their lives for our freedoms. For me, I can only say I'd never have the balls to sign up for the army... These guys do something we can't pay for directly and maintain our standard of living, so we must find other ways to reward them. Certainly when one of them is lonely, I'd hate to think anyone .. especially a fellow veteran, would call it 'whining'.
I feel the same way about teachers, farmers, policemen as well.
Wow, what an amazing read. That guy is a great writer. It almost sounded like the narration of film noir.
Anyways, I had no idea that Uber drivers made so much money. $40-$50 an hour! That's incredible. I make the low end of that working as the tech lead of a ~15-person tech startup. I bet that car maintenance takes a big chunk out of his pay but still.
My first reaction to this piece was "what the fuck are you whining about? You make more than most people, and even more than me and my job is way harder than yours!"
Then again, I totally empathize with his alienation from his own job. It's hard, spending the precious hours of your short life on things other than what you're really passionate about. It sucks that our society rewards being a taxi driver more than creative things -- like this guy's amazing writing. I don't know what to do about that, and I feel his pain there.
It's hard, spending the precious hours of your short life on things other than what you're really passionate about
Isn't this true for the vast majority? Most people take jobs not because they're passionate about them, but because they need money to pay bills and buy stuff - simple as that. Some earn more, some earn less, but at the end of the day almost everyone would like to do something else. Even in IT, where wages are high and work is comfortable, I doubt most are passionate about their work - it's a different thing hacking some fun app or game in your spare time and working on some monstrous enterprise software, where you're just a tiny cog doing what you're told to do.
Its easy to make $45/hr 9pm-3am on the weekend. The problem is confusing 6 hours per week with 40 hours per week.
This has occasionally been an issue for me with contracting... hey I got a gig 8 hours/one day per week. Um, ok, great hourly pay, but how am I supposed to feed my family working only 8 hours/week, even if the hourly pay is 2x what I get now?
That's why writing is a good second gig for the article author. No way to make $45 between 10am and 11am Sunday, well, go write something, its not like you're losing fares...
When people call taxi they don't hope to see interesting human to talk with, they need a car to move them from point A to point B. This driver expects his clients to be wondered about him or his life, when they don't expect it and often don't want to spend their time to be somebody's psychotherapist.
It's sad he is so lonely, but taxi is not that place which should fix it - maybe dating sites.
I think you've mis-read the tone, or just plain don't understand/have experience of the military mindset.
This isn't a pity piece, he not expecting something from his passengers or expecting them to wonder about him. In fact, I'd say that's the whole point of the piece - how he knows he an outsider, a nobody in a world of somebodies, a dispassionate observer, one who recognises his own lack of humanity to his charges:
> A robot could do my fucking job
He's grateful for the job, grateful for the lifeline and merely telling the objective story of an outsider in a different world.
> Where I live, people are already dead. But at night, I pick up people with lives, and money in their pockets, places to go, things to do, people to see.
And yet, he reminds us throughout that people are fuck ups no matter their monetary wealth or 'social standing':
>One pick-up I had was outside a restaurant in Hayes Valley. I had my hazards on while I waited patiently, observing them passionately kiss each another. They kissed as if they were in love. It reminded me of the way I kissed, when I too was in love. Their goodbye took forever and when she finally got in my car, she pulled out her cell phone.
>"Hey honey, how's it going? Oh, it was boring, I wanted to leave the whole time. How are the kids? Good... Oh, remember that one coworker I told you about? I just found out he's been sleeping with all the associates... he's married too, I like his wife... he's a good guy..." I'm sure he is.
I think the piece is fascinating, not least because I've felt the sting of invisibility myself, but don't go mistaking it as a pining lament to be one of the chosen ones or that he's calling on his passengers to be his psychologist.
God forbid we should actually interact with our fellow humans.
I guess the next step down this path is to replace waiters etc with robots - again reducing the amount you have to interact with other humans.
When I get in a taxi, I actually enjoy talking to the driver, asking about the local area, the news, and making both our days a tiny bit more interesting.
As the world population increases, and cities grow and grow I can only see this getting worse - millions of humans bunched together, and all of them scared to talk to each other.
