Uber Drivers Need To Get REAL Jobs!

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:01]You drive Uber. You drive Lift for a living. You're a driver. You need to get a real job. How many times have you heard that from a friend, a family member, somebody who's commenting on any number of the YouTube channels or Facebook pages.

[00:00:21]I'm sick of it.

[00:00:24]It is kind of ridiculous for people to think that driving for Uber, driving for Lyft, delivering Door Dash, Uber Eats, GrubHub, any of these these uh these gig apps is not a real job. It's 100% a real job. I I mean, I use it from time to time. I'll sit there and say, "Oh, it's a gig job," or, you know, "This gig is this and this gig is that."

[00:00:48]But I actually really dislike the term gig job or side hustle because for so many of us out here, it's not a side hustle. It's not a gig. It's a job.

[00:01:01]Okay? We get up every single day and we go out there and we work hard. We do the absolute best that we can do. We provide a good service in a clean car, in a safe manner, and we're paid for it. We're compensated for it. That's a job. Any way you cut it, that's a job. Now, are we compensated fairly? I would argue no.

[00:01:24]I would say that we're not compensated enough. We don't receive sick time. We don't receive uh health insurance. We don't receive benefits in any way, shape, or form. So, are we compensated fairly for it? No. So, these people who sit there and say, "Well, go get a real job." They don't know what the struggle is like. They don't understand what it's like to be an Uber or a Lift driver. And I mean, you do have some Uber and Lift drivers who make this statement. And to them, I would say you're undercutting yourself and you're undervaluing yourself, which you're out there doing.

[00:01:58]You should be compensated fairly for it.

[00:02:00]You should be receiving a number of different benefits, okay? And you should be making a little more. Maybe not double or anything like that, but you should be making much more than minimum wage, especially if you're using your own vehicle now, and I think many of us are. Granted, you have people who are renting and leasing cars and doing it, but honestly, that shouldn't matter.

[00:02:24]We're out here, we're doing a job, and the majority of us do it very, very well. I think, you know, it's it for me, I really enjoy doing it. I'm sure many of you enjoy doing it. You meet nice people for the most part. It's not that difficult. I mean, let's be honest.

[00:02:44]My biggest fear is that they'll teach a freaking monkey how to do it. Um, which I guess that's what they're doing when it comes to autonomous vehicles. Um, but it's one of those things when I hear people say, "Go out and get a real job," it's extremely irritating. I mean, what do they define as a real job? We're out here working. We're performing a service. We're getting paid to do it.

[00:03:07]What don't they understand about it that it is a real job? So, if you're out here and you're driving Uber and Lift, don't let these people get you down. Okay? You are performing a real job. You do have a real job. Okay? The pay not the pay may may not be all that great. Don't get me wrong, but it's a real job. Okay? And anybody who says it's not a real job and that it's just a side hustle or a gig I I you know I I kind of feel sorry for them. They're they're uneducated and they should take the time to educate themselves and if they are a driver, I would say they need to place more value on what they do because if you're a driver and you're out here and you don't think it's a job, you know, you know, honestly, you're part of the problem. No offense, I'm not trying to upset anybody. I'm sure some people will be upset. By all means, I'm Drop a comment.

[00:04:09]Let me know what you think. I'm sure some people will be upset. But if you're out here and you think that, you know, you need to go get a real job, you know, this is a real job. And you're part of the problem. And the reason I say that is this. If you always look at this as being a gig job, a side hustle, not very important, okay? Nobody's ever going to value you. You have to value yourself first in order for other people to start giving you that same respect and that same value. And if you don't think of yourself as anything more than a side hustle, why should anybody why should anybody else think of you as anything more than a side hustle?

[00:04:51]Passengers aren't going to think of you as anything more than a side hustle.

[00:04:56]Uber and Lyft is certainly not going to think of you as anything more than a side hustle and they're going to pay you appropriately. And maybe that's why they have maybe that's why the pay is where it is today is because maybe Uber and Lyft were allowed to sit there and look at drivers as side hustles, as side drivers. They're doing it part-time. It really doesn't matter. You know, they they they could be doing something else.

[00:05:21]If they had more self-respect, they would go out and get a real job. Maybe that's part of the the the mindset at Uber and Lift that has, you know, led us down the path that we're on today where it seems like every time you turn around, the price that we're being offered to give rides is getting lower and lower and lower, especially if they're long rides. They those are definitely getting lower. So, I mean, I think as drivers, we need to tell people, no, this is a real job and we deserve respect. Okay, we deserve to be thought of as a worker and not a side hustler. You know that the the term side hustle, the term hustle period, has a negative connotation to it that it leads people to believe that, you know, you're doing something under the table, you know, it's illegitimate in some way. And and that's just the most ridiculous thing that anybody can even think of or say about Uber, Lyft, Door Dash, GrubHub, any of these quote unquote gig jobs. It's ridiculous. Okay.

[00:06:31]And I think that the like I said, I think that the whole narrative about all this being a side hustle or a side gig, you know, I think that was intentional. I think it was a a happy kwinky dink. I think they realized in the beginning when they first started it, I think they thought it was cool. You know, I think that the apps, Uber, Lyft, all them, I think they latched on to it because it was a catchphrase. It was easy to hashtag.

[00:07:00]Um, you know, it helped them grow their driver pool and it helped them advertise to their passengers because it was catchy. People, you know, people liked it. But it soon became a negative uh a means in which people would describe us negatively. Oh, it's just a side hustle. It's just a side gig. Well, you know what? For a lot of drivers, including me, it's not just a side gig.

[00:07:26]I go out there, don't get me wrong, I enjoy it, but I go out there and I go out there to make money. I'm not out there to do favors for these people.

[00:07:36]Okay? Granted, they're all most of them are great people and I've met a lot of people over the years and have become friends with people because I pick them up over and over and over again, but when it comes right down to it, it's a business relationship. They are paying me to do a service for them and that's all it is at the end of the day. That's all it is. They're great people.

[00:07:59]Oftentimes, they're very nice, okay? But I don't know them on a personal nature.

[00:08:04]I know them for 5, 10, 15 minutes while they're in my car and that's it. That's the side of them I get to see. The side of of me that they get to see is the driver. Okay? They don't know me personally. So, at the end of the day, this is a business relationship.

[00:08:21]And to call us gig gig job workers, you know, side hustlers, whatever you want to call us, is kind of insulting. And I really think and I wish that more drivers would give themselves more self-respect when it comes to how they describe what they do.

[00:08:41]But passengers, Uber, Lyft, all these companies, these app-based companies, they need to give us a little bit more respect. So the next time somebody says, "Oh, it's just a side hustle or it's just a a gig job," you know, speak up for yourself and let them know. For a lot of people, it's not just a side hustle. It is their full-time job. In some cases, it's their career. I mean, I've been doing this almost 12 years. I don't know about you, but that's kind of like a career, is it not? So, you know, I think as drivers, we all we have to have more respect for ourselves and not allow people, whether it be passengers, friends, family, people on the internet.

[00:09:24]And we shouldn't allow these companies to devalue us the way they are devaluing us by describing us as just, you know, gig workers or a gig driver. It's just a side hustle. All right, that's me in my opinion. Take it for what it's worth. I hope that uh I hope it opens some eyes, but go ahead and leave a comment. Let me know what you think. And I'll see everybody in the next video. Take care.