Gig-a-Break

April 16, 2024 2:01 AM

Rest of World shadowed workers in São Paulo, Lagos, Dhaka, and Jakarta to get an intimate look at how they spend their breaks between orders. from Portraits of gig workers in rare moments off the clock [Rest of World]
posted by chavenet (9 comments total)

I delivered pizza in a time a good few years before the gig economy but that camaraderie looks quite familiar. When there's no delivery there's nothing to do, there was no official way to pay us to do anything other than deliver, so we'd stand around, eat pizza and yack with absolutely no pressure at all to do anything else. It was easily the best part of that work.
posted by deadwax at 3:24 AM on April 16 [3 favorites]

This is great. I love the work Rest of World does.
posted by limeonaire at 4:41 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

Lately going around town in the US I've been observing a lot of folks hanging out in their cars playing on their phones. Clusters in side streets near sports stadia, a bunch of them in a mall parking lot not near the mall itself but near the entrance/exits, a strip of cars on a highway shoulder near the airport -- and then I realized, oh right, these are all rideshare and delivery drivers waiting for a fare to show up and rather than drive around burning gas waiting for the gig they're just looking for a decent place to kill time while waiting.

So seeing the pictures in the post of community lounges makes me wonder how something like a gig worker cafe would work in North America. NIMBYism would likely prevent anyone from establishing a formal business as I doubt any property owner would want to have an Uber magnet on their block but I also, imagine, say, someone who drives around with a bunch of energy drinks, snacks and scratch tickets in their trunk while also picking up the occasional Doordash job.
posted by bl1nk at 5:02 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

These are great photos.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:11 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

The theme song for times like these : The Chats - Smoko
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:14 AM on April 16 [2 favorites]

> eeing the pictures in the post of community lounges makes me wonder how something like a gig worker cafe would work in North America

We can't even have public bathrooms, there's no way we're getting gig worker cafes.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:02 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]

We can't even have public bathrooms, there's no way we're getting gig worker cafes.

Who needs a public bathroom when you are issued a pee-bottle with a company logo?
posted by Dip Flash at 2:46 PM on April 16 [2 favorites]

Scroll, scroll, scroll
all 'round the world
its twists, its turns
all end with worms
posted by thecincinnatikid at 4:22 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]

hah! So amendment to my original business idea. Rather than a person who drives around with a convenience store in their trunk catering to the boredom needs of gig drivers waiting for a fare, they're driving a Sprinter van with a washroom catering to their bio needs.
posted by bl1nk at 6:20 AM on April 17 [1 favorite]