(In case you hadn't guessed I'm not a city person)
Wow, that is a great read. It hits on a lot of points about our society these days.
Though I was surprised to read that very few people talk to him. I always chat up the taxi or uber or lyft drivers. You will meet the most fascinating of people.
The Nigerian Uber driver who also runs a West African Chamber of Commerce to facilitate trade and business among the local immigrant population. The motorhead Uber driver who explained to me how to drive a motorcycle from Atlantic City to Philadelphia in under 45 minutes. The Lyft driver who was in school getting a masters degree in physics. The taxi driver who is a fanatical Chelsea fan and almost comes to the bar with you on a Sunday morning to watch the games, but can't quite do it because the last time he did that they lost.
> Though I was surprised to read that very few people talk to him. I always chat up the taxi or uber or lyft drivers. You will meet the most fascinating of people.
I'm an introvert. I don't particularly want to talk to people. There are times when I'll specifically take the subway, even when a cab would make more sense, just so I can be alone and read a book or listen to a podcast or something.
On my last trip, I took about six rides, and talked to all but one. One conversation was fantastic, one was kinda fun, and the rest were just boring conversations I've already forgotten. And I consider that particular trip, with its ~20% "success" rate an outlier.
There are days where I don't want to meet a fascinating person, but just want to get from point A to point B.
It's a good companion piece to the Fred Wilson blog post on the Gig Economy: if we took care of our veterans, if we treated poor people like we want to be treated, if we didn't make rules for the economy that let wealth grow at the expense of the poor: then Uber couldn't exist in their current business plan.
Saying "at least Uber lets people make some money" is an excuse for exploitation. It may be true, it may be better than nothing, but it's not actually a good solution.
It's only exploitation if you define it as such. Uber is a business (and if they weren't, then I at least wouldn't be interested in them) - they voluntarily give people money for voluntarily performing a task for them - what a concept. They like to hire vets because: 1) there are tax breaks, 2) it's a marketing point, 3) vets have already proven themselves to some degree. But point one is the most impactful - tax incentives are the self-abuse zits of our existence - you have to address them, but they only exist to balance out some other issue of complication.
Being a vet doesn't make him particularly special - there are 20 million of us for the VA to ignore, after all. Any solution that puts the $160 billion annual budget of the VA and $60 billion DOD health budget into non-political hands is a non starter - and giving up political control doesn't happen in civilized society, especially one where vets vote for one party 20 points more than the other - there's no particular pressure on either party to fix that - one party doesn't appeal to most vets for a myriad of reasons, and the other has already captured those votes in spite of their general indifference.
The "Gig Economy" exists because of the complications of doing it any other way, and is the only perturbation likely to get us off whatever local maxima our ever-increasing bureaucratic approach to life has captured us on.
Why do you think Uber couldn't function without signing up poor drivers (veterans or otherwise)?
Hard to judge anyone's economic circumstances from a 15 minute ride, but anecdotally most of my drivers have seemed to be folks with available hours and an available car looking to make some extra money. Never heard anyone describe Uber as something they were forced into by circumstance.
I know someone who works a marketing/sales job, they're making enough and saving enough to afford a condo in the near future. They also do some uber driving. It isn't always poor people, it's people who want to make some extra cash and who want more flexible schedules.
You know what I think every time I see an article like this?
Did you really go to Iraq? Because the Iraq that I saw made me thankful as shit that I basically won the lottery of living in the developed world. Got some first world problems? Who cares. I have a CIB, too. But you know what I hate almost more than anything? People that shim their CIB into a conversation hoping to add more weight to their words.
Life is rough for the vast majority of people on the planet. Take your experiences in hand and be thankful you made it out of that shithole alive.
That is sure some good writing because it touches so many problems our generation face. I would like to point out the question mentioned, why are we different from the great generation?
So here is a little love story about a vet from the great generation. Grandfather had 6 gunwounds and worked all his life on a coal mine in Siberia. He also was the happiest man I ever met.
He was sent to army because he was dating the wrong girl, my grandmother. Some local "boss" wanted to merry her so he sent my grandpa to the army. After three years of service grandfather had been offered to go to a Militar Academy, thats when he got a letter telling him that he had a daughter. It also stated thet grandmother went to work on coalmines on Shpitzbergen (google it), so her parents and little daughter get additional food supplies.
