Ok so after a long time, another post has come. Since I've started work, there will be much less gaming and a lot more general philosophy-cum-psychology related stuff. Hearthstone is pretty much the only game I play now. And it's kind of sad that there aren't any really any communities for hearthstone in India.
Anyway, since it's been a long time, there are a LOT of philosophies which have come into my weird brain but haven't been spewed out onto this space. This time, I'll write about the experiences I've had with rickshaw-wallas and cab drivers across different cities. While places like Agra and Gurgaon have the worst auto drivers who try to over-change you pretty much 90% of the time, Bombay has a much nicer bunch of cab drivers who overcharge you only around 10% of the time. It's kind of obvious that if the autodriver/cab driver (hereafter referred to as 'driver') asks you for an amount that is greater than what was initially agreed upon/is more than the meter fare/is just unfair given the distance etc., he opens himself to the opportunity to getting more money. Now, are there any dowsides from a driver's perspective to being an asshole and being unreasonable? If you think about it, suppose the meter shows Rs.100 and he asks for 150, there aren't many instances where you would pay him less than 100 just because he asked for more. Even if you did, it's not as if he would settle for it.
The payoff of asking for more is thus unsymmetrical. One one side you may get some extra money, and on the other side you lose nothing. So why don't all drivers do it then?
The answer possibly lies in the fact that maximising monetary gain isn't the objective of the driver. the passenger might engage in a verbal fight with the driver and as a human being, this expected value of emotional cost(probability of passenger yelling*emotional loss due to yelling) might be much higher than the expected monetary gain due to asking (average monetary gain from asking for more*probability of the passenger agreeing to pay more). Now, the probabilities would change of course depending on the passenger type. Probability of the passenger agreeing to pay more would increase if he/she is an outsider and has no clue about the local rates and so on. Expereinced drivers ask for higher rates from these folks.
Now, some people are just plain assholes at heart and thus don't give a shit if the passenger gets into a verbal (or even physical?!) fight with them. These people consistently ask for unreasonable fares and thus earn more. Just another instance where assholes earn more money.
To end, I would like to thank those passengers from Bombay(and other places) who have yelled at the cab drivers for demanding unreasonable fares, and thus increased the drivers' expected cost of asking more. It is mostly because of them that we can travel is peace in these places. Adios, and... keep yelling.
Anyway, since it's been a long time, there are a LOT of philosophies which have come into my weird brain but haven't been spewed out onto this space. This time, I'll write about the experiences I've had with rickshaw-wallas and cab drivers across different cities. While places like Agra and Gurgaon have the worst auto drivers who try to over-change you pretty much 90% of the time, Bombay has a much nicer bunch of cab drivers who overcharge you only around 10% of the time. It's kind of obvious that if the autodriver/cab driver (hereafter referred to as 'driver') asks you for an amount that is greater than what was initially agreed upon/is more than the meter fare/is just unfair given the distance etc., he opens himself to the opportunity to getting more money. Now, are there any dowsides from a driver's perspective to being an asshole and being unreasonable? If you think about it, suppose the meter shows Rs.100 and he asks for 150, there aren't many instances where you would pay him less than 100 just because he asked for more. Even if you did, it's not as if he would settle for it.
The payoff of asking for more is thus unsymmetrical. One one side you may get some extra money, and on the other side you lose nothing. So why don't all drivers do it then?
The answer possibly lies in the fact that maximising monetary gain isn't the objective of the driver. the passenger might engage in a verbal fight with the driver and as a human being, this expected value of emotional cost(probability of passenger yelling*emotional loss due to yelling) might be much higher than the expected monetary gain due to asking (average monetary gain from asking for more*probability of the passenger agreeing to pay more). Now, the probabilities would change of course depending on the passenger type. Probability of the passenger agreeing to pay more would increase if he/she is an outsider and has no clue about the local rates and so on. Expereinced drivers ask for higher rates from these folks.
Now, some people are just plain assholes at heart and thus don't give a shit if the passenger gets into a verbal (or even physical?!) fight with them. These people consistently ask for unreasonable fares and thus earn more. Just another instance where assholes earn more money.
To end, I would like to thank those passengers from Bombay(and other places) who have yelled at the cab drivers for demanding unreasonable fares, and thus increased the drivers' expected cost of asking more. It is mostly because of them that we can travel is peace in these places. Adios, and... keep yelling.
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