So, as far as I can see, the meme “summoning my pizza slaves with a bourgeois app” has achieved legendary status on Hexbear, mostly as a form of satire, to make fun of it. That’s the full version I could find:
“I do self-criticism constantly because I’m trapped in a Maoist cult where comrades (white terrorists) criticize me mercilessly for having a fascist credit card (VISA Silver Signature Rewards). They won’t let me order vegan pizza anymore because the phone is fascist and “summoning my pizza slaves with a bourgeois app” is “bad vibes”
Now, I find myself in a country where these delivery apps have arrived relatively “recently”, sparking a vast social and political uprising. Workers are indeed treated extremely poorly, with NO job security, and they operate in a legal grey area (like, they are de facto employees, but they are treated as auto-entrepreneurs… neoliberal dream to destroy workers’ rights).
Adding to this, the working conditions can be quite perilous. In my city, traffic is notoriously chaotic, and cycling is dangerous. But not potentially dangerous, bodies-on-the-street-every-month dangerous. While we do have a well-established public transportation system, the city’s bike infrastructure is still quite underdeveloped, and cars dominate the roadways.
I’m aware that there is no ethical consumption under capitalism and yadda yadda. However, I find this particular form of consumption especially horrible. This is a highly walkable city with a wide range of food options readily available, making it unnecessary to rely on food delivery apps. And it really does feels like “summoning my pizza slaves with a bourgeois app". Mostly racialized workers, working dangerously in grey areas of law.
Have you normalized food delivery in your lifestyle? How do you deal with it? How do you navigate these ethical concerns?
I don’t use the food delivery apps. I can’t afford them and I kinda like cooking.
I got food delivered to my home for the first time in probably a decade a couple months ago. I got food poisoning and got some groceries delivered.
My parents rarely if ever ordered delivery. My dad would always just drive to wherever we ordered from to pick it up. I think it was partly like his quiet time for the day, and also my parents just not wanting to pay delivery fees or tip a driver.
I have used the apps to get food delivered to the office maybe 20-30 times max over my working life, not counting the times where it was like an office wide link for lunch that they were paying for.
I don’t like to order delivery in general, but when I do it’s from places that have dedicated staff for that job.
in the situation you describe, i would not order pizza even if i could afford it, that crosses the line from “no ethical consumption” into “fuck the workers! i want my treats!!” territory
It might not apply to your country’s conditions but here in mine lots of restaurants run delivery services parallel to the third-party Uber services and the like.
So, for example, most pizza restaurants here will have their own staff who they employ as kitchenhands etc. that also get tasked to do delivery or, when it’s peak hours, they have dedicated delivery staff on shift.
Instead of ordering from an app like Uber, I will intentionally order from restaurants directly because the money goes directly to the business and to paid staff who have better working conditions than what Uber offers.
