The Nose Have It

Once upon a time, folks, I would give three stars to passengers who presented, shall we say, challenges with their body odor. (Side note: three stars or less makes the app take you out of the pool of possible passengers for future rides for the driver that gives the low rating.)

In general, drivers do not want to give passengers three stars. Poorly rated passengers often give tit for tat in driver ratings, and the margin for error on ratings is not extensive. Especially in the current age of Mask Police, fewer drivers and greater variance in surge pricing, doing things that cut your rating are not high on your list of priorities. 

Also, if the pick up opportunity is local, that's future business that could be off your plate. As a general rule of thumb, you don't do this gig if you don't like to be busy. Fewer possible passengers makes being idle more likely. 

So giving a failing grade is not a lightly considered act. The thought was that my own working morale was an issue, not to mention any residual funk left behind for the next passenger that, again, puts your rating in the cross hairs. 

However, I'm really starting to think that more passengers are pushing the olfactory bounds. Here's why I think it's happening.

> More people are working from home and failing to keep up their appearance (or, worse yet, overdosing on some competing odor to cover -- Axe Body Spray users for the loss)

> Cannabis use is up, and weed stank is, um, hard to ignore

> Vape use is up, and vape stank is even harder to ignore then weed stank

> Winter weather creates more heat in the car and less ventilation, so more stank

> Pre holiday drinking spikes create more drunk stank

Small sample sizes, I suppose, could also be in play. But I have to think the trends are going in the, well, wrong direction...