Uber’s Next Big Move Could Make Drivers Pay To Work | Ep 293

Uber drivers are already doing brutal math on every request, so what happens if the platform starts charging us a subscription just to work? We react to reports that Uber is exploring a driver subscription model, compare it to other approaches in rideshare, and talk through the real-world questions: who it helps, who it hurts, and why part-time drivers could get squeezed if the tiers are wrong.

Then we get into the future that keeps showing up in our feeds right now: autonomous vehicles. Tesla’s new robotaxi concept drops the steering wheel and pedals entirely, which sounds sleek until you think about safety standards, insurance costs, and what happens when a vehicle fails with no manual override. We tie that to Waymo’s recent problems, including remote assist mistakes around school buses and a nerve-racking left turn where the car inches into traffic and stops in a dangerous spot. If robotaxis are going to replace rideshare work, they have to earn trust in the messy streets we all drive every day.

We also cover practical gig economy news that hits pay and safety immediately: Uber’s women rider preference expanding nationwide, LAX considering higher rideshare fees that passengers will feel at checkout, and a troubling rise in identity theft claims where stolen identities are allegedly used to create driver accounts and generate surprise 1099s. If you care about rideshare profitability, passenger safety, and where Uber, DoorDash, Waymo, and Zooks are headed next, this one is for you.

Subscribe for weekly gig economy news, share this with a driver friend, and leave a review if the show helps you stay sharp. Would you ever pay a monthly subscription to drive for Uber?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Hello, hello. Welcome to the Gig Economy Podcast, episode 293. My awesome co-host Larry. How's it going, Larry?

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Yeah, doing well. Just uh down here trying to stay healthy. COVID is running rampant through my family. And so I'm like dodging, bobbing, and weaving, trying to trying to stay healthy, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Yeah, for sure. That's no, that's no good when stuff starts running through your family because it's like, geez, Louise.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

Yeah, yeah. I think there's about uh eight members of my my extended family that uh have it right now, and we've all been around each other.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

So that's crazy. Uh give me a second here because I forgot to um pull up TikTok. All right. I forgot.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Yeah, no problem. I was just thanking Bubba Sue for she was sending me prayers in the uh in the chat there for the family.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Oh, yeah, for sure. That sucks when it when when that stuff goes through your family. I mean, knock on wood, we had like almost a clean winner of nothing.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Really? That's nice, yeah. And you know, I'm not too worried about it about me, but my you know, my mom's she's already in the hospital, right? You know, for other stuff, and she's 84. And then my brother-in-law is a kidney transplant patient, so he is very, you know, very immune compromised already. For sure. He's him and my sister had never had it. They'd never had COVID until now.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Crazy. Um, all right. So stories from the road. I see you have none.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Yeah, I was at the hospital. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

That's totally fine. Um, I did go out. I want to share some terrible requests I got. Okay. It's kind of interesting. These are Uber trips. Um, so this one started out like this. It was a package for$88.10, and it's like 170 miles for$88.10. So if you notice the St. Clair Shores, right? So I got that, and then uh no, that's a different one. And then all of a sudden I got a ride request. Saint the same, the same city. So it's like I think he tried to start a uh he did the package one, maybe did it wrong, but that one only went up, it went up like four or five dollars for the same distance. Like one was a package and one was a person, so that's a little messed up. Um, and then again, St. Clair Shores. Now I got an Uber. I think this is like the all the same person, but they just all were different things. Like this was priority pickup. So like they kept like requesting different things, and then deciding well that's not gonna work, and stuff like that. Um the stuff on the top is from DoorDash. I was this is just like how it pops up when you're not in the app. If you're on Android, it does that. But um, yeah, so and then yeah, I got this one too. Uh let this one 131 miles for 73 bucks. Like, what the frick? Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_02 4:00

That is that's disgusting, is what that is.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

That's I'm seeing 73 dollars.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Yeah, and and you still gotta come back. I know that's that's 131 miles one way. Yeah, that that is nuts. Yeah, I mean, I won't even go to Nashville. That's you know, like 65 miles for for 73.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Yeah, that was terrible. Um, also had a uh oh a weird spark, two deliveries that I had, um, they ended up being like 45 or 50 for both of them. Like I rarely see shit that high.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

On Spark. On Spark. I mean, I'll get like a$35, 32, but never in the 45 to 50. So I did two of those, and they were big. I mean, a couple of them were giant orders, but they they they did tip well. But one of the ladies I get there, so there's an apartment complex by us, and it's the same address, but it has two, it's like the building has the same address, but it has two entrances, okay? And I never know if the the higher number number like like uh apartment 312 is on the right or on the left. I guess ideally, if you would look at it logically, it would go left or right. I never thought about that until just right this second. But anyways, so it was like like$300 worth of groceries. It was a big order. So I go to the first one. I usually what I do is I grab a couple of things, nothing heavy, go up the stairs. Of course, it's the wrong one. This kid yells at me, hey, those are our groceries. Now, mind you, third, third floor, no elevator. Um, and and so up the stairs, and I'm like, Well, this is for a room, this is 311. Like, is this you know, are you there? And he didn't really say anything, whatever. I just ignored him. So I walked down there all the way through because you can you can still connect to it. Walked all the way through, and uh then his mom's huffing and puffing behind him, and apparently they were trying to chase me down because they were coming to help, which I thought was amazing. So ended up going to the other side, moving my car over, and they they helped, right? The kid and the mom. And and then she's like handing me five dollars cash too. And I was like, Oh my gosh, that's thank you so much. I was like, You please don't give me that though. You guys helped. Like, and she's like, Nope, I want you to have it.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Yeah, that's nice, man. That that that's cool when uh one that they're willing to help, but then the teepee on top of that.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Yeah, I mean the help, I was like, I wanted to go, like, you know, you're trying to flip shit, and and uh the help would have been just fine for me. So yeah, it was uh it was a kind of a I went out in the evening and it was like three and a half hours. I got two of those big ones and like thirty dollars on DoorDash and nothing on Uber, obviously. And uh yeah, so I ended up making like 110, 120 bucks and like less than four hours on a Sunday night.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

So that's not bad for a Sunday night.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

No, I'm not at all. Uh not at all. Um, yeah, that's it. Nothing exciting happened other than getting an extra five dollars cash. I I was like like a pig in shit. I was just like, you know, it's only five bucks, but like someone actually acknowledged the the hustle and was still willing to pay. I don't know, it was just kind of nice.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Yeah, yeah, it's nice when those things happen unexpectedly for sure.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

