I had a really bad Uber ride. Can I give the driver one star or will it wreck his ratings?

By putting too much faith in the importance of ratings and making the process too casual, low-income individuals are at the mercy of the gig economy

Q: I recently took a cab via the ride-share service Uber. The car stank, the seatbelt didn't work and the driver was intermittently on his cellphone. At the end of the journey, I was invited to rate my ride. I haven't done so yet, but I want to give him one star. Should I?

A: OK. I understand why you might ask this and to a large extent, how you respond will depend on how you behave in equivalent real-world situations. But to my mind this is relatively straightforward. You received bad service and you are a complete monster if you go ahead with a bad rating.