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Being A Gig Worker Has Made Me A Better Human Being
When you struggle, you see everyone else who is struggling, too.
I don’t usually answer calls from numbers I don’t recognize, but today I did. This was probably a mistake. Answering your phone is like throwing chum in the water for all the spambots circling like invisible sharks.
But to tell you the truth, I was lonely and I wanted to talk to somebody. So I answered my phone, and a young woman asked if I would participate in a political survey.
Sure, why not.
Back in the good old days before the internet, when shopping malls were the crown jewels of American culture, people with clipboards loitered in nooks and alcoves near the mall entrances, waiting to pounce.
Ah, mall survey people. The scourge of retail. Their job was to reach out and touch the pulse of the American people, or at least the ones with enough disposable income to go blow it at The Limited and Musicland (not that I ever did that, noooooo).
The rule with mall survey people was “Never make eye contact.”
Much as if you had encountered a bear or a mountain lion in the wild, the secret to survival was to avoid eye contact and just keep moving. If you slowed…
