We rate movies. We rate restaurants. We rate customer service.
There’s hardly anything we don’t rate in our social-media-centric society. We have opinions about everything.
As consumers we have the power of giving the thumbs up or the thumbs down. It’s like being a king.
As a part-time Uber driver, I have the ability to rate my passengers as well. Normally I’m very generous and understanding – giving people the benefit of the doubt. I normally rate my passengers 5 stars.
This weekend, however, I had a passenger to whom I gave the lowest rating I’ve given a passenger yet.
My passenger had a “service” dog. You cannot turn down a passenger when they have a dog, but you can put a covering on your seat, which I did.
I drove my passenger all around town for nearly 3 hours while she ran her errands. At times she would get out of the car and leave her dog. The dog would move to the part of the seat that wasn’t covered.
My passenger wasn’t talkative, except when she called her girlfriend, a fellow stripper, and they would talk business. Other than that, she was not talkative or seemingly very friendly, which makes for an awkward and long 3-hour car ride.
As we approached the driveway of her final destination, she asked me to take her to the bank down the street. I thought possibly she was going to get some cash so she could tip me.
No such luck.
As she got out of the car, she was about to leave a bag of trash in the back seat. I asked her to take her trash with her, and she seemed a little inconvenienced by that.
With her and the dog, and her garbage, gone, I was left with a back seat full of dog hair. I was miles from home and could not take any more passengers until I cleaned up my car.
Hey, these things happen. I get it. It occurred to me that this woman works in an industry where people use her and probably treat her like crap. Maybe that’s all she understands and treats others the same way. I don’t know.
What it showed me, though, is that, as customers, as students, as employees, as people who serve others – we often want to rate our service providers, our teachers, our employers and the people we serve.
But how would someone rate you?
We have opportunities at every turn to provide a stellar experience for the people we come in contact with – a bus driver, a grocery store clerk, a next-door neighbor…or an Uber driver.
This week, let’s put some thought into being a 5-star experience for everyone we come in contact with – whether we’re getting rated or not.
Cheers!