I'm not new to the ride-hailing game, fuck no. And heck, I'm from the Philippines. A lot of Grab drivers use this tactic too, in the hopes that the passenger will cancel to avoid a penalty.
The problem is, I can be petty as fuck. There was no way in hell I would cancel the ride before that scumbag of a driver did, and so I was already preparing to spend the night sleeping on the couch at my mother-in-law's living room -- to, at first, my wife's amusement and then, later on, to her chagrin (she was pissed, all right: more at me than at the Uber driver. And I couldn't blame her. Lol).
And so there I was, comfortable on the couch, actually beginning to doze off and fighting off sleep, while the driver continued driving home and hoping that I'd cancel (it was already late, close to 11:00 p.m., which was why I didn't take a bus or the subway, which I prefer). I even saw on the map that he was already more than 30 minutes away from me, and he finally parked his car in what I assumed was his garage, while he waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Oh you chose to fuck with the wrong guy, my friend.
And then, finally, he cancelled and Uber assigned me a new driver, who arrived in less than five minutes.
(To be clear: I wouldn't mind if he sent me a message asking me to cancel, especially if it's an emergency; believe me, I understand. I'm not some heartless bastard. But I know when someone's trying to screw me up.)
I've heard some tourists here in Mexico complaining about Uber drivers and taxi drivers, that they can be scumbags (the colloquial term is "pendejo.") And sure, yeah, they have a point.
But obviously, they haven't met NAIA taxi drivers. (There are scumbags, and there are SCUMBAGS.)
And then, there are petty passengers who won't let scumbags be scumbags.
