Food delivery riders: The ghosts in our consciousness
Food delivery riders: The ghosts in our consciousness:
Though their names appear on an app, their names continue to be invisible to our consciousness.
Their existence begins at an order, and ends when our sustenance has reached our doors.
Our food and groceries arrive and they depart - a transaction, their purpose transactional.
In a gig economy, they are literally everywhere, but invisible at the same time.
They are the ghosts of our development, and we, as hungry ghosts, literally and metaphorically, cannibalise their livelihoods.
To the late Mr Jason Tan, he had only 13 more orders to fulfil before he obtains an incentive. Little would we know how many orders he had fulfilled to reach this stage.
Mr Jason Tan, 24, was involved in an accident along Gambas Avenue on 10 April 2022, whilst our fulfilling orders. He had just 13 more orders to qualify for a rider incentive. Mr Jason Tan was pronounced dead at the scene by a SCDF paramedic. His wake was held on April 11, 2022.
Photo credit: Shin Min Daily News
To one Foodpanda client, his meal was lost. He had to seek a credit card refund, and process a new order - that would have caused much grief to many of us.
But to his childhood sweetheart and wife, her husband and the father of her child is not returning home.
There’s only grief, regrets and a family never to be complete again.
Jason lies in a casket, in perpetual rest. The heavy responsibility of feeding his family no longer a daily concern.
Reckless driving reportedly cost his life. Towards the ten of thousands of gig workers in our midst, have we ever been conscientious towards them?
Maybe, just maybe, as a society, we have to do better and do more for their welfare.
They are often members of some of the most vulnerable communities in our midst.
How can we, as a society, do more to protect their lives and livelihoods?
There is tech and convenience. Behind our convenience are actual flesh and bodies working tirelessly to fulfil our incessant demands.
We owe them a debt. It cannot be that we are only aware of this fact, only when we read of a gig worker losing his life or a photo of their drenched bodies circulating on our social media platforms.
Sadly, we move on, to the next food/grocery order, to the next driver.
They are the ghosts of our transactional economy, ghosts in our collective consciousness.
Behind every food rider are two families waiting to be fed; his and ours.