So he rejected the offer, droped out of the force and went back to Siberia. The army was not happy about it. He didnt get any military benefits, no badges, no pension, no documents of where he's been or what he's done. Only 6 gunwounds on his leg, arm and torso. When he got back he's made a fake electricians papers and got a job on a local coal mine. When grandmother found out that he is back she returned home in a few months. They got married and had 2 more kids. My granddad worked on the same coal mine for the rest of his life. They lived and died in the same 500sf wooden duplex. Coal heating, cold water 300 meters away from the home, WC in the yard. He drove one single motorcycle all his life. They have never had a phone, so he walked to the post office once a week to talk to his daughters.
How come he's been the happiest man I've ever met? Well, he loved fishing, his yard, cards and his family. He died a few years ago. His daughters had to fly half the world to get to the funeral. One lives in Tuscany, Italy, another in Santa Clara, CA.
What made that generation great? Maybe they did what had to be done and were happy about it. Perhaps they never expected much from life and tresured little what they had. Sure they had something our generation is missing.
PS: Grandfather's sister told this story to my aunt only after he died. He's never mentioned army or the hardtimes.
I find this mildly frightening, though hopefully that is just my imagination getting the best of me. A combat soldier who takes strangers around town all day, while thinking how much he identifies with the main character of Taxi Driver, a recluse vigilante who also kept a written diary of his thoughts before attempting to assassinate a politician.
He identifies with the character, but the movie is an exaggeration or taking the mindset to an extreme.
Many people identify with the main character from Fight Club, and quote it often, but none of us are developing split personality disorders or fighting with ourselves in a bar parking lot or starting an underground fighting club.
What should frighten you is that being an Uber driver is the best employment option for a war veteran with PTSD. This guy has his writing, and I'd hire him on the spot just reading that article, but not all vets have that even.
Some background to this: the author, Colby Buzzell, is/was famous for his blog "My War" written while we was serving in Iraq. It was compelling reading to say the least, for example "Men in Black":
Semi-related, this reminds me of a friend-of-a-friend at the time who was in Iraq. He also had a gift for both writing and photography, though I don't think he ever achieved success of either. Here's a rather horrific photographic post from the time about the results of some of the ammunition used: http://lafinjack.livejournal.com/41715.html
His blog from that time period is both fascinating and horrifying in both pictures and stories.
I'm glad that the author is working through his problems, or, at the very least, expressing them through some fantastic writing. He makes some very astute observations that I don't think many of us would have access to otherwise. He is also the vocal minority of vet Uber drivers. 99% of vet Uber drivers are simply shuttling people around with these sorts of thoughts stewing repeatedly in their brain; most likely with no creative outlet or release other than alcohol/drugs because the treatment options are far from adequate for PTSD-afflicted vets.
There's a shallow reason and a deep reason people like to read these stories about what it's like to be an Uber driver. The shallow reason is that these drivers usually have great stories about all of the strange, quirky people that come creeping out of the woodwork at night and put their real selves on display for the invisible taxi driver. The deep reason is that you like to see how bad these guys really have it, and then think to yourself "wow, I sure am glad that I don't have to do that for a living and work for that awful company that makes a lot of money employing/exploiting vets." A schadenfreude of sorts.
Anyways, I commend the author for sticking his neck out and writing about the problems he perceives. It has sparked a dialogue here, and seeded ideas in my mind, along with the many others that have read the article. You don't have to agree with his points, or even like the guy as a human being, but it's great that he's got us all thinking.
What a great piece that describes the new type existential despair seen in the modern world. How are we so isolated in spite of connectedness? The question of burning time, for money, for... what? How does one come to serve the haves who happened into success and wealth and prestige?
Still though, he makes more money than I do working as a computer engineer, which is a small consolation.
Anyway, outstanding read and I sincerely hope things improve for him and vets everywhere.
A nice piece of writing. Personally I hate feeling obliged to talk to bus drivers and taxi drivers but when a conversation happens it is often rewarding.
