[amarkov]

I'm sure it's a nightmare for a professional journalist. And I don't mean that as an insult - it'd be a nightmare for me too.

But you know what's more of a nightmare? Driving around to every retail outlet in a 30 mile radius, trying to convince them that you can be the most submissive and obedient out of the 200 applicants. It's hard to begrudge the gig economy for providing an alternative to that.

[AJ007]

I've been running my own tech company for over a decade now, and prior to that my job was everything from cleaning toilets to changing lightbulbs. On paper it sounds terrible, but I was very happy.

The work environment matters a lot. The other people you work with matter. How you are managed matters. I think if gig software designers thought a lot about this, they would see a lot of improvement in worker retention and satisfaction.

[Drdrdrq]

This, and very well written! A lot of the complaints from the article are really all easily solvable issues. I mean, really? I need to click an app for an hour to get the block? Just run a lottery. And what do you mean I have to catch people around? Change the rules so that I need to make best effort (and document it), and that's it. And give customers your own numbers so you can forward calls just during the working hours (though that makes it look even more like the workers are your employees). I won't even comment on trouble with scanning codes.

Note that while this would make job a lot more enjoyable for workers, I still think everyone should enjoy the same basic benefits, no matter what kind of employment relationship they are in. But that could also be solved in other ways (basic income for example).

[xg15]

A momentary feeling that you're your own boss (which isn't even correct as you're micromanaged by the app) doesn't really compensate that you don't get any benefits or protections.

[HarryHirsch]

trying to convince them that you can be the most submissive and obedient out of the 200 applicants

What was again the name of that psychological test they all use to measure the degree of slavish conformance?

[CaptainZapp]

I think you're referring to the Milgram experiment.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

[HarryHirsch]

The Eichmann test is called the Unicru assessment. Freedom is slavery.

[sytelus]

I don’t think you have to do lot of convincing to get minimum wage jobs these days. Benefits are virtually non-existent for most minimum wage jobs. Gig economy just gives you flexibility while traditional job gives you predictability and some hope for climbing the ladder. This journalist would have felt misrable for virtually all minimum wage jobs out there.

[nickthemagicman]

Yep. Or Wal Mart. And people are trapped in these jobs.

[paulie_a]

You'd probably make more at Walmart and with a more stable/ consistent incomw vs the "gig economy"

[imnicnic]

Gigs are highly addictive

[ghaff]

People do at least own their own schedule which is a big difference from much of retail. That said, as this article notes, your cost to do these gigs is often higher than people think it will be (or even realize it is).

[orangecat]

People do at least own their own schedule which is a big difference from much of retail.

Right, and this can easily be underappreciated by those of us working in environments where it's hardly ever a problem if you need to take a few hours to deal with personal issues.

[paulie_a]

So what? That has nothing to do with real income.