Creating win-wins in life can make your day!

Last week I flew out to the West Coast for a business trip. My first stop was in Los Angeles and then I traveled on down to my conference at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego.

Normally, I would rent a car and traverse the dreaded California highways. However, it can be very expensive to rent a car in California, often costing upwards of $250 (including the drop-off charge at my favorite rental car agency in LA). I decided for this trip to San Diego to use a ride-sharing app on my iPhone.

Uber and Lyft both gave me a fare estimate of $143 on my smartphone for the one-way, 2.5-hour ride. Lyft was running a 10% discount for the one-way fare trips, so I chose a Lyft to drive me back to my hotel to collect my bags, and then I decided to continue on to San Diego with the same Lyft driver, as my driving experience was quite good.

My first ride was flawless. After we reached my hotel, the driver tried to get her system to reset, with no success. When the app failed to work, she was very upset and clearly wanted the opportunity to make the long and more attractive drive to San Diego. Not wanting her to lose the second trip, I offered her the $143 normal rate minus the proper 10% discount Lyft had offered me in cash for her to take me to San Diego. Not only was she very appreciative of the opportunity, but also I had made a new friend as the trip developed. We had very thoughtful economic and political discussions about her homeland of India and her recent experiences in the U.S.

When we reached San Diego, I handed her the payment plus a tip for the wonderful experience I had throughout the course of our journey together. She was overjoyed by my act of generosity, and I waved her a fond goodbye as we departed. We had a chance to make each other’s day…a real win. I look forward to the next opportunity that comes down the highway.

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