The Boss's Challenge: Not for contest

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Everyone left the conference hall, but John lingered near the exit. He waved at Timothy and remarked, "What on earth does he think we're primary school kids?"

Timothy, came closer, smiled and replied, "What's eatin ya mate?"

John locked eyes with Timothy and asked, "When was the last time you took a cab?"

Timothy looked surprised but responded, "I can't remember, but I've been driving since I was 18, why?

John continued to gaze into his eyes. "I take a cab every day and seldom use my car but when heavy grocery shopping."

"So?"

"Hold on, let me shoot this email to the oldie. I’ll tell him I can finish this project in just one day, and I’m adding Clara to my team to save me from punching my lappy's keys."

"You never miss bringing Clara onto your projects... your real assistant!"

John quickly sent an email and then asked Timothy if he would want to join him for a drink.

Timothy was surprised but he said, "Yes."

They both left the office at 6 PM, and as Timothy headed toward the parking lot, John stopped him, "We'll take a cab."

But before Timothy could react, a CityCab pulled up beside them. John provided the OTP, and they made their way to Mezcals Tequila Bar in about 14 minutes.

The distance was 11,3 km, $41.06got deducted from John's credit card and then they entered the bar. They spent about two hours there, enjoying a couple of drinks and some food before getting ready to head back to the office at around 9 pm.

The meter showed $29.33, which John paid promptly. He glanced at Timothy, who looked puzzled by the $14 difference for the same distance and route.

"What does that mean?" Timothy was surprised!

"It means the feature our boss wants us to add in this fuc*** App is already available in all cab services."

They were entering in their office now!

"Are you sure?" Timothy was a bit taken aback!

Try the search term, 'does the feature of variable fare available in every car rental app?'

Timothy typed the same phrase on his system's search bar! The answer surprised him.

The feature of variable fare (dynamic pricing) is commonly available in most modern car rental apps, but maybe not in a few apps globally. Dynamic pricing adjusts rental rates in real time based on factors such as demand, location, season, and booking window.

"What the heck? Why would anyone want to engage us for this assignment?"

John looked at his phone "Any new car rental agency, but it should not take more than 6 hours! See I have a message from CityCab"

Timothy saw, the agency has added $3.50 as reward points in John's account.

Timothy asked, "It means we can include any fare calculation live based on availability, booking date, car type, location, and seasonality, is that right?"

"Right!"

"Then why on earth did boss assign us this task giving us 6 weeks?"

John was looking at a data sheet, "This is not the end of the story, but most apps offer cost calculators or fare estimates before booking, so users can view price based on variable factors."

"Do you have any examples?"

"Here! I think Oldie is gone crazy!

"So?"

"So, nothing. I’ll just copy and make a few changes in an app and hand it over to him by 3 pm tomorrow. All I have to do is add dynamic pricing that uses data analytics, algorithms, and use of AI to update rental rates in real time."

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I will send Clara the features, the demand, supply, availability, special events, holidays, competitor rates, time of day, local weather, booking window, and even customer data if they are regulars, and that's it, she will fix them and send them back to us.

"Do you have apps in your plan?"

We have tons of them like Uber, Ola, Turo, and the one we just used, CityCab besides13 Cabs and Taxi Fare Calculator.

"Will it work?"

"I have a few keywords for you that you can check yourself."

"Now we have to work on a comparison table and feature dynamic pricing, which offers a flexible, responsive way to set rental rates and boost revenue." He was dialing Clara's number.

"Okay, I will crack these scripts in minutes!"

Next afternoon John and Timothy were sitting with their boss and the owner of the car rental agency giving their App a demo run.

Boss said, I am booking a table at Mezcals Tequila Bar for 6.

Boss looked at John and winked, "I am not as old as you guys feel I am. Clara and Amanda will have a great time together in the party!"

Timothy grinned, "Do you eavesdrop us boss", he knew Amanda was boss' steady GF.

I invite @kouba01, @waqarahmadshah, @solperez and @mohammadfaisal