The flip side of the gig economy

[nwhiker]

Before I even start, the tipped gig economy is a horrid thing for the people stuck working it. No security, barebones 'base pay', stuck dependent on tips. The only people making money are the dispatch companies, the people who send those workers out, to deliver food or groceries, clean your house, walk your dog.

But from the point of view of the consumer it's a shitty deal too.

I'm tired of getting crappy and expensive service and not wanting to complain because of the potential consequences to the worker.

We get once-a-month house cleaning. It's expensive (because once a month). I never see the same people, so no potential relationship where they learn how to clean my place. The past two have done a miserable job, and I don't feel like I can call the agency and complain. Plus would it really matter, it's not like it's going to be the same people anyhow.

Last time, the gal didn't mop the floors. This irked me to no end because my instructions have been pretty clear: my priorities are the bathroom and mopping. I'd rather they left the stove for me to do and mop, if it's a time crunch. Since none of these women speak much English, it's really hard to communicate with them.

When asked, I gave her 5 * anyhow. And tipped. The zeitgeist of 'anything but 5 * is a FAIL' means, well, that there is no nuance. If I felt able to be honest, I could have said she did a great job on the stove top and bathroom, left my gigantic countertop a streaky mess, and didn't mop. 3 stars this time (I'd still have tipped the same amount).

Anyhow. Maybe others are braver than me.

The end result, however is that I'm ditching this agency. They said 'same people each time' but that hasn't been the case for me over the past 6 months. I'll probably go back to the agency I used before, that I stopped using when the woman I dealt with there retired and the woman who'd been cleaning for me for 5 years left to finish her LPN (yay her! I wrote her a big check, and she's texted me a few times over the years, she's moved to California and is doing great last I heard). I didn't like the replacement agency owner and never found a fit with the women she sent. I didn't have anyone for a few years, but have been trying again, really, because ugh on mopping.

I know I should use independent cleaners. HowEVER, I don't want to deal with if they are licensed and bonded, plus there is the whole personal relationship thing... but I think I'll make an effort next time.

Anyhow, this rambled a lot but at its core: the gig economy sucks. It's terrible for workers and often it doesn't even serve the people who should benefit from it.

Comments

[camelsamba]

Good luck finding new cleaners! Way back in the day, we used a couple that always did the work in private homes - they had employees, but the employees worked at the business clients. But near the end, we would be getting those employees instead, and it would be different people, and even when it was the original owners their work got kind of shoddy. The hard part was figuring out how to cut ties, but it was around the time Cisco closed their office so I was able to use that as an excuse.