[HN Gopher] The Soul of a Pedicab Driver
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The Soul of a Pedicab Driver
Author : haritha-j
Score : 136 points
Date : 2026-03-20 09:40 UTC (13 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.sheldonbrown.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.sheldonbrown.com)
| xnx wrote:
| Quite different than the scam pedicabs that operate in US cities
| now.
| raddan wrote:
| What's the scam?
| Waterluvian wrote:
| They'll end up charging you like $120 for a 10 min trip by
| just being deceptive and evasive about the fee structure.
| jacquesm wrote:
| Then you give them the finger and walk away.
| Waterluvian wrote:
| It's not that easy. He had those little chains strung
| across the side exits and wouldn't remove them until I
| paid. I told him they don't let you out of Canada with
| that kind of cash but he didn't believe me and laid siege
| to my day while eating a slice of pizza like a taco. The
| worst thing was that this was my _second_ mishap with
| non-combustion locomotion that day. ...I still swear that
| was _not_ the real Secretariat and that Central Park isn
| 't in New Jersey.
| jacquesm wrote:
| Hm. Ok, well, I guess we would have handled that
| differently.
|
| I had something similar happen in Germany, on the way
| from the (international) airport to a hotel the driver
| started some kind of spiel that suddenly his banking
| machine had broken and he couldn't take card payments. My
| friend/colleague Jaap who was with me said we'd pay cash
| and I said no way, and after fiddling for a bit with his
| phone (mine wasn't a smartphone) gave the driver a
| different address. When we ended up in front of the
| police station the driver became a lot more friendly,
| drove us to the hotel instead and suddenly found that his
| banking machine had miraculously started working again...
|
| I find that by giving in to such fraud I'm helping to
| perpetrate it so I've vowed not to let it happen, at the
| same time there is always a chance that such an
| interaction would turn violent. After all, they've
| already decided they want to steal from you. My weighing
| of this is that they have more to lose than me because
| I'm a transient and they are not.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| If they don't let you out of a vehicle, that's kidnapping
| and / or extortion and a call to the police should
| resolve it quickly. In a functioning society, anyway.
| mmooss wrote:
| Easy to say from the comfort of my terminal, but some
| urban advice:
|
| Remove the chains and get out; most important is your
| freedom and safety. They aren't going to risk prison for
| assault and battery. If they give you trouble, call the
| police immediately. Take a photo of them and text it to a
| friend. Don't act intimidated no matter what; it just
| makes them think they are getting somewhere with you.
|
| Then offer a reasonable fare. If they don't accept, offer
| to call the police and let law enforcement sort it out.
| They'll take the fare.
| gambiting wrote:
| The problem with these is that they are often ran by
| actual gangs - if you try that, you will find yourself
| very quickly surrounded by multiple angry looking men who
| will not let you leave unless you pay.
| Sholmesy wrote:
| (London perspective), I've intervened from tourists getting
| scammed before from these guys, and they get violent _very_
| quickly. Especially fun because they have their gang all
| around.
|
| Unlicensed, unmaintained, motorized vehicles on pedestrian
| paths, a miracle no one has been killed yet.
|
| It's kind of insane, and is a microcosm of the UK's
| inability to do anything.
|
| - Everyone hates them, from residents, to businesses, to
| the tourists that get harassed by them.
|
| - There are multiple laws, that if the police wanted to,
| they could enforce at any time.
|
| - Nothing gets done.
|
| It is an impressive level of apathy from an already
| toothless government.
| JohnnyLondon wrote:
| They have finally after many years put some legislation
| in to allow TfL to regulate them. It comes into force
| this October.
|
| https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-
| releases/2026/februa...
| Sholmesy wrote:
| Yes, much like how they've regulated delivery drivers.
| The person listed on the app is definitely the one that
| delivers, very effective.
|
| I detest the concept that we need yet another "law"
| before we can actual enforce anything. There are plenty
| of laws being broken already, we should go and prosecute
| them before we start making up new ones to ignore.
| ndsipa_pomu wrote:
| They're popular in London too. The scam seems to be that if
| tourists don't arrange the price beforehand, it'll be
| arbitrarily inflated - they don't run a meter like a licensed
| taxi.
| smelendez wrote:
| Always ask for a quote. That means every ride, not every
| visit to that city. And confirm what methods of payment they
| can take before you get in. If they're evasive or you get a
| bad vibe, don't get in.
|
| If you decide to change your destination, make sure you get
| an updated quote first, for your sake and the driver's.
| _-_-__-_-_- wrote:
| What a great site design. Easy to read, simple layout almost
| comforting.
| zikduruqe wrote:
| Sheldon Brown's website is to bicycles, as Arch Linux Wiki is
| to linux.
| jacquesm wrote:
| That's quite the story. I have a family member that spent some
| time on a taxi and the stories are much the same. Assholes
| aplenty.
| A_Duck wrote:
| What a lovely article. There's a strong correlation between the
| energy you put out into the world and what you get back.
|
| I often think that as I end up confirming a grumpy/aggressive
| person's expectation I'll be a bad customer, or confirming a
| kind/present persons's expectation I'll be a good one
| bahbahbahbah wrote:
| This really is a beautiful article for those who have ears to
| hear.
| gf263 wrote:
| I must be unenlightened because this job would make me quite
| misanthropic. Even sitting in a doctors waiting room gives me
| that feeling.
