#hospitality app

[mostlysignssomeportents]

When the app tries to make you robo-scab

When we talk about the abusive nature of gig work, there’s some obvious targets, like algorithmic wage discrimination, where two workers are paid different rates for the same job, in order to trick occasional gig-workers to give up their other sources of income and become entirely dependent on the app:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

Then there’s the opacity — imagine if your boss refused to tell you how much you’ll get paid for a job until after you’ve completed it, claimed that this was done in order to “protect privacy” — and then threatened anyone who helped you figure out the true wage on offer:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/07/hr-4193/#boss-app

Opacity is wage theft’s handmaiden: every gig worker producing content for a social media algorithm is subject to having their reach — and hence their pay — cut based on the unaccountable, inscrutable decisions of a content moderation system:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/10/e2e/#the-censors-pen

Making content for an algorithm is like having a boss that docks every paycheck because you broke rules that you are not allowed to know, because if you knew the rules, you’d figure out how to cheat without your boss catching you. Content moderation is the last place where security through obscurity is considered good practice:

https://doctorow.medium.com/como-is-infosec-307f87004563

When workers seize the means of computation, amazing things happen. In Indonesia, gig workers create and trade tuyul apps that let them unilaterally modify the way that their bosses’ systems see them — everything from GPS spoofing to accessibility mods:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/08/tuyul-apps/#gojek

So the tech and labor story isn’t wholly grim: there are lots of ways that tech can enhance labor struggles, letting workers collaborate and coordinate. Without digital systems, we wouldn’t have the Hot Strike Summer:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/02/not-what-it-does/#who-it-does-it-to

As the historic writer/actor strike shows us, the resurgent labor movement and the senescent forces of crapulent capitalism are locked in a death-struggle over not just what digital tools do, but who they do it for and who they do it to:

https://locusmag.com/2022/01/cory-doctorow-science-fiction-is-a-luddite-literature/

When it comes to the epic fight over who technology acts for and against, we need a diversity of tactics, backstopped by tech operated by and for its users — and by laws that protect workers and the public. That dynamic is in sharp focus in UNITE Here Local 11’s strike against Orange County’s Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa.

The UNITE Here strike turns on the usual issues like a living wage (hotel staff are paid so little they have to rent rooming-house beds by the shift, paying for the right to sleep in a room for a few hours at a time, without any permanent accommodation). They’re also seeking health-care and pensions, so they can be healthy at work and retire after long service. Finally, they’re seeking their employer’s support for LA’s Responsible Hotels Ordinance, which would levy a tax on hotel rooms to help pay for hotel workers’ housing costs (a hotel worker who can’t afford a bed is the equivalent of a fast food worker who has to apply for food stamps):

https://www.unitehere11.org/responsible-hotels-ordinance/

But the Marriott — which is owned by the University of California and managed by Aimbridge Hospitality — has refused to bargain, walking out negotiations.

But the employer didn’t walk out over wages, benefits or support for a housing subsidy. They walked out when workers demanded that the scabs that the company was trying to hire to break the strike be given full time, union jobs.

These aren’t just any scabs, either. They’re predominantly Black workers who rely on the $700m Instawork app for gigs. These workers are being dispatched to cross the picket line without any warning that they’re being contracted as strikebreakers. When workers refuse the cross the picket and join the strike, Instawork cancels all their shifts and permanently blocks them from new jobs.

This is a new, technologically supercharged form of illegal strikebreaking. It’s one thing for a single boss to punish a worker who refuses to scab, but Instawork acts as a plausible-deniability filter for all the major employers in the region. Like the landlord apps that allow landlords to illegally fix rents by coordinating hikes, Instawork lets bosses illegally collude to rig wages by coordinating a blocklist of workers who refuse to scab:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/10/company-that-makes-rent-setting-software-for-landlords-sued-for-collusion/?comments=1

The racial dimension is really important here: the Marriott has a longstanding de facto policy of refusing to hire Black workers, and whenever they are confronted with this, they insist that there are no qualified Black workers in the labor pool. But as soon as the predominantly Latino workforce struck, Marriott discovered a vast Black workforce that it could coerce into scabbing, in collusion with Instawork.

Now, all of this isn’t just sleazy, it’s illegal, a violation of Section 7 of the NLRB Act. Historically, that wouldn’t have mattered, because a string of presidents, R and D, have appointed useless do-nothing ghouls to run the NLRB. But the Biden admin, pushed by the party’s left wing, made a string of historic, excellent appointments, including NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, who has set her sights on punishing gig work companies for flouting labor law:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/10/see-you-in-the-funny-papers/#bidens-legacy

UNITE HERE 11 has brought a case to the NLRB, charging the Instawork, the UC system, Marriott, and Aimbridge with violating labor law by blackmailing gig workers into crossing the picket line. The union is also asking the NLRB to punish the companies for failing to protect workers from violent retaliation from the wealthy hotel guests who have punched them and screamed epithets at them. The hotel has refused to identify these thug guests so that the workers they assaulted can swear out complaints against them.

