The Soul of a Pedicab Driver

(sheldonbrown.com)

104 points by haritha-j7 hours ago

11 comments

paddy_m7 minutes ago
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
A_Duck4 hours ago
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
- bahbahbahbah3 hours ago
 This really is a beautiful article for those who have ears to hear.
fwipsy3 hours ago
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."
- RobRivera2 hours ago
 Praise in public, critique in private.
- lo_zamoyski46 minutes ago
 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.
 - lo_zamoyski5 minutes ago
 One of my favorite historical examples of skillful diplomacy is the case of the 16th century courtier Paweł Działyński [0]. Many people don't know this, but 16th century Poland, a superpower at its zenith, had a highly sophisticated political culture. One reason for this sophistication was that the nobility [1] had enormous political influence, making up 11% of the populace. The Polish crown [2] was highly constrained by the Sejm [3] and the Senate [4], and so the nobility - who were citizens, not subjects - did not take a submissive stance toward their king as in absolutist countries. To participate in such a political process, it was essential to have the skills necessary for political success, like oratory. Fluency in Latin, even in casual conversation, was so widespread that visitors often remarked that they felt like they had arrived in ancient Rome.In any case, Działyński was dispatched by Sigismund III [5] to the English court to protest the seizing of ships, by the English, carrying Polish goods to Spain with whom England was at war. Given an audience, he delivered a speech, in flawless Latin, that effectively rebuked the English for doing so and remarked that unless such seizure was discontinued, it would risk an open conflict with Poland. Elizabeth responded by reprimanding Działyński for his "insolence" and insulted his supposedly lack of knowledge of etiquette in dealing with a monarch.Why is this relevant? It is because Elizabeth, who is widely recognized at being quite egotistical and insecure - personally and politically - was allowed to save face among her subjects while Poland was able to secure the intended diplomatic aim. Elizabeth's court was able to spread news of the queen's boldness and facility in Latin while quietly acceding to Polish demands. Działyński was blunt, but he wasn't rude. His directness was calculated; he knew he was dealing with the Tudor cult of personality and that Elizabeth was cultivating the image of the "Warrior Queen". By being blunt, he gave her the stage she needed to put on the show she desperately needed to put on, while he was able to make clear in no uncertain terms, as representative of the Polish sovereign, the Polish Crown's demands. He knew Poland had the upper hand in objective terms while England was effectively an upstart whose sovereign relied heavily on reputational PR to maintain an image of power. Działyński sacrificed his reputation in the English court as an act of soft power to attain the diplomatic goal.[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawe%C5%82_Dzia%C5%82y%C5%84ski" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawe%C5%82_Dzia%C5%82y%C5%84sk...</a>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szlachta" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szlachta</a>[2] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_of_the_Kingdom_of_Poland" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_of_the_Kingdom_of_Poland</a>[3] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejm" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejm</a>[4] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_of_Poland" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_of_Poland</a>[5] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund_III_Vasa" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund_III_Vasa</a>
wrathofquan31 minutes ago
So happy to see sheldonbrown.com is still up. So much valuable information there.
gf2633 hours ago
I must be unenlightened because this job would make me quite misanthropic. Even sitting in a doctors waiting room gives me that feeling.
- Tade01 hour ago
 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.
- giraffe_lady3 hours ago
 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.
_-_-__-_-_-4 hours ago
What a great site design. Easy to read, simple layout almost comforting.
- zikduruqe4 hours ago
  Sheldon Brown's website is to bicycles, as Arch Linux Wiki is to linux.
jacquesm4 hours ago
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.
speefers3 hours ago
[dead]
fdghrtbrt6 hours ago
[flagged]
- ndsipa_pomu5 hours ago
  Haven't visited Oslo, but I thought Norway was largely a white-skinned population. Why would it be jarring to see a white person doing any kind of job, or are you referring to some kind of job division racism?
  - micromacrofoot4 hours ago
    It's the classic racism/classism combo... a lot of taxi drivers are foreigners for example because it can be a stressful and low-paying job at the end of the day.
- selimthegrim4 hours ago
  In a lot of US tourist cities, I would say that’s who is predominantly doing it
  - micromacrofoot4 hours ago
    Yes, oddly compared to taxis my experience in the US with pedicabs is that they're almost all white men driving. More of a freewheeling low responsibility type of job rather than providing for a family type situation. I wonder what sort of social shift resulted in this?
    - stevenwoo4 hours ago
      If it's anything like the sport of bicycling in the USA, for a long time it's been a sport of caucasians, this is changing a bit but it trickles all the way up just from a sampling of who represents the USA at the Olympics and World Championships. Possibly a combination of the high cost of entry with the clique-ishness and the sport requiring quite a bit of free time and the support or money to have that much free time. Not talking about kids riding around the neighborhood but people who continue or start riding as adults, so not a social shift at all but existing demographics.
xnx5 hours ago
Quite different than the scam pedicabs that operate in US cities now.
- ndsipa_pomu5 hours ago
 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.
- raddan5 hours ago
 What’s the scam?
 - Waterluvian5 hours ago
 They’ll end up charging you like $120 for a 10 min trip by just being deceptive and evasive about the fee structure.
 - Sholmesy3 hours ago
 (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.
 - JohnnyLondon1 hour ago
 They have finally after many years put some legislation in to allow TfL to regulate them. It comes into force this October.<a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2026/february/transport-for-london-to-introduce-regulations-for-pedicabs-in-london-for-the-first-time" rel="nofollow">https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2026/februa...</a>
 - jacquesm5 hours ago
 Then you give them the finger and walk away.
 - Waterluvian4 hours ago
 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.
 jacquesm4 hours ago
 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_4 hours ago
 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.
 mmooss3 hours ago
 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.