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| It seems to me that a significant point of the article is that
| this is a choice you're continuously making, not an immutable
| fact about you.
| Tade0 wrote:
| I can relate but I've found it's really less about the people
| and more about my current state and how (in)frequent is my
| exposure to them.
|
| I started renting a desk in a co-working space starting this
| year and there's a new guy here who conducts his meetings in
| the room instead of going to the conference booth and uses a
| pretty loud mechanical keyboard.
|
| Half a year ago, when I was still working from home and not
| going out much, I would lose my shit. It's not that it's not
| annoying, I'm just a little bit desensitized to it.
| fwipsy wrote:
| I need to learn a similar lesson. My team lead isn't used to
| being questioned, and when I tried to correct him in a meeting it
| resulted in a big argument. I realized that I did so partly
| because I wanted to demonstrate my own knowledge. We were both
| being egotistical. Certainly he could have handled it better, but
| I could have avoided the problem entirely by finding a more
| tactful framing rather than correcting him publicly.
|
| I guess the generalized version is "it's easier to get what you
| want through compromise and avoiding conflict." Or just, "you
| catch more flies with honey than vinegar."
| RobRivera wrote:
| Praise in public, critique in private.
| lo_zamoyski wrote:
| I wouldn't say it's about compromise, or even avoiding conflict
| as such. The first thing we must always remember is what is
| true, right, and just, for our own sake above all. One ought
| never to compromise morally - you have lost the bigger game by
| doing so - and conflicts are simply a matter of fact, so it's
| all a matter of avoiding pointless engagement in conflicts that
| don't serve the good.
|
| Now, unreasonable and malicious people will transgress the
| moral, so the question is then: if I must deal with this
| person, how do I do so as fruitfully as possible?
|
| What egotistical people don't realize is that their vanity is
| not a strength, but their weakest asset. Humility is a kind of
| invulnerability, so to speak, because all humility is is a
| disposition to recognize the truth and to conform to it.
| Egotistical leaders are highly motivated by a need for
| validation, for reputation, and for "glory". So, if your boss
| is egotistical, you should manage it and leverage that ego for
| the intended aim. Don't take things personally. Focus on the
| rational goal you are all aiming at. Plant seeds in
| conversations so that the leader can permit himself to think
| your ideas are actually his. Surrender the spotlight to him.
| Let him bask in the blinding limelight. Attention is a prison;
| if he wants it so badly, let him have it. Magnanimous men are
| above such things.
|
| Never resort to trickery. This will burn you in the end,
| especially when the truth comes out. Never flatter or resort to
| adulation or sycophancy - it is smarmy, demeaning, and
| undignified; you see plenty of this in Trump's circle - but
| recognize actual strengths of the leader.
|
| Maintain composure (do not react with fear or eagerness to
| please), distance, and politeness. Be patient: this allows the
| egotistical leader's passions to cool down, creating more space
| for the rational. Frame acknowledgement and concession to
| someone else's good ideas and advice not as a loss - which is
| how egotists see things - but as a magnanimous act on his part.
| Magnanimity is foreign to the egotist, but his love of
| reputation and a desire to be seen as magnanimous suffices for
| practical purposes.
| somat wrote:
| "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar."
|
| The fun part about that truism is that when actually tried. You
| find out the flies love vinager, Far more than honey, something
| about the smell?
|
| It could be said the other way around, which is also true, the
| best way to get someone to respond is not a well structured
| question but by being wrong.
| fwipsy wrote:
| Yes, I had that one xkcd in mind as I wrote that :)
| midtake wrote:
| Just correct him. What is wrong with argument? Is he going to
| physically attack you?
| wrathofquan wrote:
| So happy to see sheldonbrown.com is still up. So much valuable
| information there.
| paddy_m wrote:
| Slightly related to the article. I have a personal cargo bike.
| The most fun that I have with it is giving friends a ride home
| from a party. People instantly start giggling and laughing. It's
| goofy, you get stares and people curious
| xp84 wrote:
| Warning: An ad on this page (that I somehow accidentally tapped)
| redirected me to an "Apple Support" scam that was so nasty in its
| attempts to fire a tel: url to start a call, that tapping "Back"
| wasn't possible. Beware of malware here.
| garciansmith wrote:
| Browsing the internet without an ad blocker is indeed
| dangerous.
| midtake wrote:
| Sheldon Brown is a treasure
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(page generated 2026-03-20 23:01 UTC)