Opportunism

A few weeks ago, when I was at a friend's apartment it got late and I requested a Uber on their app. My friend lives in an apartment complex that has many buildings in a secluded area. There is however, only one road that leads into the area. That main road then leads to multiple roads that go to different apartment buildings.  My phone died shortly before the Uber's estimated time of arrival so I decided to wait outside. After a while no one came to pick me up. I stood in the street looking for any cars driving by worrying that they went to the wrong apartment building.  After waiting for around 5 minutes a car finally started driving by me, but from a different apartment building heading towards the main road to leave the area. I ran them down and they stopped. I asked if they were my Uber and they said yes. Without thinking, I hopped in the car and buckled my seat belt. However, my Uber driver explained to me she had already cancelled the Uber because she couldn't find me. I explained to her that I was waiting outside for a while and she must have gone to a different apartment building using the wrong road. She had a guilty look on her face and said she could drive me home anyway and I could pay her somehow. I had to give her directions to my place since she cancelled the Uber and was no longer receiving the directions to my home from the app. Once we arrived it was an awkward moment of us staring at each other. I had no obligation to pay my Uber, but I decided to anyway. Although, in my wallet I only had $20 bills. She didn't have any change, but I told her she could keep it anyway. In the end, the ride would have cost around $10 through the app so I wasted around $10 paying her in cash. At the moment, I could have not paid her and just left my Uber and there would have been no way for her to get reimbursed since she already cancelled the ride on the app. However, instead of acting opportunistically and ditching I decided to pay her extra in cash.

One of the reasons I did not act opportunistically at that moment is because I would have felt guilty. The Uber driver had to waste her time to drive me home when she could be acting as a Uber for other people earning income. If I did not compensate her for her time and gas I would have felt I cheated her out of both. Another reason I didn't act opportunistically is a sense of doing the right thing. In that situation, I paid her extra because my morals told me it was the right thing to do. She also went out of the way to drive me home since she was not obligated to after cancelling the Uber.  Just like it is a norm to tip servers it is a norm to pay people extra for going out of their way to serve you. I felt obligated as a consumer of her service to pay her for it. There are a few other reasons I could think of about why I paid her extra instead of ditching. For example, if I was in the situation of the Uber driver I would want my customer to pay me. I was feeling empathetic towards the Uber driver at the time of paying her cash. Overall, a sense of my morals and how I wanted to be treated caused me not to act opportunistically. This goes hand in hand with wanting to do the right thing and feeling guilty if I would have acted opportunistically.

Comments

  1. Professor ArvanSeptember 23, 2017 at 11:00 AM

    I'm glad you brought up the tipping example near the end of your piece. Strictly speaking, tipping is rational at a place that you frequent regularly but is irrational in a one-off transaction. The situation you described was a one-off. Yet as you note, it is customary to tip. We often do what is customary. Now a 100% tip is kind of generous, as in your story about Uber. But the way you told the story, it was either that or nothing. Under the circumstances I think most people would have done the same thing as you did.

    You did not note in the story that there was opportunism from the driver's point of view. She got the full fare and tip. Uber got nothing. Driving off the books is more profitable to the driver. One wonders if she gets in trouble with the company for cancelling, or how frequently that happens.

    Let me return to the tipping issue. An interesting question is what determines whether tipping is appropriate or not. I don't have a full explanation, but will note that at a restaurant you tip though not at a fast-food place but perhaps at a Starbucks or Espresso Royale. Might it be that who the patrons typically are matters as to whether there is tipping or not?

    You have a typo in your subject line. I suggest you correct that.

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    1. Ben BernankeSeptember 24, 2017 at 2:33 PM

      Now that I contemplate the transaction, the Uber driver could have acted opportunistically as well. She could have denied me a ride and instead continued as a Uber driver earning a guaranteed income. I assume since she felt guilty after not being able to find me so she decided to give me a ride. I think there is a small cancellation fee charged to me for her cancelling. Even though it wasn't my fault she couldn't find me as I was waiting where I was supposed to. Another thought I have is if the cancellation fee goes to Uber or if some amount of it goes to the driver. Commenting on your thoughts about tipping there are times at a restaurant where I will tip either more or less depending on the server and food. Usually if the server is courteous I will tip them well. However there are times where certain factors that the server can't control affect how I tip them. For example, if it takes forever for me to be served or seated I generally tip less because it puts me in a bad mood. Also if the food tastes bad I usually won't tip. These factors can't be controlled by the server but they still affect how I tip. Another factor that can affect tipping is the establishment as you mentioned. People almost never tip at McDonald but will likely tip if they are served their food like at steak and shake.

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