Brandy Hamilton: Gig Work
Stringing together "multiple lines of income" has become an American way of life.
Last year, I worked on a voter registration campaign from July til October. Like most entry-level voter registration jobs, that one lasted til the voter registration deadline, which in North Carolina is 25 days before Election Day, and then I was back to being unemployed. Looking for jobs was a struggle because I was also in Dental Assisting school all day on Fridays for 12 weeks.
I desperately needed to work though because…bills. I didn’t wanna take just any ol’ job, but I was willing to do just about anything…as long as I could be off every Friday to go to class. I didn’t want anything long-term because I knew that as soon as I finished Dental Assisting school, I planned to start working as a Dental Assistant. So I applied for plenty of jobs that I thought would fit my situation but I didn’t get any of them.
Then one day, I saw a post from a Facebook friend whom I’d met once at a Second Chance Alliance organizer training the year prior. She was hiring drivers to deliver packages in Charlotte and the surrounding areas. She posted a screenshot that looked something like a paystub. It showed $500, and some change was paid, and she said someone on her team had made that much one day. I didn’t know the details, but all I knew was if I could make just half of that every day, I’d be straight. I messaged her to get the details.
She said I didn’t need a truck or van to make the deliveries; my car was just fine. To get started, I had to send her pictures of my driver’s license, license plate, auto insurance card, and vehicle, and to bring a Sharpie, reflective vest, and bags or containers to sort the packages. I was broke and eager to start work.
This seemed like it would work great. I’d be able to choose which days I worked, which meant I could take off on Fridays to go to school. Perfect!
I started the next day. I didn’t fill out an application or any tax documents, which I thought was lil’ strange but I didn’t pay it much mind because I was just desperate to work so I could pay some bills. My manager, the Facebook friend, told me I’d need to be at the warehouse at 6am to scan and sort the packages before loading them up to deliver them. I showed up on time, was given a quick little training that lasted all of 10 minutes, and got to work. Part of that training was being told that if I lost or misdelivered a package, I’d be fined $100 per package. That sure did sound like an awful lot of money for packages that weigh no more than a few pounds and probably cost no more than a few dollars to make but I didn’t imagine I’d lose or misdeliver a package so I didn’t pay that much mind either.
I was given 100 packages to deliver. It took me about 15 hours from the time I arrived at the warehouse to the time I delivered the last package. By the time I got home, I was exhausted, but I did it again the next day. And the next day. And the next.
Thankfully, I got to pick my own schedule because some days I’d just be wiped out from working more than half that day and not getting enough sleep, so I wouldn’t work those days. About 8 weeks after I started working, I received a message from the guy who runs the warehouse saying that 3 weeks prior, I’d delivered 2 packages to incorrect addresses and one customer says she never got her package.
Let’s say one of the packages was supposed to go to 123 Sesame Street Apt 3B. I took it to 122 Sesame Street Apt 3B. An honest mistake - a $100 fine. I’m not sure what happened with the other package I allegedly misdelivered. Another $100 fine. And the one that the customer says she never received…I’m absolutely positive I left at the leasing office of her apartment complex along with all the other packages I delivered there that day, on Christmas Eve. I’m not sure how all the residents except this one got their packages that I delivered but…the company definitely took the customer’s word over mine, and I was hit with another $100 fine.
My next paycheck was supposed to be $346. It was just $46. I was devastated. I contacted the NC Department of Labor to see if the fines were even legal and…they aren’t. A NCDOL representative told me that I would’ve had to be notified of the fines in writing and would’ve also had to sign agreeing to the fines. That didn’t happen.
I also had a question of whether I was an employee or a contractor. I was unsure because it all seemed to be “under-the-table” except for the handwritten payroll checks. I’d been told by the manager that all the delivery drivers for the company are contracted workers but I never received a contract or any other paperwork regarding the job. Strange. But according to the same rep at NCDOL, it looks like we are actually employees who have been misclassified. Illegal.
Of course I ain’t wanna make another delivery for this whack company but…I needed money and other than money, I could make cleaning houses, which I cut back on when I developed carpal tunnel. This was the only other thing I knew I could do right now and make enough to pay a bill or two. My car insurance and phone bill were due, so I had to rob Peter to pay Paul.
I felt stuck between a rock and a hard place, but I kept working some weekdays, some weekends. Only once did it take me less than 12 hours, but I did it because…isn’t that what it means to be part of the working poor? To drive my 2013 Ford Escape around for 12-14 hours delivering packages at $2 a pop and then $1.60 a pop when the pay suddenly drops without warning? (Also illegal per the NCDOL). Putting hella miles on my car and burning up my gas that costs almost $3/gallon? Worrying that my old car might not hold up much longer now the transmission slips much more frequently and in much scarier places like on I-85? Ahhhh yes! That was me pulling myself up by my own bootstraps and getting nowhere fast.
Thankfully, I have a couple who rents a room in my house. I was able to get by with their rent payments and the payments from a clinical trial I’m part of for an experimental drug for folks with Narcolepsy & Idiopathic Hypersomnia. If it wasn’t for these “multiple streams of income,” I’d be in rough shape.
Thankfully, I completed my Dental Assistant program on January 16th, went in for a working interview on February 16th and started my new job as a Dental Assistant on February 17th. I’m looking forward to having a career, financial stability and not having to choose whether to leave the gas turned off and go buy groceries or pay the gas bill and go to the food pantry. And luckily, I just started a new clinical trial that pays much better than the last one so I’ll be able to get my transmission fixed and I might even find a roofing company that’ll let me pay half down and finance the rest, so I can stop counting the water damage spots on my ceiling.
It’s easier to breathe now that my head isn’t underwater.
Brandy is a fur baby mama & dental assistant living in Charlotte, NC who loves chasing waterfalls and singing in her spare time.
This really resonated, there's always something else. It’s interesting how much of this gets simplified from the outside when the reality is much more layered. Thanks for sharing, subscribed