A video of a DoorDash driver went viral, as he recorded himself confronting a customer whose scheme for a free lunch allegedly cost him his job, although the company has disputed his story. Racking up over 84,000 votes on Reddit’s “Public Freakout” forum, the footage circulated broadly across social media. It originated from the DoorDash worker’s YouTube channel, which has since been taken down, said Reddit poster u/ParisHiltonIsDope.
WATCH THE VIDEO OF IT:
The video shows the delivery driver walking into an office where he approached a receptionist’s desk. “Hi again,” he said to the receptionist and continued. “I delivered food here yesterday from Chipotle. And you put down that I didn’t deliver it to you? Because I just got fired from my job.”
As the driver challenged her in a shaky voice, the woman made vague, hesitant sounds. “Yeah, it was you. This is my only source of income, I do this all day. Now I’m fired from my job because you want your $10 burrito? Are you out of your mind—who does this? Who does that?” The man asked.
He demanded the corporate number, saying, “I need to get your a** fired.”
“I’ll contact DoorDash,” the receptionist murmured, without looking directly at him.
The man responded: “Yeah, yeah, alright, you want to say that you got your food?”
While she avoided his gaze, he continued to accost the woman, asking “who raised [her]” and calling her a “piece of trash.”
A DoorDash spokesperson said that “the claims made in the video are false. The Dasher was removed for violating our policies—not because of a disputed delivery.”
Gig workers such as DoorDash drivers are highly vulnerable to hacks and scams from people trying to get free food. They do not have access to the same protections, resources, and safeguards as other employees when their income is stolen, as they are independent contractors. Often at the expense of gig workers, amateur hacks to acquire “free food” from delivery companies have proliferated across the internet.
Shocked viewers of the confrontation flocked to the DoorDash driver’s defense. A Reddit comment said: “It literally sounded like he was [about] to break down for a moment. You don’t mess with someone’s income.”
“After watching this I would highly recommend videoing every customer drop off,” another added.
In addition to customer hacks, delivery drivers are frequently a victim of phishing scams. Nearly 300 records of complaints to the Federal Trade Commission were obtained by MarketWatch, in the past three years from workers at Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, and Grubhub who said they lost their earnings or even their entire savings after giving personal information to people they believed were support representatives.
Also, according to the rideshare information site Ridester, DoorDash drivers rely on tips, making an average base of $11 per hour, which is below minimum wage in some markets. The DoorDash website, meanwhile, said that drivers nationally earn $25 per hour when tips are included. But surging gas prices can drive the workers’ wages even lower.
DoorDash drivers are also facing trouble by cheap customers who refuse to tip. Little do those customers know, the DoorDash drivers are independent contractors who are NOT required to pick up your order. A lot of the DoorDash drivers skip non-tipping customer orders and just leaving them at the restaurant.
Editor’s note: If you’re gonna be a cheap entitled bum, then just pick up the food yourself. Always tip the delivery person, or pick it up yourself. Even if you just tip a buck or two, that’s fine. But don’t leave these people out to dry, you wouldn’t do that to your local pizza delivery boy, so don’t do it to the DoorDash folks either. If you do, then you’re just a scumbag.