All right, gig economy in the news. Uh, a lot of articles tonight, so bear with us, not a lot of videos. Um, I can't believe this is happening. Uh, while it's not been confirmed, but Uber is exploring a subscription model for their drivers. It says uh this is from Yahoo Finance because every other fucking site is a paywall. I wish we could figure a workaround for that, but anyways, I'm sure there's a way. I just don't know. Um, so the Uber could be signaling a deeper push into subscription-based models for drivers. This competitive pressure builds across the Ride Hill market. A recent job posting indicates the company is seeking a New York-based product manager to design and execute new subscription package for drivers and couriers. The role also involves building a global testing expansion strategy while assessing how the model may evolve, evolve depending on how competitors respond. So Uber has already induced uh, let's see, the movie suggests Uber may be examining alternatives to its long-standing commission-based structure where the company takes a percentage of each ride. Uber has already introduced a flat rate system for drivers at India, uh, which I didn't know. Following the growth of local rival rep rapido, maybe we did talk about this. I remember that rapido app.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Yeah, I remember I remember that name. And yeah, I guess I guess it must be such a good app that it's given them actually giving them some competition. Which is great. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Or if they're losing market share, they're gonna they're gonna innovate. Uh in the U.S., the ride hailing app Empower, so they get mentioned in this, which I thought is interesting, has also gained traction by promoting rides that cost about 20% less, partly by placing drivers on the screw subscription plan rather than collecting commissions. So I just talked about how like uh gridwise showed ride rideshare prices rose nine point six percent in December compared with the year earlier, and the platform fees climbed uh 33% over the same period. Gross driver pay increased 3.6%. Uh so yeah, it's um it's interesting. I I I'm actually kind of excited to see what they would offer as a subscription.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Yeah, it will be interesting to see. I'm sure they'll try different price points, and you you would wonder if it'd be if you know it's gonna be the same everywhere or if it'd be different depending on what market you're in.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

I'm trying to think about I if we remember talking about Empower, but I feel like they had like three different tiers, and I think one of them was like wasn't it like 500 a month? Something like that. I remember it being a little like sticker shocky.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

And I think 100 a month gave you a certain amount of rides or something like that, or maybe that was another one we talked about, but yeah, we've talked about so many. I know, but yeah, I'm actually kind of excited just to see what they offer. Obviously, I don't think it's gonna be good for anybody that's not full-time, or unless they offer the tiers, like if you're like super part-time.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

I think they'll have to because so many of the drivers are part-time. Yeah. They can't if they change it to something that would only work for full-time, they would lose significant amount of their workforce.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Yeah, for sure. And and maybe they're not gonna force you to do it, maybe they'll just give you an offer.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Yeah, you can do a subscription where you don't, you know, we're not taking any out of every ride, or you can stay on the plane that you're on now where we take a commission.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

But here's another thing like it's just another thing we're gonna have to fucking try to figure out because it's not gonna be a benefit to the driver. May I mean probably not. Yeah, I mean, it might have a slight benefit like having the higher diamond tier gives you a few little perks. It may have something like that, but I don't know. I I can't see that that it being such an advantage over the regular way that they would just do that, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Even though in the article it mentions, oh, it's a way to give drivers more money. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

All right. Uh Fox News uh talks about a Tesla builds a no steering wheel. Now what I think is that for their robo taxi or is that for the regular robo taxi.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

They um they built the the first one rolled off the floor at the factory in Texas. Okay. Uh so yeah, it's their new robo taxi. It's a two-seater, has no steering wheel, has no pedals, it's uh different design, it's kinda kind of got the gold wing door, um, like a you know, kind of like the old uh what DeLorean had, I guess. Yeah. Um it's it's designed to operate as a fully autonomous taxi, and it runs on Tesla's full driving, full self-driving system. So there is there's no manual override. You know, if the software fails, there's nothing that, you know, the passenger or uh uh police officer can't come in and and get behind the wheel and move it, you know, like we've seen with the Waymo's. Uh just last week we played a video where you know they were trying they were trying to do that because the uh Waymo was stuck in across the road. Uh you're not gonna be able to do that in this. There's there's no pedals, there's no steering wheel. So yeah. Um and unlike the other autonomous cars like Waymo and and some of the others, Tesla does not use LiDAR, it it uses a camera based system powered by neural network. So uh he's you know he's coming about it uh a different way. Uh the car's gonna have about 200 miles of range, uh inductive charging, a target price is under$30,000. And you know, they're really kind of targeting uh the same market as Uber and Lyft, but says private ownership may be possible.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Yeah, I mean if they're if they're throwing a price out there, then they're looking for people to buy it.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Yeah. And then also, but one big thing, you know, right now the the federal motor vehicle safety standard in the United States requires vehicles to include basic driver control. So a car that doesn't have a steering wheel doesn't meet that. So Tesla is uh says they're reportedly seeking an exemption for their uh cyber cab.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

I also heard it's really, really expensive to insure a Tesla because it's hard to repair, I guess someone said. I mean, I don't know for a fact, but can you imagine having one of those as a homeowner and like you're using it for a business? I mean, the insurance would would it even be worth the insurance, you know, on that. So I don't know. I uh that's what I've heard about Tesla, you know, get Josh in here.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Yeah, I need Josh to tell us how much uh uh how if it's a lot more expensive. So yeah, it says he's also he's uh he's using a a different manufacturing strategy, uh, which is called an unboxed manufacturing strategy instead of a traditional linear assembly line. They build modules separately before bringing them together and and late in the production uh process. It says in theory, this reduces factory space and accelerates the amount of output you can have. He suggested a potential cycle time of one vehicle every 10 seconds. What is that that wild?

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Is it because of the the way he's doing it that that it all that's not even possible?