That said, whilst the tech industry is certainly booming, the average tech worker is not getting an uber to their house in Palo Alto. Even on $150k salaries they are living quite ordinary lives in small rented apartments in the city or maybe a townhouse an hour away on the commuter train.
>Stuck on my dashboard where everyone can see is my Combat Infantry Badge... destroy enemy with direct fire ..a conversation starter...no one notices
gee, maybe try some photos of a massacred village, or burned convoy full of children
>Our unit slogan had been "Punish the Deserving."
not psychotic at all
>my thoughts drift, inevitably, to the voiceovers from Taxi Driver that have been rattling around in my head for months
sign of pathetic VA hospitals psychiatric care. I hope someone will notice this article and take care of poor dude.
>You're either part of the "haves" who work in tech, talk about tech, cater to tech, or try to make a living off tech, or you're part of the have-nots, the people who aren't in tech and are being driven out of this town
Umm thats not how it works buddy. Haves and have-nots is about wealth. What you describe is education and skills. You are mixing cause and effect.
>Many who work in tech are living their lives as if it's the carefree Roaring 20s, while I'm more or less stuck in the Great Depression.
weird, its like people who decided to do something productive in life, instead of killing people on the other side of the planet, are actually doing something with their lives, instead of drinking until you fall under the bar while reminiscing 'countless "movement to contact" missions'.
>I'm the dark guy driving whitey
nice, thats just classy.
>A robot could do my fucking job
The way things are going robots will replace your previous job too.
This is how I imagine most people who lead with, "I'm a veteran", think.
It boggles my mind that someone feels deserving of respect because they found themselves in a low income situation and joined the military because of it.
Relative to other low income, low skill, employment opportunities, joining the military is rather safe. Compare it to entry level construction workers for instance.
So I'm supposed to pay tax dollars for your salary and then give up my seat on a plane because you're working just like the rest of us?
By the way, thanks to everyone who is a contributing member of society. That goes for roofers, factory workers and military members alike, but please don't ask for special treatment from me, because I'm not likely to give it to you.
A small portion of the country has to make the ultimate sacrifice (health & mental stability) in order to keep people like you safe, happy, stable, and employed.
Any number of events could have led you down the same path. What if your parents had died while you were young? What if you were born poor & the military was your ticket to decent pay and an education? You're lucky that you get to live the life that you do.
You should show some respect and practice a little empathy rather than picking on a lonely, disenchanted, divorced, PTSD-afflicted vet who was ordered by your government to kill your enemies.
And hopefully this talk of a basic income will be the most sensible solution instead of forcing veterans and people with low incomes to beg and wait for any sort of help. It's disturbing that this guy has to wait for months to get veterans benefits.
I totally sympathise with the man, and i believe that this is an extremely well written article. At the same time though i want to mention that plenty of times when i get on a taxi i'm super tired, maybe distressed and really in no mood to talk to anyone. Glaring outside of the window saying nothing is my favourite thing to do, but many people might prefer watching pictures on Instagram from their hometowns and smile. As someone else said "C'est la vie"
"Many who work in tech are living their lives as if it's the carefree Roaring 20s, while I'm more or less stuck in the Great Depression."
Of course, the roaring twenties were themselves times of relative inequality, and that name only describes the excitement, culture, and affluence of the urban rich of the era. The author seems to be describing the modern day euphoria over the power of the tech industry to make a new world as similarly one-sided.
No one in Silicon Valley gives a damn about anyone outside it, or indeed outside their own social and professional circles. There's nothing intrinsically unusual about this, of course, but it lends a certain sardonic amusement to an outsider's perspective on the "changing the world" rhetoric which SV has taken beyond mere cliché to what may be a new and previously unimagined realm of banality.
[+] [-] AndrewKemendo|10 years ago|reply
The broader population only know about these issues through Jon Stewart or from recent press, but have no connection with it otherwise nor could they really care. Should they? I don't know, probably, but not necessarily.
Even within the military only those who are have been in the Army, or were deployed to a combat zone, really understand the significance of a CIB. So expecting anyone to recognize it, let alone start a conversation around it would be unexpected at the least - I know I wouldn't start a conversation around it. Putting it on display is hack and is looking for attention.
