How do I start.
How about the fact there is one police officer with a currently-standing conviction of murder for actions taken on-duty in my state. That individual was going home, drunk, from a bar, the Friday before they committed that murder. I was their Uber driver.
To call them racist would be polite. To call them irrational would be polite. It was clear to me, being that early in the ride I learned they were a police officer, that they were not the kind of person that should be a police officer.
This is what you see driving Uber. You see some of humanity's worst. On top of that police officer, you see people who appear to legitimately believe they're god (and act like it) going home from a bar. You see someone complain their mother in law doesn't like them, and then two breaths later describe how they called their mother in law a racist slur to their face. You see people punch your window hard after being refused a ride for no mask. You see groups of college students insult your political leanings because you enforce the mask mandate and max passenger mandates.
You know that old saying about how Taxi drivers get the best seat in the house? Entirely false. That shit'll horrify you, especially when you learn what's going on by the SMELL of the activity.
Hell, the first night I drove Uber, I had an individual ask me for oral sex. How do you react to that? Uber sure didn't care, I learned the hard way you don't get support for that, besides the platitude of “oh, we're looking into whether this passenger should be allowed to continue using Uber.” I don't know for sure, I don't think I ever met them again, but I wouldn't be surprised.
You know what one of the biggest regrets I have for this job is? That I didn't quit when the PUA was happening, when independent contractors were able to get unemployment. This job was a shit show, ain't no two sides about it.
What I told myself when I took on this line of work was “oh, it'll only be a couple months”. I'll only work this job until I can find a better job. I was naïve, as I think a lot of current drivers are, and former drivers were. What I was unaware of, but became painfully obvious, is this job saps you, you lose motivation, it becomes difficult to apply for jobs, because the act of applying for jobs, getting continually rejected, that saps your energy, energy that is already drained from dealing with depravity. Uber and Lyft are jobs of desperation. I was desperate. But because of the low pay, I was never able to save money, never able to… grow. It took multiple tries to escape, and honestly, I'm amazed I did escape with my life.
Therein lies the great con. Your company does not care about you. If they continuously push you to do stressful work, for desperation wages, you will burn out, it will be hard to escape. “Nobody wants to work.” PHAH. Nobody wants to be exploited by your greedy ass. Nobody DESERVES to be exploited by your greedy ass. Fight for the wage YOU deserve. Fight for the working conditions YOU deserve. And if you do have to fall into the desperation trap, fight your way out, because it'll only do you harm if you don't.
And finally? Fuck Uber, Fuck Lyft. Both companies deserve to be destroyed, for the atrocities they have committed.