Uber drivers open up on whether they actually like talking to passengers
Knowing what to say to your taxi driver can be a tricky business.
Do you sit in silence or try and strike up a conversation? Either way you're taking the risk of an awkward ride, and with Uber in the mix the drivers get to rate you too.
While some enjoy a quiet ride where the only thing spoken is 'anywhere on the left here, pal' when it's time to be dropped off, others would chalk that one up as an unbearably awkward silence.
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On the other hand a good chat with the cabbie can really help the journey go pleasantly, but that runs the risk of being stuck in a car with a stranger when the conversation has died on its a**e.
When striking up a conversation you tend to be pretty safe with the standard opener of 'been busy tonight?', but they've all heard that one a million times so you may feel pressured to come up with something more creative.
Everyone has horror stories, I've been in taxis where the driver has told me that just a couple of nights ago somebody was sick right where I was sitting, which I could probably have done without knowing.
Then there was one very long ride where the driver lectured me on his deep interest in wiccan and made it abundantly clear he was a true believer, right around the time he was telling me a list of books to buy on the subject I started wondering how much rolling out of a moving car would really hurt.
However, for every bad journey there's plenty of much better ones whether they were silent or chatty, and if you think it's bad for us then spare a thought for the drivers who've had pretty much every conversation under the sun with the people they taxi around.
Taking to Reddit, Uber drivers lifted the lid on whether they actually liked talking to their passengers and it's safe to say the results were very mixed.
One driver said their 'best passengers are the ones that quietly sit in the back', while another agreed that their 'dream passenger is the one who tells me to turn up the music and then sits quietly'.
Another cabbie said most of the conversations they had were 'mundane and boring', but perked up at the prospect of being asked about things to do in the local area.
Someone else shared a bit of a horror story when they got stuck with an 'obvious racist' and felt they had to keep quiet for pretty much the whole ride for fear things 'might get violent' if they pushed back.
Others preferred to strike up a conversation or have passengers who wanted to talk to them, saying 'at least you get an interaction'.
A second driver said they 'don't mind talking', but admitted they 'hate coming up with conversation', so it sounds like it's very much passenger's choice as far as taxi talk goes.
There seemed to be a bit of consensus that it was better to let the passenger set the pace of the conversation, maybe throwing in an opening line asking them about their day and gauging how chatty they are by their response.
Joe Harker