Lazy is as Lazy Does
Seth Grodin says, “Lazy isn’t a moral failing. It’s an economic consideration. We have limited time, limited energy, and limited resources. Allocating that effort is often done in response to what’s at stake and what’s on offer.” Labor Day always gives me pause to think about all the people around me who work so hard. Here’s to a new one.
On my recent 10-day business trip, I probably took about 15 Ubers. Sometimes I was a tagalong with a group, and the driver was just that - the driver. Other times it was just me, and the driver and I always wait for them to decide if we talk. I know sometimes it’s been a long day for both of us.
I had a particularly memorable trip right out of the gate on the way to the Orange County Airport. It’s about a 28-mile trip and cost $54. Mo asked all about where I was going and why. I always like to find out whether they are full-time drivers, and that really got the conversation going.
Mo (short for Moshan) works full-time at a USPS distribution center. He gets up at 4:00 a.m. and drives for Uber, Lyft, and Uber Eats before and after his regular job and on the weekends. He fills his car up with gas every other day. We discussed the dwindling income from driving, and he cheerfully said: “One dollar earned is better than no dollar at all.”
He works 90 hours a week. This trip happened to be on a Sunday when he could have been home relaxing with his family. He is not a young man; in fact, we chatted about Social Security, which he was about to begin collecting. He told me he had no desire to quit working right now because he loves people and would miss meeting new ones. He was taking a long-overdue vacation to Mexico in the upcoming week. Well deserved, I say. I learned pretty much everything about that man’s life in a 30-minute ride.
He regaled me with some great stories, but one of the most memorable was about donuts. A Newport Beach resident had three dozen Krispy Kreme donuts delivered from Mission Viejo (about a 15-mile drive) to the tune of $97! He also talked about someone who had him pick up a cake from a bakery and take it to their house three blocks away. I’m sure there was a good reason for that, or maybe not.
So, lazy is alive and well, and Mo is actively benefiting from it. I love seeing hard work in action, and he embodied it.
What do you think Mo earned on my trip to the airport from the $54 Uber fare? He earns 49%-50% of the fare, so $27. Did I give that lovely man a nice big tip? You bet I did.
