To give five stars or not to five stars, that is the question. As someone who knows what it means to have a day where you have no interest in talking to strangers, sometimes less is more.

Hop in the Uber and say hello, let the driver follow the Google Map instructions, arrive at the destination – five bloody stars, every day of the week.

Some days I might be in the mood for a chat, though, and if the driver asks a few questions I’ll chew the fat. Basically, read the room.

Well, if you didn’t yet know this, you’re not the only one dishing out ratings. Every time you take an Uber, the driver also gets to rate you.

I’ve said it before, but this makes for a great drinking game. Simply open the app, tap the Menu icon in the top left (it’s the three horizontal bars), and your rating appears under your name.

Lowest rating gets the next round, which might have the Pavlovian effect of making the person buying the drinks a better human.

So, to get to the crux of the matter, what is an acceptable Uber passenger rating? A quick zip around the office confirms a few peeps dabbling around the 4,6 mark, one languishing nearer to 4,4, and – shock and horror – someone floundering just above 4.

No names, but they’re clearly not nailing this game and will be buying drinks at the next staff piss-up.

Having a crummy passenger rating does have consequences other than being judged by co-workers, too. According to Jon Hoos, an Uber Driver who answered questions on Quora:

Whenever a driver receives a ping for a ride, we see 4 things and 4 things only.

1. The passenger Rating
2. What kind of ride it is. UberX, UberPool, UberSelect, etc.
3. What the surge rate is. If there is any surge at all.
4. The Pickup location.

We definitely do not know your destination. We do not know anything about you except for the 4 things I listed above.

When your rating is low, the driver will likely take a second or two and think to themselves, “This rider has a 3.2 star rating. I don’t know if I want them in my car.” I have not accepted rides because of a poor passenger rating and I know that I will do it again.

Another Uber driver, Wes Kretzer, also took to Quora to lay down the law:

Anything less than 4,5 and I can assure you there will be drivers that will let your request pass. Anything less than 4 and I’m guessing only the driver that didn’t notice your rating would accept your request.

In other words, you might be left standing outside the bar like a doos, after you’ve bought a round of drinks for your mates because your rating was the lowest.

Oh, the ignominy of it all.

It should be simple enough to figure out how to improve your passenger rating, but we may as well run through a few ideas from Business Insider, who spoke to Uber drivers for their advice:

• Add a tip
• Don’t keep the driver waiting
• Be polite
• If you’re going to be sick, don’t do it in the car
• Clean up after yourself
• Avoid slamming doors
• Smell good
• Don’t do anything illegal in the car
• Generally just be a decent human being

A fair few of those are just life lessons, so you’d do well to heed them, regardless of whether or not you’re hopping into an Uber.

What have we learnt here? People will turn anything into a drinking game, and everyone should be treated with respect.

Next round’s on you.

[sources:quora&businsider]