The fist bump was always awkward. This isn't Couchsurfing, you're not my buddy and we're not about to share some profound life experience together. I'm not going to get out of your car in 10 minutes with your contact and a promise to grab a beer.
This is strictly a quid pro quo transaction - nobody is going around riding Lyfts to meet interesting people, except maybe journalists hunting for a story. And nobody is out there driving Lyfts to meet interesting people... except maybe journalists hunting for a story. Let's not pretty it up with SV-style faux-populism.
Friendliness and mutual respect? Absolutely, the same respect and courtesy you'd show to any other human. But let's be real about the other stuff.
The fist bump got dropped because neither the drivers nor passengers cared about the fist bump.
I always specifically avoided Lyft because I thought they would all show up with a stupid pink mustache on the car and fist bump me like we were bros. And all I wanted was a smooth transport for my wife and I.
I thought the fist bump was awkward, but I would disagree with your statement that nobody drives around to meet interesting people. Most of the drivers I meet actually say that's a big part of the appeal.
I think its quite possible that lyft's schtick was a key aspect that kept it in the game. And the more social experience was a key differentiator. Sure its subsiding but i woukd not discount its importance.
> The fist bump got dropped because neither the drivers nor passengers cared about the fist bump.
I hate to tell you this, but not everyone is a button-down or a neckbeard. I liked the casual friendliness of it.
> nobody is going around riding Lyfts to meet interesting people
I wouldn't actively go grab a Lyft just for that purpose, but when some friends and I are a bit tipsy and heading out to the club? Absolutely we'd rather be in a fun environment with an interesting person.
Eh, casual friendliness is one thing, telling all of your employees/contractors to fist-bump customers is something else.
Don't get me wrong, I like things to be casual - in fact I find Uber's customer experience to be too far on the other end of the spectrum. "Yes sir", "of course sir", "would you care for some water, sir?" - blech!
I also enjoy chatting with my drivers, because hell, I might learn something.
But if my driver's having an off day and just wants to get me from A to B? That's fine. If my driver just isn't the super-chatty type? That's fine too. Expecting everyone performing a service for you to be bright, chipper, energetic, and ready to spill the beans on all manners of subjects, all the time strikes me as unreasonable - an attempt to create a social bond where none has been earned. Are we so devoid of meaningful social contact that we must try to artificially induce it by decree for paying customers?
Let's not forget that the fist bump - like the pink mustache - is not some organic thing that developed in the "community", it's an instruction from headquarters.
> "but when some friends and I are a bit tipsy and heading out to the club? Absolutely we'd rather be in a fun environment with an interesting person."
Does the interesting person want to be in the same environment as you? Does the interesting person find this environment at all fun? Has it occurred to you that people drive around drunks on Fri/Sat nights for a living, not for fun?
I mean shit, is this guy a driver or a court jester?
This is strictly a quid pro quo transaction - nobody is going around riding Lyfts to meet interesting people, except maybe journalists hunting for a story. And nobody is out there driving Lyfts to meet interesting people... except maybe journalists hunting for a story. Let's not pretty it up with SV-style faux-populism.
Friendliness and mutual respect? Absolutely, the same respect and courtesy you'd show to any other human. But let's be real about the other stuff.
The fist bump got dropped because neither the drivers nor passengers cared about the fist bump.