Here's something from poker, which I also do, enough at times to start to think that life is just poker.
In poker, players can sometimes speak about getting "information", which can be something as simple as showing cards you don't have to show, making a small bet that gets swamped by a bigger one, or calling a bet even when you think you are going to lose, because you just need to see the opponent's cards that much to guide your future play. When information is gathered and used correctly, you can use it to put together a "book" in your mind as to what this opponent will do in a future hand, and use it to increase your chances of winning.
In rideshare, the driver has the option to rank the passenger at the end of the ride. Anything that is three stars or less means the passenger isn't going to be in the future consideration set for the driver. I could be ten feet from you, taking ride requests, and you could be making one... but the ap isn't going to pair us together again.
If you do this job long enough, and stick to a consistent area (recommended, it's safer and America's pothole problems are not getting better -- you want to know where they are, and that's trial and error, especially at night)... rating most of your passengers badly is going to hurt your future earning potential. On some level, every 3-star rating is costing the driver money, or at the very least, future money.
Which might lead you to think that I never do it, and, well, nope. If the ride is taking me far away to a place where no one requests rides, and you aren't entertaining or sympathetic and don't tip... well, 3 stars is my way of preventing this experience in the future. The same story goes for if you've decided that rideshare exists for you to make as many stops and run as many errands as possible. The ap allows it, but it's a really bad earning time for me, and I have to assume you do this routinely, and I don't want to be part of that routine. Enjoy your next driver; I'm tapping out. If you also are problematic in other ways, such as odor for future passengers, long wait times, etc., I'm making the calculation that having you out of my consideration set is going to improve, not degrade, my earning potential. Demotivate me enough that I just want to go home? 3 stars. All of this is a judgment based on incomplete information.
(Side note: Why 3 stars and not 1? Well, a 1-star rating is way more likely to put me on the radar of the problem passenger, and those folks tend to lie about my performance because I was so, so mean. A 1-star rating isn't me not wanting to drive this person again, it's me not wanting any driver, anywhere, to drive this person again. Very different rating.)
So... final drive of the day. Ping is the third in a 3-streak Lyft, more north and east than I ever want to be, with a 15-minute drive to go get them. Well, it's been a bad weekend filled with inefficient work, so this is just on brand. Get it done.
I roll up to my people (pair, man and woman) and at least they are waiting for me... and wow, they've had a day. There's a certain smell that drunk people have, a sickly fruity one, and it often accurately predicts someone having a nausea event later. The ride is also south (small blessing), but also west (dammit), it's going to be 25 miles and 30+ minutes, and here we go.
My passengers decide to argue about, honestly, the dumbest things imaginable. They also argue about everything, and about five minutes into the ride, the woman begins hiccupping. A lot, while continuing to speak constantly, and experience also tells me that's not a great sign for avoiding the Nausea Event. I ask her if she's going to be OK, she assures me (in the repeating way that very drunk people do, because they can't remember the things they've already said) that she's going to be fine, and yeah. I drive a little faster because this mission now seems like it's got a time element. Also, because I really can't wait to get them, their argument, and their odor out of my car.
As we get closer to the drop, the argument devolves into multi-lingual skills. It turns out that both of them have reason in their lives to know other languages, but not to the point of having native fluency. Leading the man to assert that he can read something in another language, but that he's not going to be able to understand it. (Roll that around in your head for Drunken Philosophy fun.) The woman responds with a similar idiot ship passing in the night point about her experiences in Korean, and that she just doesn't get what dude is saying. They proceed to say the same things to each other with rising levels of irritation for the next five minutes.
At which point my dude decides it's time for back up, and asks me what I think. Since, presumably, I heard the hiccupping from before and am on pins and needles about where the discourse is going next, as opposed to just, you know, listening for sounds of puke.
Calculating to try to get to the least amount of conversation, I hold for a beat, then reply that I'm not from this area, so I'm really just focusing on the road. Which also has the benefit of truth. They seem to accept this answer, tear into each other for the last five minutes, and we get to the drop point.
As they are leaving my car, I'm thinking about the rating. They did the responsible thing and took rideshare while drinking. I'm working at this hour; if I didn't want to deal with drunk people, I could just do this in the mornings (I'm not a morning person). They may just be in a bad relationship and its coloring everything around them. 3-star ratings hurt my business. I could give four and...
My man gets out of the car and thanks me for the ride. He's about to get the 4-star rating when he finishes the evening with "Don't be such a f***ing robot next time." Punctuated with an aggro door slam.
Ah, the information I was looking for! Thank you, sir!
Three stars.
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