SPEAKER_02 15:39

Well, one coming off the line every 10 seconds.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Oh, I see, gotcha. Okay. I was thinking like he put it all together. I mean, that wouldn't surprise me. It kind of looks like it took about 10 seconds, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_02 15:56

Like, man, they some no quality control here.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

So are they not the first one to have no pedals, right? That Zook doesn't have any pedals or steering wheel either, right? But that's more of a like a task, a taxi. Uh the one in Vegas. I'm pretty sure I didn't think I don't think it does. I kind of think that that was the one we were talking about. I could be wrong, but let's see.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Does it have a steering wheel? No, they do not have a steering wheel pedals or even a driver's seat.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

That's what I thought. That's what I thought when we talked about. So it's kind of the same thing, but you know, we've never really talked about, or they've even I mean, maybe we did talk about it, but like what software or what equipment are they using? Because it's like a totally separate company from Waymo and and Tesla, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Yeah, there it's uh it's owned by Zoo's own by Amazon. Oh, is oh Amazon, okay I think so. Yeah, I'm I'm pretty positive. I think we talk about that in another story later tonight.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Yeah, but you talked about um like the different uh Tesla uses cameras and then Waymo uses the LiDAR. Uh I'd I'd be curious what the other one is. It doesn't really matter. I'm just saying it, yeah, you're right. You kind of lose the access of of overpowering it. But honestly, if that's gonna be the case, you're gonna have to have staff that that can intervene, and we'll talk about that a little bit. Well, probably my next article, I think. Uh that that, you know, when that shit happens, because if if if police officers or public safety can't move it, that's a huge problem.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

That is gonna be, yeah, unless you unless that you got your stuff perfect. You know, that's impossible. Yeah, it is impossible. Yeah, I wonder if the zooks has in it ha has gotten an exemption as well. Like you said, you know, maybe maybe just because they go like on a set almost like a track, you know, a set pattern or something, that maybe they got an exemption for that.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

And you don't hear anything about anything happening with them. It's always Waymo.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Although, although as we'll talk one of our articles we'll talk later, Zooks is uh getting into the uh uh Ryshare game as well in a couple cities, it looks like.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Uh okay, so you know, right back into Waymo. Um, so we talked about this several times about the the bus, the school bus stopping uh when Waymo autonomous vehicle in Austin contest. So this is what happened. They contacted a remote assistant in Michigan. Why you got to throw Michigan under the bus, a human, to ask if the school bus in the next lane was signaling for driver to stop. The agent wrongly replied no. Oh, so the car passed. So it must have sent a ping to them and it was kind of stuck, and so they they said no, but how are you not fucking you know, a human must have looked at the camera? How did you not like you know what? Actually, it doesn't surprise me because I literally had somebody run my reds today in a residential neighborhood.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Yeah, but but I mean that's that's a little different. If your job is to is to tell, you know, you're a safety person on an autonomous vehicle, you're not, you know, it's not like you're in a hurry to get somewhere like some like somebody that's just passing a school bus because they're being a jerk about it. Man, that's bad. That's bad that somebody gave the go-head for them to pass a uh a school bus.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Yeah, the video said the bus was displaying red strobing lights at the time and had two stop signs sticking out. How do you go and see that and go, oh yeah, go ahead. That's just a little vague. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here. I'd be curious to look up that person, that agent, and then were they even fucking looking, or they were just like, it's fine, go ahead. Like, you know, you're on your phone on TikTok and you're supposed to be working and you're like, Yeah, it's fine.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

Yeah, but if they're coming on and saying, Hey, can you look at this? It's a bus. I don't know if I'm surely, you know. I mean, how lazy do you have to be not to take a look and go to the business? Don't don't go. Or even if I even if I didn't look, I would probably say, Yeah, you gotta wait a minute.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Yeah, yeah. Even if I I want to finish my TikTok video. That's right. Yeah, just wait a minute.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

You'll be good.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Uh looks like buses, they said uh that the Waymo uh illegally passed stop school buses more than 20 times that year. My my guess it was 2025. And so Waymo is let's see, Waymo is party to the NTSB investigation, has almost also sorry, also met with Austin ISD to run tests along its bus fleet and collect data on light patterns and conditions, the company said in January. It had seen material improvement in performance since the software update. So let's see. According to Waymo, there are approximately 70 remove assistant agents on duty worldwide. The agents do not continuously monitor vehicles, but instead responds to specific requests for information from the automated driving system.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

So I wonder I wonder if that's a boring job.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Well, yeah, you're just waiting for the Waymo to ping it, ping you, and you know, but here's the thing, like it's why do you got to work with the buses and the patterns? Like this is these patterns have been around since the probably the 50s.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's I can understand it if you're having to call remote assist because oh, there's some temporary construction here, it's not clear where you're supposed to go, something like that. But yeah, a big yellow bus with red flashing lights, that's that's pretty standard. Pretty standard.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

I do understand as as a as a regular driver, I'm not gonna throw everyone under the bus. There are different rules for different roads, it and it all depends what city you're in. So it gets complicated. But if you don't know, just stop. I mean, you're better safe than sorry, right? Just just slow down and stop if the reds are out. Not for the yell, not for the hazard lights, the reds. If the reds are out, stop. Because like if it's a divided highway, you don't have to like in at least in Michigan and on the other side, doesn't have to stop. But you know, it trust me, if you stop and you're wrong, somebody's gonna let you know with their horn. Don't you worry about that. So yeah, we'll see what happens. I mean, it's it's like I said, it's kind of ridiculous. But you know, the car did everything right, and then the human fucked it up.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

So well, that that was pretty smooth, man. I saw what you did there. I'm not gonna throw everybody under the bus.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

I didn't even try to do that. I know some sometimes I will catch it and I'm like pun intended. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

Uh we'll give you credit. All right.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Uh Larry talking about again, it's not a huge article, but it uh the woman pre um preference expands nationwide.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Yeah, so this is something that they've tested in a few markets, and they went ahead and rolled it out. So what it is, uh, and they did it on International Women's Day. Yay. Um yeah, that was that was pretty good timing there. So um Yeah, expanded nationwide. So what it does is uh with women preferences, women riders can request a ride on demand by selecting women drivers when they order a trip. You know, if the wait time's gonna be longer than they want, they can always opt for another ride that has a faster pickup that may have a male driver. You can reserve a trip with a woman driver in advance. Um You can also set a preference for woman driver while it's not guaranteed that turning that preference on will give you a woman driver, it increases your chance. Uh women drivers can also toggle on a preference to receive trip requests from women riders, giving them, you know, uh a little more probably peace of mind when they're out driving. And also available for teens. So in this in the cities where, you know, the teen accounts, which I think those are pretty well nationwide as well. Uh, wherever those teen accounts are available, teens and their parents can request women drivers uh for both on-demand and reserving in advance, you know, reserve trips, which I can see these uh Horndog teenage boys putting that on on their account, you know. Uh I mean, am I wrong? No, you're not wrong. Uh so yeah, it's you know, it's just another thing they're doing to to uh you know, it looks good on them. It's it's not that hard to program. Oh my goodness, Ken Holland just came on. Sorry, you want to say shout out to him? He's a guy I was in the National Guard with another lifetime ago, uh good friend of mine. Um so yeah, it's just another trip, uh trip preference that that you can have that kind of gives them because we're always telling you know people if you're a woman, don't don't be a driver because you're gonna do so much stuff. I've told all, yeah, I'm you get these college kids in there all the time, like, oh, I think I'm gonna drive for I've thought about driving for Uber for a while. I'm like, do food delivery. You don't have to deal with people because you're gonna get hit on as a as a driver constantly, you're gonna get groped, grabbed, you're I mean, it's just not good.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