I don't think that the US population owes us anything, but many veterans don't agree. This is part of a broader conversation about how the US public sees and interacts with it's veterans and the military more broadly. At the end of the day though the Stolen Valor shaming, demanding veteran/military discounts just reeks of entitlement. Given that we have been an all-volunteer force over the past 40 years I don't think anyone can claim they didn't know what they were getting into, granting that there are shady practices with recruiting that go on.
In the end, I feel like stories like this just isolate veterans further. Rather than bring us more into the community as someone who has a unique experience and valuable point of view, it keeps the division between "civilian" and "military/veterans" alive and I think that is damaging on the whole.
[+] [-] carboncopy|10 years ago|reply
Through the lens of being a veteran, I find most of it to be overblown, though in the case of the author I think it's perhaps somewhat justified. However, he should admit that his issues aren't systemic; they're personal. His issues are 99% due to psychological issues from his combat service, not a tech-industry imposed Jim Crow Era (the Driving Miss Daisy comment in the article).
I don't think I'd ever comment on a CIB on display, it seems about as appropriate as the proverbial ignorant question, "Did you kill anybody?"
A good half of my friends who returned from combat had significant difficulty fitting into normal American life, and experienced psychological and relationship issues. I wish veterans groups would focus their rhetoric on that specific problem. Pay for servicemembers has increased far beyond parity with civilian jobs for the vast majority of occupational specialties, the Post-9/11 GI Bill truly solves the post-service employment training issue, and the stigma of being a veteran is essentially nonexistent. The hard problem that needs to be focused on is the significant therapy and rehabilitation need for the minority of veterans who actually were in combat.
What gets me is that he's whining about his raw deal as a veteran (pysch issues aside, is nonexistent), but he fails to accept responsibility for his life choices of 1) graduating (for free) with what I presume is a creative writing degree and failing to take internships, 2) failing to live in an affordable city (what's wrong with living in Oakland or Union City and driving over the Bay Bridge?), and 3) lamenting his lack of money as he wastes it at the bar (presumably in SoMa, and expensive).
The reason for the above is not because he's intentionally avoiding reality, it's because veterans often self-segregate in veterans groups. He lives in the TL because that's where his veterans organization operates (originally for Vietnam War vets with a more dire situation than his). Hopefully now that his Vice article has gotten him some more exposure, he'll have more interaction with non-vets and gain some perspective.
[+] [-] Bahamut|10 years ago|reply
Veterans often deserve some fault as well - many don't make good decisions with their life due to some desire, and end up regretting their choices. I've seen many not make every effort to set themselves up for long term success, and often shoot for & encourage short term success, even if it ends up in a long term dead end. Perhaps they are not much different than a lot of the US population in that regard, but wishing for things to be different based on past experience is not going to do anyone any good.
[+] [-] kelukelugames|10 years ago|reply
My guess is that it's easier for HN to relate to the vets who have college degrees. And the problems faced by enlisted men are completely alien.
[+] [-] justonepost|10 years ago|reply
I feel the same way about teachers, farmers, policemen as well.
[+] [-] scott_usa|10 years ago|reply
This article propagates the 'veterans as victims' narrative.
And no, I don't want to talk to you either, Uber driver.
[+] [-] methodover|10 years ago|reply
Anyways, I had no idea that Uber drivers made so much money. $40-$50 an hour! That's incredible. I make the low end of that working as the tech lead of a ~15-person tech startup. I bet that car maintenance takes a big chunk out of his pay but still.
My first reaction to this piece was "what the fuck are you whining about? You make more than most people, and even more than me and my job is way harder than yours!"
Then again, I totally empathize with his alienation from his own job. It's hard, spending the precious hours of your short life on things other than what you're really passionate about. It sucks that our society rewards being a taxi driver more than creative things -- like this guy's amazing writing. I don't know what to do about that, and I feel his pain there.
[+] [-] pkorzeniewski|10 years ago|reply
Isn't this true for the vast majority? Most people take jobs not because they're passionate about them, but because they need money to pay bills and buy stuff - simple as that. Some earn more, some earn less, but at the end of the day almost everyone would like to do something else. Even in IT, where wages are high and work is comfortable, I doubt most are passionate about their work - it's a different thing hacking some fun app or game in your spare time and working on some monstrous enterprise software, where you're just a tiny cog doing what you're told to do.
