>'I’m an Uber and Lyft driver, I make less than minimum wage. My option is to sleep in my backseat, or to sleep on the street. Which would you prefer?”'
I'm not a fan of Uber but these people are doing it to themselves, no-ones holding a gun to their head. They need to stop blaming Uber, take responsibility for their own lives and do something else!
If you're working a job and you know it's going to make you homeless why would you continue? I really have a hard time understanding why people would intentionally do that to themselves.
They didn't start off homeless and presumably they've not been working for Uber all of their lives.
If you're not earning enough then that should be enough of a red flag for you to stop right then and there. You don't keep trucking on till you lose your home and are living in your car!
You go, well this isn't working out, maybe I'll quit Uber and go back to what I was doing before, before I lose my house! Even with an Uber lease, just default on it, tell them you moved (so repo men can't find you), and then take care of it later on if you want too when you have more money.
What would I do personally? I would never place myself into a situation like that to start with, but if I were then I would re-skill and find a job that wouldn't have me living in my car!
But why is that Ubers problem. If it was a job, I would understand, but being an Uber driver has no barrier to entry for most people, and no penalties if you leave, so clearly they are providing a net benefit to the drivers life otherwise they just wouldn't do it.
Clearly they are providing a net benefit to the drivers life otherwise they just wouldn't do it.
The logic in this statement is inherently flawed. The whole point of the article is that Uber appears, at first, to be providing a net benefit to people who sign up to become drivers -- only to leave them holding the bag when problems (inevitably) arise, and which "real" companies normally take care of for their employees. Like what happened to Casmir Patterson, for example:
Casmir Patterson, 32, found early on in her Uber-driving career that she preferred to work late nights, when the LA traffic was more tolerable and when she could provide rides to women looking for a safe way to get home. But on 13 June 2016, during her last ride of the night, three intoxicated men entered her vehicle in West Hollywood and she quickly sensed trouble.
One of her passengers sounded like he was going to vomit in her car. She pulled over and asked the trio to leave. They refused, and then dragged her into her backseat where they started punching her. “I thought I was going to die,” she told the Guardian.
The men eventually fled, but not before kicking the outside of her car and running off with her keys.
Patterson called police and reported the incident to Uber in the hope that the company could track down her attackers and help her with medical bills. But the criminal investigation went nowhere, and Uber, she said, did little to support her. LA police did not respond to repeated inquiries.
It's not like we need to ask, "is this Uber's problem?" In situations like these, Uber is the problem.
> I really have a hard time understanding why people would intentionally do that to themselves.
My guess is that's because you are not seeing the world through their eyes.
It is not difficult to get trapped in a situation like this. For example, they fall for the "be your own boss" or "Uber drivers make tons of money" propaganda, quit their job and start driving for Uber.
Suddenly they are in a situation that they have to keep driving 16hours a day just to bring food to the table for their family, which leaves no time or energy to re-skill or find another job.
Yes, they "caused this to themselves" by making the decision in the first place, without weighting things. But probably they didn't know better. Shouldn't we be a bit more sensitive to their situation?
> I really have a hard time understanding why people would intentionally do that to themselves.
Most people don't understand it, and that's a real problem. I'll do my best to explain.
Several decades ago I found myself living in my car. I had a job that didn't really cover expenses, but it allowed me to eat and pay for gas.
Why didn't I just quit and find a new job? Well, quitting meant that I would no longer be able to pay for food or gas, and jobs were hard to find in the recession of the early 90s.
Now, I had no debt, no family to support, no need to stay in that city and a four-year technical degree, so I was able to bounce out of that situation relatively quickly, but if those things had not been true, things might have turned out differently. Believe it or not, you can have a full-time job and actually work yourself into poverty.
When the choice is between taking on more debt and having your children go hungry or homeless, there really is no choice. Taking time off to re-train is not an option. Many people are in this situation because they are taking responsibility for their lives and for those of their families.
