Shared Gondola Ride in Venice at Sunset

The guide met us and walked us around the corner to the gondola and advised which gondola we would be in. That was the end of their part. There was no sunset due to poor weather. As a solo traveller I had to sit on a side seat and my pics have the couple in them. The person operating the boat barely interacted with us and spent time either looking at their phone or calling out to other operators. On reflection I would’ve just gone to where the gondolas are parked and got a solo ride without going through gyg.