[+] [-] VLM|10 years ago|reply
This has occasionally been an issue for me with contracting... hey I got a gig 8 hours/one day per week. Um, ok, great hourly pay, but how am I supposed to feed my family working only 8 hours/week, even if the hourly pay is 2x what I get now?
That's why writing is a good second gig for the article author. No way to make $45 between 10am and 11am Sunday, well, go write something, its not like you're losing fares...
[+] [-] ild|10 years ago|reply
No. Especially outside Bay Area. More like $10-$20/h.
[+] [-] hackuser|10 years ago|reply
He said he didn't make that much.
[+] [-] hiddencost|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] saurik|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tosseraccount|10 years ago|reply
The best creative people make a lot more than the best tax drivers.
"Society" does reward them.
[+] [-] EugeneOZ|10 years ago|reply
It's sad he is so lonely, but taxi is not that place which should fix it - maybe dating sites.
[+] [-] PuffinBlue|10 years ago|reply
This isn't a pity piece, he not expecting something from his passengers or expecting them to wonder about him. In fact, I'd say that's the whole point of the piece - how he knows he an outsider, a nobody in a world of somebodies, a dispassionate observer, one who recognises his own lack of humanity to his charges:
> A robot could do my fucking job
He's grateful for the job, grateful for the lifeline and merely telling the objective story of an outsider in a different world.
> Where I live, people are already dead. But at night, I pick up people with lives, and money in their pockets, places to go, things to do, people to see.
And yet, he reminds us throughout that people are fuck ups no matter their monetary wealth or 'social standing':
>One pick-up I had was outside a restaurant in Hayes Valley. I had my hazards on while I waited patiently, observing them passionately kiss each another. They kissed as if they were in love. It reminded me of the way I kissed, when I too was in love. Their goodbye took forever and when she finally got in my car, she pulled out her cell phone.
>"Hey honey, how's it going? Oh, it was boring, I wanted to leave the whole time. How are the kids? Good... Oh, remember that one coworker I told you about? I just found out he's been sleeping with all the associates... he's married too, I like his wife... he's a good guy..." I'm sure he is.
I think the piece is fascinating, not least because I've felt the sting of invisibility myself, but don't go mistaking it as a pining lament to be one of the chosen ones or that he's calling on his passengers to be his psychologist.
[+] [-] illumen|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nicboobees|10 years ago|reply
I guess the next step down this path is to replace waiters etc with robots - again reducing the amount you have to interact with other humans.
When I get in a taxi, I actually enjoy talking to the driver, asking about the local area, the news, and making both our days a tiny bit more interesting.
As the world population increases, and cities grow and grow I can only see this getting worse - millions of humans bunched together, and all of them scared to talk to each other.
(In case you hadn't guessed I'm not a city person)
[+] [-] snake_plissken|10 years ago|reply
Though I was surprised to read that very few people talk to him. I always chat up the taxi or uber or lyft drivers. You will meet the most fascinating of people.
The Nigerian Uber driver who also runs a West African Chamber of Commerce to facilitate trade and business among the local immigrant population. The motorhead Uber driver who explained to me how to drive a motorcycle from Atlantic City to Philadelphia in under 45 minutes. The Lyft driver who was in school getting a masters degree in physics. The taxi driver who is a fanatical Chelsea fan and almost comes to the bar with you on a Sunday morning to watch the games, but can't quite do it because the last time he did that they lost.
[+] [-] pavel_lishin|10 years ago|reply
I'm an introvert. I don't particularly want to talk to people. There are times when I'll specifically take the subway, even when a cab would make more sense, just so I can be alone and read a book or listen to a podcast or something.
On my last trip, I took about six rides, and talked to all but one. One conversation was fantastic, one was kinda fun, and the rest were just boring conversations I've already forgotten. And I consider that particular trip, with its ~20% "success" rate an outlier.
There are days where I don't want to meet a fascinating person, but just want to get from point A to point B.
[+] [-] scotty79|10 years ago|reply
... or to strangers.
