Uber Driver Tells Cancer Patient: ‘You Deserve What Happened to You’
Most of us have a story that starts out like Alexandra Craigle’s. We ordered an Uber, realized we weren’t quite ready to hop in the cab, and canceled the ride request. It’s a pretty mundane premise that no one would think twice about.
But there are two things that make Craigle’s story different. First, she is a cancer patient who canceled her Uber request because she forgot her scarf at the doctor’s office following a round of radiation treatment. And second, the Uber driver was so offended that she canceled the trip that he told her she deserved her cancer.
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And lest you think this is just some fictional tale from the Internet, Boing Boing’s Xeni Jardin had a Twitter exchange with Craigle about the incident and Craigle provided the screenshots to prove her story.
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Moreover, Uber got involved. Andrew Salzberg, who describes himself in his Twitter bio as an operations manager for the company, reached out to Craigle to sort things out. As Craigle tweeted later, sorting things out meant getting a $30 credit for her trouble.
It’s already been a rough few weeks for Uber, what with its labor lawsuit, surge pricing controversies, subprime loan scandal, and an executive who recommended smearing journalists who bad-mouth the company. Something tells us employing a driver who verbally abuses cancer patients isn’t going to help.
Update: Boston.com reached out to Uber for comment and go this statement from spokesperson Taylor Bennett: “Uber has a zero tolerance policy for abusive or threatening language on our platform, and as we have done in this instance, we immediately deactivate any driver found in violation of that policy. While the vast majority of Uber driver partners provide five-star trips with each ride, when a driver fails to meet the level of service and courtesy Uber riders know and love, we take action immediately.’’
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