Pity The Doormen
I’ve heard that hotel doormen are making less — approximately $100 a night — since they aren’t putting people into as many cabs anymore and receiving tips from the hotel guests. If the car just shows up, there’s no need for the doorman.
Does it bother me? A little. Think of the doorman at the Sir Francis Drake, who has been there for forty years. Or the bearded guy at the St. Francis who runs that cab stand like an Army general. There are and will continue to be unintentional consequences for workers as new technology develops and makes positions obsolete.
Like the SFMTA’s recent decision to get rid of the S medallions, which put more cabs on the streets during peak times and were given to long time cab drivers who hadn’t put their name on the medallion list and had been in the cab business over 25 years. Now, with Uber and Lyft filling the streets with cars, there’s no longer a need for S medallions. So eldery cab drivers, longtime San Franciscans, mind you, who benefitted from this system, are essentially left high and dry.