[+] [-] aaronem|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dsr_|10 years ago|reply
Saying "at least Uber lets people make some money" is an excuse for exploitation. It may be true, it may be better than nothing, but it's not actually a good solution.
[+] [-] thrill|10 years ago|reply
Being a vet doesn't make him particularly special - there are 20 million of us for the VA to ignore, after all. Any solution that puts the $160 billion annual budget of the VA and $60 billion DOD health budget into non-political hands is a non starter - and giving up political control doesn't happen in civilized society, especially one where vets vote for one party 20 points more than the other - there's no particular pressure on either party to fix that - one party doesn't appeal to most vets for a myriad of reasons, and the other has already captured those votes in spite of their general indifference.
The "Gig Economy" exists because of the complications of doing it any other way, and is the only perturbation likely to get us off whatever local maxima our ever-increasing bureaucratic approach to life has captured us on.
[+] [-] twoodfin|10 years ago|reply
Hard to judge anyone's economic circumstances from a 15 minute ride, but anecdotally most of my drivers have seemed to be folks with available hours and an available car looking to make some extra money. Never heard anyone describe Uber as something they were forced into by circumstance.
[+] [-] omouse|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fapjacks|10 years ago|reply
Did you really go to Iraq? Because the Iraq that I saw made me thankful as shit that I basically won the lottery of living in the developed world. Got some first world problems? Who cares. I have a CIB, too. But you know what I hate almost more than anything? People that shim their CIB into a conversation hoping to add more weight to their words.
Life is rough for the vast majority of people on the planet. Take your experiences in hand and be thankful you made it out of that shithole alive.
[+] [-] sibmike|10 years ago|reply
So here is a little love story about a vet from the great generation. Grandfather had 6 gunwounds and worked all his life on a coal mine in Siberia. He also was the happiest man I ever met.
He was sent to army because he was dating the wrong girl, my grandmother. Some local "boss" wanted to merry her so he sent my grandpa to the army. After three years of service grandfather had been offered to go to a Militar Academy, thats when he got a letter telling him that he had a daughter. It also stated thet grandmother went to work on coalmines on Shpitzbergen (google it), so her parents and little daughter get additional food supplies.
So he rejected the offer, droped out of the force and went back to Siberia. The army was not happy about it. He didnt get any military benefits, no badges, no pension, no documents of where he's been or what he's done. Only 6 gunwounds on his leg, arm and torso. When he got back he's made a fake electricians papers and got a job on a local coal mine. When grandmother found out that he is back she returned home in a few months. They got married and had 2 more kids. My granddad worked on the same coal mine for the rest of his life. They lived and died in the same 500sf wooden duplex. Coal heating, cold water 300 meters away from the home, WC in the yard. He drove one single motorcycle all his life. They have never had a phone, so he walked to the post office once a week to talk to his daughters.
How come he's been the happiest man I've ever met? Well, he loved fishing, his yard, cards and his family. He died a few years ago. His daughters had to fly half the world to get to the funeral. One lives in Tuscany, Italy, another in Santa Clara, CA.
What made that generation great? Maybe they did what had to be done and were happy about it. Perhaps they never expected much from life and tresured little what they had. Sure they had something our generation is missing.
PS: Grandfather's sister told this story to my aunt only after he died. He's never mentioned army or the hardtimes.
[+] [-] hellofunk|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] surge|10 years ago|reply
Many people identify with the main character from Fight Club, and quote it often, but none of us are developing split personality disorders or fighting with ourselves in a bar parking lot or starting an underground fighting club.
What should frighten you is that being an Uber driver is the best employment option for a war veteran with PTSD. This guy has his writing, and I'd hire him on the spot just reading that article, but not all vets have that even.
[+] [-] matrix|10 years ago|reply
https://web.archive.org/web/20041206093944/http://cbftw.blog...
[+] [-] Blackthorn|10 years ago|reply
His blog from that time period is both fascinating and horrifying in both pictures and stories.
[+] [-] roymurdock|10 years ago|reply
There's a shallow reason and a deep reason people like to read these stories about what it's like to be an Uber driver. The shallow reason is that these drivers usually have great stories about all of the strange, quirky people that come creeping out of the woodwork at night and put their real selves on display for the invisible taxi driver. The deep reason is that you like to see how bad these guys really have it, and then think to yourself "wow, I sure am glad that I don't have to do that for a living and work for that awful company that makes a lot of money employing/exploiting vets." A schadenfreude of sorts.