Don't feel bad about not understanding it. Until you've seen this cycle actually play out, it's hard to believe it exists.
11 comments
[ 5.3 ms ] story [ 37.5 ms ] threadI'm not a fan of Uber but these people are doing it to themselves, no-ones holding a gun to their head. They need to stop blaming Uber, take responsibility for their own lives and do something else!
If you're working a job and you know it's going to make you homeless why would you continue? I really have a hard time understanding why people would intentionally do that to themselves.
Because they have no other options? What would you do if you were in their shoes?
If you're not earning enough then that should be enough of a red flag for you to stop right then and there. You don't keep trucking on till you lose your home and are living in your car!
You go, well this isn't working out, maybe I'll quit Uber and go back to what I was doing before, before I lose my house! Even with an Uber lease, just default on it, tell them you moved (so repo men can't find you), and then take care of it later on if you want too when you have more money.
What would I do personally? I would never place myself into a situation like that to start with, but if I were then I would re-skill and find a job that wouldn't have me living in my car!
Re-skill doesn't come free.
I think you are not appreciating the catch-22 situation that people described in the article are in.
Wow. What an attitude to have toward the suffering of others.
I really have a hard time understanding why people would intentionally do that to themselves.
Because they don't have any other attractive -- or really, any viable prospects on the job market? Something like that, perhaps?
The logic in this statement is inherently flawed. The whole point of the article is that Uber appears, at first, to be providing a net benefit to people who sign up to become drivers -- only to leave them holding the bag when problems (inevitably) arise, and which "real" companies normally take care of for their employees. Like what happened to Casmir Patterson, for example:
Casmir Patterson, 32, found early on in her Uber-driving career that she preferred to work late nights, when the LA traffic was more tolerable and when she could provide rides to women looking for a safe way to get home. But on 13 June 2016, during her last ride of the night, three intoxicated men entered her vehicle in West Hollywood and she quickly sensed trouble.
One of her passengers sounded like he was going to vomit in her car. She pulled over and asked the trio to leave. They refused, and then dragged her into her backseat where they started punching her. “I thought I was going to die,” she told the Guardian.
The men eventually fled, but not before kicking the outside of her car and running off with her keys.
Patterson called police and reported the incident to Uber in the hope that the company could track down her attackers and help her with medical bills. But the criminal investigation went nowhere, and Uber, she said, did little to support her. LA police did not respond to repeated inquiries.
It's not like we need to ask, "is this Uber's problem?" In situations like these, Uber is the problem.
My guess is that's because you are not seeing the world through their eyes.
It is not difficult to get trapped in a situation like this. For example, they fall for the "be your own boss" or "Uber drivers make tons of money" propaganda, quit their job and start driving for Uber.
Suddenly they are in a situation that they have to keep driving 16hours a day just to bring food to the table for their family, which leaves no time or energy to re-skill or find another job.
Yes, they "caused this to themselves" by making the decision in the first place, without weighting things. But probably they didn't know better. Shouldn't we be a bit more sensitive to their situation?
Most people don't understand it, and that's a real problem. I'll do my best to explain.
Several decades ago I found myself living in my car. I had a job that didn't really cover expenses, but it allowed me to eat and pay for gas.
Why didn't I just quit and find a new job? Well, quitting meant that I would no longer be able to pay for food or gas, and jobs were hard to find in the recession of the early 90s.
Now, I had no debt, no family to support, no need to stay in that city and a four-year technical degree, so I was able to bounce out of that situation relatively quickly, but if those things had not been true, things might have turned out differently. Believe it or not, you can have a full-time job and actually work yourself into poverty.
When the choice is between taking on more debt and having your children go hungry or homeless, there really is no choice. Taking time off to re-train is not an option. Many people are in this situation because they are taking responsibility for their lives and for those of their families.
Don't feel bad about not understanding it. Until you've seen this cycle actually play out, it's hard to believe it exists.