In a world where there is an app for everything, ratings can make or break your experience. Ratings tend to define how we make our choices online, be it your favorite restaurant, the seller you want to buy that awesome looking pair of shoes, or even your Uber driver.
A recent Instagram post by popular comedian Nick carried a screenshot of an ad posted on a popular classified site. The ad for the acoustic guitar seemed like any other you’d come across, except for one point. The seller mentioned that he was open to price negotiations under one condition only: the buyer’s Uber rider rating must be 4.8 or more.
Weird as it may seem, many people responded to the post saying that a higher Uber rating could denote how well someone treats a stranger, thus acting as a great meter for one’s compassion.
Uber rider ratings aren’t a recent trend, remember Naveen Richard’s post on Instagram? The comedian shared a lady’s profile on a popular matrimony site, looking for a suitable partner based on education, job, family and interestingly, his Uber rating!
Naveen’s post also triggered his friends and Sumukhi and Kaneez to share similar observations on social media, with screenshots from a popular dating app and a job posting.
While Internet fads come and go and there are certain ones that we wish never surfaced, the new craze for high rider ratings is certainly here to stay. While some may laugh at it in disbelief, others tend to see the sense in it.
Better ratings in some way are the new social currency – the higher the better. So while the number of likes and comments decided how popular you were, ratings just take this to a whole new level. As is evident, the higher your Uber rider rating is, the better your rate of social acceptance is.
While we cannot escape this new era of ‘being rated’, we can take part in it because maybe it does make sense in a way. Being accepted in the virtual world can be directly proportionate to being a desirable person in the real world. And of all the measures, Uber ratings also indicate how well you interact with your driver through the short drive.
In a world where millennials are constantly fixated on numbers, the higher is most definitely the better it is, if not, a whole new perspective of looking at people, leveling the playing field for everyone.
Uber introduced Uber rider ratings which are not just a random number that shows on your app. It also doubles up as a common ground for both drivers and riders to rate each other basis their interaction while taking an Uber. Just like we are encouraged to give feedback and ratings to our service providers, what many are not aware of is the fact that the drivers too, provide ratings for you. It is a two-way street which ensures mutual accountability as well as respect
All in all, being rated might not be such an out of place phenomenon in today’s world. At the end of the day, it’s all about how we as humans interact with the world around us. So, the next time, you slam the car door hard or argue with your Uber driver, just take a step back, think and try to be more compassionate towards the guy at the wheel.