No, I hate to be like that guy. Like, yeah, not and we're not saying it because you we don't think you can do the job.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

We just sure no, you can do the job. Yeah, you're you're just gonna put up with a bunch of crap.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Yeah, I mean, we put up with it and we're we're men, and it's it's just it's just bad. So yes, um well, it's you know, again, they should have done this a long time. I know they didn't want to do it because it ends up, you know, not some people wait for rides because blah blah blah, and they only care about the almighty dollar, but yeah, they want those people picked up just as fast as they can. Yeah, and that's I mean, I get that, but like you should have offered it a long time ago. So yeah, yeah. Um, all right, so LA, uh, you know, the the city of fees, I call it, is considering a proposal Tuesday to increase the rideshare, uh, the fees for rideshare companies. And it's I read it and I did highlight a few things, but it's fucking annoying. So apparently they're building a because okay, so right now it's four to five dollars fee that gets passed along to the customers, of course. Uh you can see it on your receipt for the LAX airport surcharge. Um, it's they're voting to increase that fee as much as two to eight dollars depending on where the rideshare picks and drops you off. Apparently, they um just finished a automated people mover, which opens and decreases the congestion in the central terminal term terminal area. So basically it's there's two different areas now that you're gonna be able to pick up. Um, and so but what it said, even with the automated people mover opens, you'll still be able to get rides directly to and from the curbs along the horseshoe, but it will come with a$12 fee. Oh wow so they want you to use the people mover that puts you in a different spot. It's obviously all for congestion, right? So if you don't use that, then you're gonna have to pay from$4 to$12 or whatever it was. It will apply to all taxi and limousine services. Uh obviously a little bit different because they are under a different fee structure, but I mean it's stupid, you know what I mean? And and of course Uber's trying to fight it and says that it's gonna like kill their business, and which I you know, I don't blame Uber for doing that. Like if you can you gotta reduce your fees, you're trying to reduce fees for your customers. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

Yeah, and you know, yeah, people are gonna get mad at Uber, even though it's not their fault. Uh that's just you know, just how it goes. Um, and that yeah, that's a lot, that's a big convenience fee.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Yeah, I mean, just I I just don't understand, you know, since you want people to use the people mover, and so you're gonna penalize them for not doing it. So I don't know. Maybe maybe it's more like they said, congestion, it maybe it's for environmental things. I don't know. Who gives a shit? But um, yeah, so more fees coming to LA if you uh if you get an Uber or lift there. And then they said they mentioned at the end of the article they're like, well, you can also just take a bus that we offer for free or something like that. And it's like, yeah, people aren't taking the fucking city bus with gangbangers in it, like you know what I mean. Like it would no, you know, not happening, not happening. All right, so oh, this one, yeah. I thought this was interesting. I I kind of proud of this lady. We talked about um how you know it's people like a stop gap, and this is kind of part of that.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

So, yeah, this is uh, you know, uh uh an inspiring story. This lady, um, I guess she was living with her mom, she has a couple kids, and she wanted a little more independence, you know, wanted to have some privacy, some space to her own, which I completely understand, but she wasn't sure how she was gonna do it, you know. So um she was working as a kitchen prep cook for eleven dollars an hour.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Yeah, yeah, stop that. Eleven dollars the minimum wage of wherever she's at, because god damn, eleven doll an hour, that's insane.

unknown 28:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

Uh I agree, yeah. So yeah, she talked about, you know, how though that eleven doll an hour wasn't really enough to cover a$60 a night hotel, uh, but she really was determined to make it work. So she, you know, started to thinking what else can I do for another stream of income? Especially, you know, um, you know, she figured I can't afford a babysitter, you know, if I get another job. So is or is there something I can do um where I don't have to get a babysitter? And so she had some friends that were delivering for DoorDash. She really thought, you know, the flexible hours and and being able to do it, you know, bring her her kid along was really attractive. So she started uh trying out DoorDash and started doing those in the afternoons and early evenings. And she her and her uh daughter had a lot of fun. They'd they'd have fun when they're in a restaurant, or you know, if there was a long wait, she'd take her daughter out of the car and and uh uh when they got there and take her to the customer's door to do the drop off. So yeah, she she was able to make enough money, um, you know, most nights to pay the fee that she needed, you know, the$60 for the hotel. But she shocks about how one night she was worried, you know, she was getting toward the end of her shift and she was about 20 bucks short and she didn't think she was gonna make it that night. She wasn't sure what what she was gonna do. And then she said, you know, it's almost like a miracle. My last customer handed me a folded up bill as a tip, you know, which I just assumed was a couple of bucks. And she said, but then uh to my amazement, it was it was a twenty dollar bill. Uh she said, I was actually recording a TikTok at the time, and that video went viral, getting three million views. Dang! Goodness, I'm telling you, man, that's wild, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

Yeah. So, you know, she said a lot of people, you know, saw what she was doing and they were supportive and encouraging. They saw she had a willingness to work and not, you know, she didn't want to just rely on you know government benefits. She says, I even started donating plasma twice a week for$120. And then by November of that year, she'd built up enough money to start renting a mobile home for$950 a month. She said it really felt good to have a permanent place for Emory and me. And then her son, who had been staying at, he continued to stay with her mom uh while they were at the hotel uh or at the motel. Uh he would come and stay on the weekends at the new uh at the new mobile home. But she said, you know, it's not all smooth sailing, you know, stuff happens, life happens, as we all know. Last month her her Jeep broke down for good. Uh she didn't have means to drive. So she's she still started doing, you know, continued doing Gordasher four times a week using her mom's car and trying to save up money to continue to just you know grind it out and save up the money that she needs and kind of have the life that she wants.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

Yeah, it's tough. You know, when you're doing gig work and you're kind of hanging on by a thread and you have a vehicle, like it's oh man, it's tough. Like it just takes one little hiccup and it goes rolling back. And and yeah, you gotta you definitely. I thought you were gonna say, Oh, she's renting a car. I'm like, oh yeah, no, no, no, no. That that is just like a payday loan at that point. Um so Bubba Sue, I would never bring a kid working in the great world, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? I know. Um, I I don't know if Bubba Sue has any kids. I didn't think I don't think she does, but it's tough. It's tough. And if you if that's the only way you can pay your bills, you fucking do it. Like, you know, I I applaud her for fucking getting it done, but I I don't think I would do that, but I didn't I don't have to do it either. I didn't have to do it. But if I was destitute, I mean I will work. I mean, I don't care what it is, I will pay the bills. It's gonna happen if I have to work, which I don't want to do, if I have to work 80 hours a week and I gotta bring my kid with me, I'm gonna make it work, you know, whatever it is. Um, but yeah, I wouldn't I mean I wouldn't recommend doing that if you have other options because it's it's dirty. It's I I don't know if it's dangerous. I mean, I obviously you're not taking them on ride share, but it's just dirty and gross, and you know, you're touching carts and you're, you know, and yeah. So I mean I guess like anything can be dangerous, I guess, but good for her uh for fucking getting it done because hey, no one wants to live in a motel, and if you got your own place, then that's great.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

