The joys and sorrows of two-way ratings systems

‘J’ai failli attendre’ — ‘I almost had to wait’ — allegedly said by Louis XIV when his carriage drew up just a few seconds before he reached the bottom of the palace steps.

Pathetic, I know, but I try to re-enact this moment with taxi booking apps: I watch the car approach on the map on my phone, then time my departure to emerge from the building exactly when the car pulls up at the kerb. It is a moment of synchronicity which delights the trivial mind — in the way many men enjoy timing the flushing of a lavatory so that the end of the flush coincides with the last moment of micturition.

But there is now another reason to do this: to avoid keeping the driver waiting. You may not know, but when you use services such as Uber or Hailo, not only do you get to rate the driver but the driver rates you.