Uber presents itself as the alternative to customer-unfriendly taxis and cab companies. So much for that.

Maybe its worth having a cup of coffee in hand to drop on the upholstery if the driver tries that trick.

Seems only fair if the system is rigged against you.

But the drivers' beef is with Uber, not the customer.

Right. Regardless of if their sentiment is justified or not generally what you see from the drivers on that sub is a sentiment of "damn the man" against uber itself.

Occasionally this behavior will be described as linked to riders in annoying locations or with low ratings but usually it's uber they're targeting

This seems like something that could kill Uber eventually. Their whole setup is pathological, most of the drivers and riders I know have an array of tricks to use or watch out for, and the results are deeply unpleasant.

I suppose the bar set by cabs is really low, since I've never worried about an Uber driver mugging me or kicking me out in an empty industrial park, but it's still ugly. I'd pay more for something that was just "cabs, but we actually don't scam you".