So yeah, again, you know, I don't think it's uh a preference any of us would have. No, but but we have that work ethic. If if it if it's what had to be done to make it, it it would be done, you know. I I think uh almost our our core group that we have and our and our telegram group, uh, I think most of them are are like that. We would do what has to be done to to pay our pills and you know get it taken care of.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

And I'm just you know, it's so cool that she has and people have the option to bring the kid if they need to, because you know, you can't bring it to the factory job, you can't bring it to you know what I mean. Like exactly.

SPEAKER_02 33:53

She was already working a full-time job during the day and paying a babysitter, and babysitters get expensive real quick.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

Yeah, yeah. So well, hopefully she can find something more than eleven dollars an hour for the W-2. So, like it should be used as a stopgap. You shouldn't um if you if you're not able to do it full time, don't try to grind it out. You gotta be smart and you gotta you just you gotta just be amazing with it, otherwise it can fuck you.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Yeah, it can get rough for sure.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

That car breaks down and you're you're already struggling, you're screwed.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Yeah, yeah, you're just you know, one accident away from you know the house of cards collapsing on you.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Yeah, so alright. Well, that was good. Waymo in the news. Alright, we had so many way Waymo videos to choose from. This is the one I chose, but it I honestly Larry and I pop a couple in a week, and uh so yeah, I don't quite remember this one. I think this one like kind of pulls out in front of a car. So we'll go ahead and play that.

SPEAKER_03 34:59

Oh, we have to turn left. Oh god.

SPEAKER_04 35:02

I know. What the fuck? It's inching out. This is actually really scary. Oh my gosh, it's like it's like it's inching slowly. No, it's gonna go after this car.

SPEAKER_03 35:16

Oh my god. Shit just stopped.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Yeah, it stopped in the middle of the lane. Middle of the road, right in front of a car. It's like eight lanes crossing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

So the thing about this, uh and and for audio listeners, yeah, basically turning left, they stopped right in front.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

Yeah, they were crossing like eight lanes of traffic, and it it pulled out into them, like just right out in the middle, and there was a car coming.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

This is what I don't understand. When we have busy intersections, we just pull into the left turn lane. They didn't do that. Like, if you pull in there, you just hold there, don't drive. It's I actually got pulled over for driving a little too much in one of those because like the traffic's so bad. Okay, I can beat the first two lanes, right? Then you just get in the left lane, you stop immediately and put your blinker on. Don't roll down it because then you're traveling in a turn lane, and that's what I got. I didn't get a ticket for it, but I got pulled over for it. I was actually delivering pizza for jets back in the day when I got pulled over for doing that. Yeah. But why is it Waymo? I mean, maybe because it's technically against the law to do that, doing that maneuver if it wants to sneak out. I get what it's trying to do. Okay, it's clear I'm gonna try to go.

unknown 36:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

But when there's that many lanes of traffic, yeah, I mean you just can't you can't pull like the into the first two lanes and then just stop. And and literally there was a car coming right at them. Yeah. Luckily, the guy, whoever was driving, was paying attention and they stopped. And I don't know if you could hear it, it's kind of faint in the video. The girl's like, Oh my, that driver's praying for us.

SPEAKER_01 37:17

Oh, yeah, yeah. I saw that. I didn't know what she was referencing, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:20

Um, yeah, they were lucky that people were paying attention because yeah, that they could have got T-boned very easily.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

Right. So that's the thing. Like, when it's doing that stuff, like every time so we were so excited to drive go into Waymo. I I don't know if I'm signing up for that anymore. I mean, we've watched handful, um no more than a handful. We've watched dozens of videos where it's been sketch.

SPEAKER_02 37:45

Yeah. Hey, you know, patient on that money something else.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Well, yeah. I mean, if as long as I don't die. Yeah, as long as you don't die. I mean, geez, I don't that's that's a big if. Yeah, I don't understand why it wouldn't just pull into the left lane and hold there. I mean, it does everything else fucked up. Why doesn't it just do that? I mean, it that's so weird. Okay, I'm gonna pull out and just stop.

SPEAKER_05 38:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

I'm surprised it didn't try to go backwards into the back into the street. That'd probably have been a better move than what it did.

SPEAKER_02 38:18

Yeah, you wonder if it just uh, you know, it was it over you wouldn't think it would be overwhelmed by by eight, you know. I know eight lanes, it's a lot of lanes. Was it eight lanes? I didn't I I mean I think I saw it somewhere in the comments. It was several lanes because when you're watching there, you can see that I mean they crossed several lanes.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

Well, it's at least two uh in a turn lane and then two on the other side. I thought it was, but it doesn't matter, it's still busy.

SPEAKER_02 38:40

Yeah, I think it was even more than that. It was several lanes they were coming across because he kept inching up and they were still in in you know, still crawl, you know, they were still perpendicular to the lanes.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

That's the thing that's weird. It it's wanting to get out because it's clear. I get that. Well, then you gotta pull in the turn lane. You can't just fucking stop and just hope someone stops. Frickin' menace. Okay, so this isn't really uh I guess it's kind of a story. Uh so apparently New York they have issued that you have to use the same bins now. Um I've uh New York's got a trash problem, I heard, right? So they just like throw their trash out in the street, uh, and then the the garbage bin come pick it up. But apparently they've issued a basically you have to have this. It's a the bin is$55, and they're having uh you it can be delivered through DoorDash Instacar Uber Heats, the official said on Wednesday. Uh so that's literally the story. Um, but it's a shit show because the government's rolling it out, and the first company that they uh use for it uh went belly up, and and so they're they're waiting to get the bins out. They're hoping to get them out by the end of uh March on that. But like some of the comments was like, Home Depot doesn't ship them, and Uber, I guess them. I'm confused. I'm not tipping anybody, uh, which you know that doesn't surprise me. But so yeah, if you uh you can now put a trash can, now at least it's clean, but I don't think I can put a bin unless they're like I don't know how many gallons it said it was, but like unless it's small, I'm not gonna be able to fit that in my car. I don't even think you'd be able to fit that in your car. I mean, my my my trash bin's big.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I don't know if that would I I mean it I it it could part of it might go in the trunk, it but he'd be hanging out.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, like you could throw it in a back of a pickup, but yeah, anyways, so yeah, apparently if you're in New York, you could get a request to uh seem to delivering things by drones, man. Yeah, yeah. Can you imagine that thing falling from the sky disconnect? Oop. Sorry, kitty cat.

