We should know by now that not everyone gets the basic concepts of common courtesy. That's why Uber has just released a list of some rather foul behaviour that can get a passenger banned from the service. It gives new levels of insight into what the company has decided needs to be spelled out for customers.
The new community guidelines "explain in plain English the kind of behaviour we expect from both riders and drivers when using Uber," Rachel Holt, Uber's head of North American operations, outlines in a blog post on the ridesharing service's site.
The guidelines begin with a lot of text about the importance of mutual respect and safety before it gets to this list of some of the reasons riders can be banned, like damaging drivers’ or other passengers’ property — which includes breaking a driver's phone or vomiting in the car. Also on the list? Physical contact with the driver or fellow riders, which, sorry, means no backseat sexytime and no sex with your driver. Use of inappropriate and abusive language or gestures, which includes asking the driver "overly personal questions" and making racist or discriminatory comments, is also grounds for bans.
Unwanted contact with the driver or a fellow passenger after the trip is over and breaking the local law while using Uber is a no-no, too — so no human trafficking or dealing drugs in the car, either.
Uber also bans all firearms and does not tolerate fraudulent behaviour, such as disputing a charge for a made-up reason or colluding with a driver. It's also against the rules to discriminate against drivers for "race, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, gender identity, age, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law."
Those may seem like obvious rules for a service that operates on mutual trust, but then again, probably not.