Thread by @GigWorkersRise

Last month, Jeff was driving for Uber in SF. It was Hardly Strictly, one of the busiest days of the year. Jeff was driving till 3am.

He'd been driving 15 hrs. He needed to use the bathroom, pulled over onto one of the few public ones. He was jumped—broken nose, ribs, the works.

Jeff usually shuts off the app at 1:30am, but he had to work till 3am b/c that's when the fares were good that day & he has rent & a daughter.

"You either drive these times when it’s dangerous or you make no money."

When Uber/Lyft talk about flexibility, this is what they mean.

He dropped a group of four off near Lombard & knew there was a public bathroom near Coit Tower, so he went, alone in the middle of the night.

"There’s just not that many places to stop and go to the bathroom, so when you’re near one you take advantage of it."

It'd cost him.

Jeff walked up to the bathroom & passed a group near their cars. Someone said something, Jeff asked "What? Did you need something?" They said no, then Jeff turned around when one of them said "What's up?"

"Then they attacked me," Jeff said.

There were five dudes. One guy was in front of the others, getting in Jeff's face, asking "what's up?" Another had a gun in his waistband. A third threw the first punch. And then they were all beating him, punching his head, one guy pistol-whipped him, following him to his car.

"They screamed, 'You got some money?' Grabbed some money I had in my shirt, they’re almost ripping my shorts off screaming 'Give me your fucking wallet.'"

They kick him in the face & take off with his cash & phone, leaving him besides his car alone.

Jeff said this is why he avoids late-night driving.

"It was the most bizarre thing that’s ever happened to me in my life. There was no instigation, there was nothing leading up to this, there was no precursor at all. It went from 0 to 60 instantly."

Someone found him, the cops were there immediately, the EMTs took him to the hospital.

He has no health insurance—can't afford it & Uber doesn't provide it. So MediCal paid for the ambulance, the ER, the stitches. "Thank you taxpayer," Jeff said.

He was off work for three wks.

When he returned, he was traumatized taking new rides. He remembers having to pick up a group of four guys after they'd been drinking at a house party. They ended up being nice, but he was fearful—unable to reject rides for fear of lowering his rating, but unsure who they were.

"There was that terrifying moment that just puts everything into reality, the reality check of how fragile this job is, & not only that, but like, in search of a couple hundred dollars the rest of my life is destroyed? There’s nothing left for my kids?"

Uber did worse than nothing: Because he'd been off work, he lost his pro-status, which tells you the length of the trip you're accepting, the direction, & gives you bonuses—$45 for a weekend or so.

If he had a credit card or student grants w/Uber, he'd have lost that too.

He got constant pings on his app reminding him to "review his service" b/c his cancellation rate was higher since he'd been off work for three weeks.

It pissed him off, constant in-app reminders, as if he were a bad driver, constant nagging to improve his work.

"It’s harassing, it’s a pop-up service that you can’t get rid of, when you have a boss that’s standing over your shoulder saying you’re doing a shitty job but you’re not, you just got the shit beat out of you."

He called Uber, explained. They did nothing.

"The guy said sorry that happened to you, but you’ll just have to lower that cancellation rate and you’ll just have to drive trips to do that. Basically that was his answer to me. There was no way to take any humanity into consideration. This was a black box algorithm."

😡😡😡

Jeff lost close to $3,000 in total. Uber didn't pay for wages lost. Didn't offer any health payments. He would've been unable to pay the rent if it hadn't been for donations.

As a former business owner, Jeff doesn't understand the lack of humanity.

When he ran a construction firm, a contractor of his needed to go back to Mexico for his dad's funeral.

"Without a second thought it was like absolutely, we’ll figure it out, I was like dude I’ll take care of everything you gotta go."

Uber didn't give Jeff the same respect.

Jeff is top-rated, a 4.98, incredibly rare for Uber. They talk a big game of respecting their drivers, seeing them as family, but for a highly-rated driver like Jeff, Uber did nothing, absolutely nothing, when Jeff was brutalized on the job.

This is life in the gig economy.

The worst part for Jeff is it was all expected. He knew Uber would respond this way, b/c he'd never seen them care.

"I don’t think any driver, even the ones that are in love with Uber, thinks that Uber in any circumstance would have their back. That says a lot."