SPEAKER_02 40:51

Sorry, kitty cat, it wipe out a crowd of people. Yeah, see in the next life.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

Yep. Uh Larry's gonna talk about uh Amazon Zoo.

SPEAKER_02 41:01

Yeah, so it Amazon does uh own Zooks. So Uber uh has um made a deal with Amazon Zook for a robo taxi rollout. So the Zooks Robo Taxis um are the Zooks that that run, you know, uh I guess around the strip there in New York and stuff, they're gonna launch as uh rideshare robo taxis.

SPEAKER_01 41:23

So along with you know it's gonna be Uber's brand or or Zooks.

SPEAKER_02 41:28

It's gonna be yeah, it says uh let's see here. Yeah, the largest uh rideshare company Uber's making a huge bet on the future of autonomous vehicles. Um a strategic partnership between the two brands will launch in Las Vegas and Los Angeles in mid-2027. Rideshare users will be able to use Zooks robotaxis for eligible rides via the Uber app. So yeah. Yeah, these vehicles are built specifically for ride hailing and designed for comfort, conversation, and connection. And then they just threw in some stats about you know the future of rideshare. Um and these are from GridWise, which were you know, we we use them uh a lot for statistics. Uh they're predicting that in the year 2030, autonomous ride sharing is projected to constitute approximately 10% of total rides. And by 2035, that will be up around 25% of total rides.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

That's still pretty low.

SPEAKER_02 42:27

For rideshare, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

I'm I'm I'm surprised of that, those statistics. I mean, that's estimates, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 42:33

Yeah, it is to it's a it's an estimate because as we can see, things can really ramp up quickly because we you know we'd kind of uh we would mention autonomous cars here and there since we started rideshare. Yeah, we always heard about it, and then it's all like all of a sudden it's like oh my, they're here, you know. Yeah. And now we talk about them every week.

SPEAKER_01 42:55

I do like the idea of the zooks that you go out with friends and you can kind of sit and face each other.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

I still don't understand. You know, I mean I know they have the stats behind it all, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 43:19

Yeah, I mean, I even even if you know a regular car, like I used to drive an XL and people would get in it and like it'd be fun, but like the people up front can't talk to the people in back unless you're yelling. No, and and you're and you're if you're in the front seat, it's harder to turn around. There's there's a whole bunch of issues. So it's kind of like a mini like limousine service, you know, but yeah, you get to hang out with your friend. I I like that idea. I mean, if I was going out with a bunch of friends, I would order that over a regular Uber.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

Uh just uh seems to be cool to ride, like I said. Again, it's got no steering wheel, no, no pedals. I don't think they I'm not sure if they I don't think they even have a front windshield. I can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 43:56

That'd be weird. Well, yeah, that's so funny. So bringing that up, my one of our new buses at the old folks home, the way they set it up is that where you the people that are sitting down, like I sit low, they can't see out the front. Like it's just the it's just like a gray whatever of so they hate it. They can't because you can't see out the windshield. I mean, you got the big windows on the side, but people like to look out the front and not having that. That I don't know. I'd be I mean, I you know, you'd get used to it, I guess. But if I'm talking to my friends, I wouldn't really notice. But a lot of people get car sick when they can't see out the front.

SPEAKER_02 44:36

Sure. Yeah, so uh I I looked it up, the pictures. Yeah, the zooks, they do have they do have uh they do have the windshield. And again, these they're they don't have a front end or a back end, they can go either way, yeah, which is kind of cool too. Yeah. Oh, we just had somebody join our telegram group. So hey Jonathan, if you're joining from listening to the podcast or watching us here, uh welcome. Welcome to the group.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

Awesome. Well, that's cool. You know, Uber's always moving and shaking.

SPEAKER_02 45:02

Um Yeah, but I yeah, I like I like the zooks. I would I would really enjoy trying that out.

SPEAKER_01 45:07

Well, I think I'd be more comfortable because we don't hear anything about It. Like we don't, oh, Zoo ran over a cat. Like you said, it's probably put it's pretty on a like the same kind of pattern, which I get, but at least they're like getting all the bugs out, and then maybe they'll expand it a little bit more. But and maybe they realize it's a lot harder than we think it is.

SPEAKER_02 45:28

And that's because I mean, could you could you imagine? Uh you know, as on our our on our weekend trip with all our you know with our people, and if we could all fit inside a zooks, oh my god, we would have so much I mean we it would be hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

We'd be rolling dice in the middle, exactly playing crap so there you go.

SPEAKER_02 45:45

Maybe need a new pair of shoes. Yeah, come on now, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

Frickin' take all John's money.

SPEAKER_02 45:51

Exactly. We'd be playing, yeah, horse race in the middle of the zooks.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

Did you did you see that one I sent in that group? Yeah. Yeah, that I mean no one commented on it. I'm like, that shit's funny. We should that's yeah, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_02 46:04

That was hilarious. That was a good one.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

Uh all right. Latest California-based gig work app lets people book content creators and editors. Um yeah, I didn't there wasn't much about this, but she's a content creator through an app called Social Agent, part of an expanding gig economy where more and more workers are trading stability for flexibility. Work that once required connections, planning, and a big budget can now be booked with a tap, extending the on-demand model from rides and meals to storytelling itself. So I guess I don't really understand what she did. I think she did like looks like she went to a like a nursery and took some pictures, and basically she's like the social media person, but not on their payroll. Right. Usually it's a gig.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

Yes. It's another gig that you do. So these people don't have a need for somebody full time, but they might be having a big event or they want to put together some like a year-in, you know, video review of the year, or you know, lots of different reasons people would need something like that, but not full-time. So this is just another way, another gig for people to do if you're good at that.

