The greatest thing about Uber and Lyft is that it is so convenient. When you're ready to go somewhere, you pull out your phone, tap the screen a few times, and then one of the many available drivers come and pick you up.
Maybe it's just me, but I hate the feeling of being late, or making other people wait on me. When I'm hailing a ride for myself, I'm practically standing on the curb by the time I complete the order.
Yet some passengers out there don't share this same thought process.
Five minutes is the amount of time you have to get in my vehicle when I arrive. In my opinion, that's about three minutes too much, but that's a different topic.
When I'm sitting still, I make the hourly rate for my area (this changes from city to city), $0.1275 a minute on Lyft, which equates to $7.65 an hour, and $0.13 a minute on Uber, which equates to $7.80 an hour — both of which are currently less than the Florida minimum wage of $8.46. If my wheels are not turning, I am not making money. If I wanted to volunteer, I'd go work with the cute puppies and cats at the animal shelter. Sorry, but I'm doing this job to make money.
If you order the ride, you should be ready to get in the car as soon as the driver pulls up. Plain and simple. I know, I know, things happen — elevators are slow, you forgot something, or you're carrying heavy luggage. I get it. I understand. I have no problem waiting a little bit. The majority of passengers are perfectly fine and ready within 30 seconds.
I'm talking about the people that wait until 4 minutes and 47 seconds to walk to my car. The people that walk up to my car with someone else, finish up a three-minute conversation that could be finished over the phone, and then get in by themselves. The people that stand there smoking a cigarette for four minutes, finish it, wave to me (oh, so you're the passenger), and then hop in.
One day, my patience was running really thin. I was not having a good day. I pulled up to an office, a lady walked out, gave me a wave, and then gave me the waiting finger. She then lit up a cigarette and made a phone call. Her body language screamed "I am selfish."
Nope. I wasn't dealing with this. I canceled and drove away. You should have seen how far that cigarette flew out of her hands as she ran after me in her high heels, waving her arms like a bird trying to take flight.
You don't have to order the ride until you are ready. If you order a ride, have some common courtesy, and be ready for your driver.