I Don’t Want to Be an Employee
It’s too bad that you weren’t driving a cab in the days before Uber and Lyft, back when the taxi companies held all the cards, back when they’d put a driver out of service at the drop of a hat — changing your status in the computer and making it impossible for you to lease a cab to drive, and to make money with. Back then, if you really pissed them off, you could be assured they’d make certain that no other taxi company in the city would touch you — you were finished.
I feel no more like Uber’s partner than I felt like the taxi company’s partner. If cab drivers aren’t employees, then neither are Uber drivers. It felt like the cab company had more power over me: my driving schedule, the requirement to pay the gate fee even if I was too sick to drive a scheduled shift, a specific cab assigned to me that I was required to drive, a dispatcher to obey, an operations manager to duck….
In truth, no, I do not want to be an employee. I value my freedom and flexibility too much, and I like the opportunity to make as much as I can, rather than settling for an hourly wage. If I wanted a “real job,” I’d go get one.