Anyways, I commend the author for sticking his neck out and writing about the problems he perceives. It has sparked a dialogue here, and seeded ideas in my mind, along with the many others that have read the article. You don't have to agree with his points, or even like the guy as a human being, but it's great that he's got us all thinking.
[+] [-] MattyRad|10 years ago|reply
Still though, he makes more money than I do working as a computer engineer, which is a small consolation.
Anyway, outstanding read and I sincerely hope things improve for him and vets everywhere.
[+] [-] justinhj|10 years ago|reply
That said, whilst the tech industry is certainly booming, the average tech worker is not getting an uber to their house in Palo Alto. Even on $150k salaries they are living quite ordinary lives in small rented apartments in the city or maybe a townhouse an hour away on the commuter train.
[+] [-] rasz_pl|10 years ago|reply
>Stuck on my dashboard where everyone can see is my Combat Infantry Badge... destroy enemy with direct fire ..a conversation starter...no one notices
gee, maybe try some photos of a massacred village, or burned convoy full of children
>Our unit slogan had been "Punish the Deserving."
not psychotic at all
>my thoughts drift, inevitably, to the voiceovers from Taxi Driver that have been rattling around in my head for months
sign of pathetic VA hospitals psychiatric care. I hope someone will notice this article and take care of poor dude.
>You're either part of the "haves" who work in tech, talk about tech, cater to tech, or try to make a living off tech, or you're part of the have-nots, the people who aren't in tech and are being driven out of this town
Umm thats not how it works buddy. Haves and have-nots is about wealth. What you describe is education and skills. You are mixing cause and effect.
>Many who work in tech are living their lives as if it's the carefree Roaring 20s, while I'm more or less stuck in the Great Depression.
weird, its like people who decided to do something productive in life, instead of killing people on the other side of the planet, are actually doing something with their lives, instead of drinking until you fall under the bar while reminiscing 'countless "movement to contact" missions'.
>I'm the dark guy driving whitey
nice, thats just classy.
>A robot could do my fucking job
The way things are going robots will replace your previous job too.
[+] [-] toolz|10 years ago|reply
It boggles my mind that someone feels deserving of respect because they found themselves in a low income situation and joined the military because of it.
Relative to other low income, low skill, employment opportunities, joining the military is rather safe. Compare it to entry level construction workers for instance.
So I'm supposed to pay tax dollars for your salary and then give up my seat on a plane because you're working just like the rest of us?
By the way, thanks to everyone who is a contributing member of society. That goes for roofers, factory workers and military members alike, but please don't ask for special treatment from me, because I'm not likely to give it to you.
[+] [-] roymurdock|10 years ago|reply
Any number of events could have led you down the same path. What if your parents had died while you were young? What if you were born poor & the military was your ticket to decent pay and an education? You're lucky that you get to live the life that you do.
You should show some respect and practice a little empathy rather than picking on a lonely, disenchanted, divorced, PTSD-afflicted vet who was ordered by your government to kill your enemies.
[+] [-] brc|10 years ago|reply
The simple truth is that for many people! they hire someone to do a job and would rather not talk while that job is done.
[+] [-] aaronem|10 years ago|reply
In a few years, one will. God bless Silicon Valley.
[+] [-] omouse|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skywritergr|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pkkim|10 years ago|reply
Of course, the roaring twenties were themselves times of relative inequality, and that name only describes the excitement, culture, and affluence of the urban rich of the era. The author seems to be describing the modern day euphoria over the power of the tech industry to make a new world as similarly one-sided.
[+] [-] aaronem|10 years ago|reply
No one in Silicon Valley gives a damn about anyone outside it, or indeed outside their own social and professional circles. There's nothing intrinsically unusual about this, of course, but it lends a certain sardonic amusement to an outsider's perspective on the "changing the world" rhetoric which SV has taken beyond mere cliché to what may be a new and previously unimagined realm of banality.
[+] [-] Alex999|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|10 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] unknown|10 years ago|reply
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