VICTORY! Uber Has Released An Option For "Quiet Mode" So Your Driver Won't Talk To You

Fast Company - We’ve all been there: We just want a nice quiet ride to the airport during which we have time to think because we have a lot on our mind. But then the overly chatty Uber driver won’t shut up. Well, now Uber is coming to the rescue.

The company has launched a new preference in the app that allows you to specify what level of chattiness you desire during an Uber ride. Beginning today in the U.S., riders will be able to select “Quiet preferred” or “happy to chat” in the app, or just leave the setting at “No preference,” so the driver will get a heads-up before he or she picks you up.

The new preference is rolling out with a slate of other new “rider preferences” that Uber riders can select before they hail an Uber Black or Uber Black SUV.

This is huge and a long, longggg time coming. Look, I get that being an Uber driver can be a thankless job. I get they taxi annoying pedestrians around all day, and in NYC, it’s not an easy job because everyone here drives like a maniac and there are bikers begging to get run over left and right. But it is their job, nonetheless. And often times when I’m in an Uber, I just want to put in my headphones and relax and try not to let the start and stop traffic make me motion sick. However, I hate being rude too. So when the driver starts asking me where I’m from, what I do, where I’m going, my social security number, the name of my 3rd grade teacher, my favorite starting hand in poker, and how much Big Cat makes, I always feel I have to answer. (Columbia Maryland, blogger, Hell, 213-2…wait what nevermind on that one, Mrs. Gardner, Aces, $60,000/year). Only once out of thousands of Uber rides have I been like “man, I just really can’t talk right now” and it felt bad. The guy just wanted some friendly chitter chatter and I wanted absolutely NOTHING more than to sit there in silence for 15 minutes.

But now, finally, you can, in a non-rude way, let your driver know you aren’t about that chit chat life. I don’t even care if they talk on their phone, if they listen to whatever weird music they want to listen to, any of that. Just don’t start interrogating me about my life. That’s all I ask.

But of course, it’s not as easy as it seems:

But it’s telling that they are only available as options on Uber Black and Uber Black SUV rides. The company clearly is hoping to push people into the more expensive Uber ride categories to generate more revenue.

God damn Uber. Goes public and starts needing to get more revenue. Sigh. Whatever though. It’s a good start.