SPEAKER_01 47:11

It said a typical job runs about$200 with same-day delivery. Agents can earn about$50 an hour plus tips, and if the client already has footage, they can upload and have it turned into a finished piece. Uh, looks like it's available in New York, Los Angeles, Miami. Obviously, other cities slower rollout. So the only thing that says it's like uh so it says, as for Kurtz, after the shoot, she's headed straight to a nearby coffee shop where the clock is ticking. She had just over an hour to shape her raw material and the polished final cut. So I like the idea. I I think it's great. You're right. I mean, all these small businesses, you know, I see some of their TikTok videos and they're complete trash. Yeah, they're bad. Some of them are funny, like some of the auto ones, like the salespeople, because guess what? Salespeople do when it's slow, they they fucking make TikTok videos, so those are pretty good. But I can see, you know, if it only costs 200 bucks to do a little promo, I think it would be great. But all the editing and stuff, like, is she just putting it through an AI chat bot and just you know what I mean? Because it's like, you know, are are you really like polishing it and and editing it and spending time? I don't know. It just seems I mean 50 bucks an hour ain't bad.

SPEAKER_02 48:21

Now, yeah, we who in our group would turn down$50 an hour plus tips.

SPEAKER_01 48:25

No, none of us. But I mean, are you confident to take some raw footage and create it into a social media content? That's what I'm saying. You could go to AI and do it. You'd be like, you know, you'd have to be, you know, maybe not.

SPEAKER_02 48:39

Yeah, you'd have to have some skills in that area.

SPEAKER_01 48:41

Or have a subscription to an AI that, you know, not the free version.

SPEAKER_02 48:45

Right, yeah, with the watermark.

SPEAKER_01 48:47

Yeah, well, just in just in general, that only gives you a few options during the you know, a few prompts and then it locks you out for a certain amount of time.

SPEAKER_02 48:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 48:55

I I actually I don't um I like editing. I actually uh, you know, when I'm creating my TikToks and stuff, I don't mind editing, but the the the creating the content all the time is well, this is easy because we're just sitting here talking, but to come up with something genius is like I'm not creative that way.

SPEAKER_02 49:13

I'll have to show you uh I'll send you uh through our telegram, I'll send you the um picture I made for my son for his uh birthday yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 49:24

Was it AI? Yeah, part of it.

SPEAKER_02 49:28

He's a huge Superman fan, huge, and this is his actual dog and cat in the picture.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

Is it?

SPEAKER_02 49:34

Yeah, and I cropped it down there, I cropped out the watermark.

SPEAKER_01 49:38

Oh, I see the watermark.

SPEAKER_02 49:39

Well, yeah, I know, not in the one I sent to you, but the one I sent to him, I cropped it right above that.

SPEAKER_01 49:43

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:44

But it was funny is because I was creating that, and so um so what it is, it's a picture. My son's a huge Superman fan. It was his birthday, there you go. And so I was trying to get AI to make this picture, and um it kept coming up. Oh, you know, copyright content. Oh, because it's superman, yeah. So okay, so I tried it on Grok and and um still same thing. So I I was like, okay, it doesn't have to exactly be Superman. Just you know, I'm like I changed it to just make it a superhero costume, and this is what it put out. No way, yes, I've been telling me can't do that, can't do that, can't do that, and then I give it a slightly different and boom, it spits out exactly what it said it couldn't give me.

SPEAKER_01 50:25

It knew that's what you wanted, but oh yeah, it can't have proof that says that they did it. He has to deny it. So when like they when DC comes and sues them, they're like, look it, we denied it, and this is what he asked for, and so this is what I gave him. Yeah, it was so funny though. That is funny. You know, I have one of my second tattoos is a Superman tattoo.

SPEAKER_02 50:47

He's got the S on his arm.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

Yeah, that's what I have.

SPEAKER_02 50:50

Yeah, he has it on his forearm. Yeah, I hate it.

SPEAKER_01 50:52

I want to get it covered up.

SPEAKER_02 50:54

He loves Superman. He's seen that new Superman movie like seven times, I think.

SPEAKER_01 50:59

Oh my gosh. I haven't seen a Superman movie in so long. So all right, so what do we got? Seven or fifty-one. Okay, we got time. Uh Mounting Claims of Identity Theft by Uber drivers raise passenger safety concerns.

SPEAKER_02 51:14

Yeah, so this is uh uh talking about um fraud, you know, um identity theft. Um and one thing it it's mainly talking about here California, because it's this story of CBS News California and you know did this investigation. And they mentioned right off the bat they just talk about California has more rideshare drivers than any other state, but not surprising. Take a guess how many they have.

SPEAKER_01 51:43

100,000.

SPEAKER_02 51:45

800,000.

SPEAKER_01 51:47

Shot the front door.

SPEAKER_02 51:49

Isn't that wild? 800,000? 800 says more than 800,000 as of late 2025.

SPEAKER_01 51:56

Oh my goodness, that is so crazy.

SPEAKER_02 52:00

That is, and then it says, but consumer advocates and alleged victims say hundreds of those accounts may have been created using stolen identities just in order to bypass Uber's background checks. And the way that people are figuring this out is because these people are getting 1099s from Uber and they've never driven for Uber. Right. And so this is just kind of a warning. You know, most of the people uh listening to our show are probably rideshare drivers or have done that. But if you haven't ever been uh worked for any of these one of these gig companies and you get a 1099 from them, you might want to check into it.

SPEAKER_01 52:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:34

Not that you probably have much luck because the people in this story said they've reported it to Uber, they've tried to do everything they can, and you know, they don't get anywhere with them. Uber didn't care.

SPEAKER_01 52:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:43

Their stuff's getting delivered or people getting picked up, they don't care.

SPEAKER_01 52:47

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I know we talked about this a couple weeks ago, but um it it's obviously becoming more and more of an issue. But like, why is it though? Like this tech, I mean, I get it, like hackers are always like, you know, ahead, but like what shouldn't Uber, they have like unlimited resources, shouldn't they be one step ahead of all these people? You would think so. I mean, is it just so that like these hackers are just bored and they just figure it out and that you know they don't have this big, big uh company to back them? Like Uber should be working on this shit 24-7.

unknown 53:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:21

But yeah, some of these people uh you know talks about you know, they'd never worked for it and they said that uh they received a 1099 uh showed that they'd made$7,000 in income over two months, even though they'd never worked you know as a ride share driver. Yeah, another one got a ten ninety-nine for you know forty one hundred, another one got ten ninety-nine for twelve thousand uh from Uber. She said the same thing happened to my husband two years ago. You know, so yeah, there's they're excusing these they these people who are not able to um get on the platform because they know they won't pass a background check. They're using other people's identity. And I guess they're not having to pay any tax because they're using you know they're using styles.

SPEAKER_01 54:06

I mean, they're they're getting it tax-free. I mean, they'll uh I hopefully they'll eventually get tracked down. I mean, you start fucking with the IRS, they're gonna they're gonna find you.

