Drive

March 1, 2024
A crime intelligence analyst recounts his experiences working as a night-shift ride-share driver. Only after financial necessity forced Rigsby to become a ride-share driver did he understand just how difficult--and at times punishing--it could be to work a low-level service industry job he never expected to have. With degrees from Vanderbilt and the University of Chicago, the author had expected that "meaningful work would automatically follow." What awaited him instead was an interesting but low-paying civil servant job, fatherhood, and divorce after just a few years of marriage. Unable to qualify for welfare benefits in his home state of Florida, the author began working for Uber. At first, every rider "ping" on the Uber driver app seemed to whisper "the promise of a better life," but long hours spent masking his personal pain behind the wheel drove him to drink excessively and gave rise to a host of health issues including hypertension and anxiety. Rude passengers routinely left him ruminating for days about ways he could have "handled the situation better." On one particularly harrowing occasion, a rider brutally assaulted him for not complying with his wishes. Because an evening's wages could fluctuate, the author sometimes supplemented his meager income by selling blood plasma, an experience he describes as "dehumanizing, meant to streamline human beings into an industrial product." Rigsby is unsparing in his analysis of the technology behind the ride-share system. Their deliberate "gamification" ensnares drivers already conned into believing they are their own bosses by transforming the passenger pickup into a "nefarious" game that keeps them coming back for more. This candid, disturbing book reveals how technology, greed, and the gig economy have contributed to both a capitalist dystopia and the continued "withering of the American Dream." Provocative, eye-opening--and sometimes frankly terrifying--reading.

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