SPEAKER_02 54:13

But I'd be pissed, you know, if I had end up having to pay tax on you know ten thousand dollars and earn income that I didn't earn.

SPEAKER_01 54:20

Well, honestly, yeah, honestly, I would just step up and and not deal. I mean, I would try to deal with Uber, but I'd go right to the IRS and be like, hey, because they'll they're they're not unreasonable if there's fraud involved. Meaning, like if you're the victim of fraud. You know, they're gonna work. Yeah, yeah. And that's what you really want, right? Is you want to not have to worry about the taxes. Um, and it's better to get it right away, start talking about it than deal with it two years later when you have this outstanding bill that you didn't pay, and then they come after you, then it's already a cluster F.

SPEAKER_02 54:56

Yeah. And say, hey, I didn't make this, you know, don't make me pay taxes on it, but put it toward my social security.

SPEAKER_01 55:01

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Of course. Uh so this last thing, this was uh kind of funny. This uh oh God, I can't read that. That's small. Um, so it was uh a DoorDash or yeah, DoorDash conversation and and This was yours, wasn't it? Yeah, right. The customer says, Jason, you're going completely opposite of my location. Jason, you're going completely opposite of my location, blah blah keep says it a bunch of time. Uh then a little bit later he sends it again, and then the driver says, Turkey Lake Road was blocked, GPS give me a longer route. And he says, Jason, I believe in you. Then Jason, I'm like, dude, are you drunk? But he said the road is easy to get to the customer location was sorry, the road to easily get to the customer location was blocked off by construction. The GPS gave me a longer alternative route. I assume this guy was freaking out because he kept sending the same message like 15 times. I also don't understand what he meant by I believe in you. I'm like, what the fuck? Relax. It's not Navy SEALs mission I'm handling here. So just kind of funny. I my guess is that that guy was drunk or something.

SPEAKER_02 56:06

I thought it was kind of funny, and then I had your name on it. So it was like, Oh, of course.

SPEAKER_01 56:09

Should we have played it off that it was me?

SPEAKER_02 56:12

I wonder if that was uh up near Cincinnati, because I remember up there, uh there's a turkey something road up there because I used to pass it all the time when I was going to visit my son when he was going to school.

SPEAKER_01 56:21

Oh, there's gotta be a shit ton of turkey.

SPEAKER_02 56:23

Oh, I'm sure there is. Yeah, I'm sure there is. Uh I just remember because when he was up there, I did Uber up there for like three days. And um I remember I was like, man, I keep going down the, you know, I keep seeing this road, this dang Turkey Hill Road or Turkey, whatever road it was.

SPEAKER_01 56:37

Yeah. Oh well, what are you gonna do? Yeah, I'm sure there's eight million of them. Right. Patreon uh.com slash the giggy con podcast will be on live there in about uh 12 minutes, so you can join seven-day free trial for that. Uh any gig work this weekend, Larry? Yeah, probably not.

SPEAKER_02 56:55

Well, we'll see. As long as if I can stay healthy, you know, and uh, you know, uh have to see how my wife is. She she is not doing well right now. Uh, may need to stay home and take care of her, but uh you know, if things are going well and she's doing okay, yeah. Yeah, I I'd I I would like to get out and do some gig work.

SPEAKER_01 57:14

Okay, yeah. For me, nothing this weekend. Uh they got Laugh Fest this week, uh, where I volunteer. I I'm pretty sure this is gonna be the last year.

SPEAKER_02 57:23

Uh, how many years have you done that?

SPEAKER_01 57:25

Well, it's not last for me. I think they're gonna be done doing it. I think eight years, yeah. It's just kind of run its course, and even they were considering even doing it this year, but it's the 15th anniversary, so I think they're gonna do the anniversary year, and then that's the big send-off. Yeah, it's run its course. Comedy's changed in 2026 from back when they started, you know. The internet's changed a lot of things, and so yeah, it's still a pretty decent fundraiser, but there's so much overhead on that and a lot of work and money spent just to get the comedians here, so it's it's it can be challenging, but anyway, so I'm doing that for a couple days. Um, and then Saturday, I'm volunteering for the Pitbull Alliance at Irish off Ionia. So I know you've heard us talk about that driving for that. It's not on Ionia anymore, it's down by Calder Plaza. But the Pitbull Alliance, we run bars there, kind of like we did for Upheaval. I don't know if you remember we're talking about that. So I'll be pouring drinks for a bunch of drunk people and bros getting sick and barfing all over the place. Um, Megan and I bet how over and under how many times I see a person puke, and I was saying she thinks over five. I was gonna go to the under. I'm gonna be there all day, but um, yeah, there's a lot of lot of inexperienced drinking on St. Patty's Day. So, well, it's not St. Patty's Day, but St. Patty's Day weekend.

SPEAKER_02 58:42

Yeah, when is St. Paddy's Day?

SPEAKER_01 58:44

Next week, Tuesday, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 58:46

Tuesday. Yeah, it sucks. They do it's every year. The the um next week is WKU is their it's their spring break. Absolutely. St. Paddy's always falls during their spring break, so it's it's never as busy. I think like when I we first started driving for Uber, I think the their schedule was a little different because I remember the first couple years doing Uber, man, it was it was you know really busy.

SPEAKER_01 59:07

Okay, yeah. I was gonna say, hey, you have you never experienced a uh uh St. Paddy's Day puke fest? Because like, God dang.

SPEAKER_02 59:16

No, my big St. Paddy's Day event was that was the time that girl dropped her drawers and my car. That was on St. Paddy's Day at about 10 o'clock.

SPEAKER_01 59:26

Damn. Well, this this Irish on a uni thing, they start drinking at 7. I think the event opens at 10, like 7 a.m. I remember like you could do morning runs, and these people, they weren't like shitty, but like they had been, they had had breakfast, they had you know bloody Marys or whatever the morning alcohol drink is, and and they were heading down there. And it, you know, it doesn't matter if it's hot or cold. It's supposed to be like 40 high of 42. So wow. I'm gonna be gearing up, I'm gonna be bringing a lot with me just in case it gets cold or it gets hot or whatever. So I don't know what to expect. I don't know if I'll be working so much, I'll be sweating my ass off, or you know, you because if you stand still when it's cold, you're screwed.

unknown 1:00:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:06

Yeah. I don't, I'm trying to think. I don't know that we have anything that people start drinking that early here. Yeah, we do have like uh the bourbon fest, but it's usually like starts around noon or something. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:18

Interesting. All right. Well, as always, don't put up with anyone's bullshit. We'll see you on the road. All right, good night. Hey, good night, everybody.