Writing about the strike for Jacobin, Alex N Press tells the story of Thomas Bradley, a Black worker who was struck off all Instawork shifts for refusing to cross the picket line and joining it instead:

https://jacobin.com/2023/07/southern-california-hotel-workers-strike-automated-management-unite-here

Bradley’s case is exhibit A in the UNITE HERE 11 case before the NLRB. He has a degree in culinary arts, but racial discrimination in the industry has kept him stuck in gig and temp jobs ever since he graduated, nearly a quarter century ago. Bradley lived out of his car, but that was repossessed while he slept in a hotel room that UNITE HERE 11 fundraised for him, leaving him homeless and bereft of all his worldly possessions.

With UNITE HERE 11’s help, Bradley’s secured a job at the downtown LA Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, a hotel that has bargained with the workers. Bradley is using his newfound secure position to campaign among other Instawork workers to convince them not to cross picket lines. In these group chats, Jacobin saw workers worrying “that joining the strike would jeopardize their standing on the app.”

Today (July 30) at 1530h, I’m appearing on a panel at Midsummer Scream in Long Beach, CA, to discuss the wonderful, award-winning “Ghost Post” Haunted Mansion project I worked on for Disney Imagineering.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/30/computer-says-scab/#instawork

[Image ID: An old photo of strikers before a struck factory, with tear-gas plumes rising above them. The image has been modified to add a Marriott sign to the factory, and the menacing red eye of HAL9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' to the sky over the factory. The workers have been colorized to a yellow-green shade and the factory has been colorized to a sepia tone.]

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #hot strike summer #unions #UNITE HERE #labor #computer says no #tuyul apps #jacobin #gig economy #nlrb #marriott #Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa #instawork #scabs #Aimbridge Hospitality Group #University of California #nlrb section 7 #unfair labor practice #ulp #UNITE HERE Local 11 #mansion tax #race #algorithmic wage discrimination #Veena Dubal #disciplinary technology #chickenized reverse-centaurs #reverse-centaurs #como is infosec #Jennifer Abruzzo

[dykevanny]

Just you and me!

#Drawing this crashed my phone’s notes app lmao #(I am doodling in the hospital) #fnaf #my art #vanessa sb #vanessa security breach #vanny #vanny fnaf #glitchtrap #malhare #Killer rabbits

[sourscratched]

requested by @incorrect-play-it-by-ear: compilation of all the play it by ear end credit moments in season 2; many little dances and bops to be had

#play it by ear #heartbeat hospital heebie jeebies elevator pitch and missing member have my favorite end jams #and of course Goodnight Mano in backwards compatible #mano picking up the water bottle and vibing to Come Into The Scrum.. relatable #also ross seconds away from collapsing at the beginning of the joust because credits lmfao #the psychic aftermath of Okay Daddy Wheelbarrow Me was too much for him #was debating whether to go youtube or embedded vid so hopefully this is okay #tumblr app really did not like me trying to upload a 4 minute video

[mysicklove]

hey my friends, my lovers, my little bastards, i am going to be taking a little break! gonna be gone until bout maybe couple days before kinktober...maybe 29th of september or around that time. today will be my last day on here for awhile, so just wanted to let u guys know before i disappear for a bit lol.

alsoo i will be queing my kinktober masterlist like 3 times, so if you see that posted randomly, dont be suprised lol.

and to my mutuals, ill prob not be on discord. i associate discord with tumblr, and i wanna have a break from it all. sooooooooo....ill see you around!

#🔪 - mello talks too much #nothing bad happened dont worry #just #i got alot of shit i need to priorize and im focusing it instead on tumblr #which is not good LOL #19 credits....plus work #i gotta start paying attention to my studies. #also my parents bought me a car a couple days ago bc they were proud of what i am doing with myself #which i am sooooooooooooo greatful for #but it made me realize how im basically lying to them bc i aint doin shit other than write for kinktober #so #thats not good #i need to earn my car!!! #nd not be addicted tot his app #so yes #gotta maintain my 4.0 and also start volunteering at hospitals #and work

[bisexualseraphim]

Possible spicy take but I’m so bored of people crying ABLEISM!!! whenever someone has a controversial opinion such as “hi I am a service worker and I feel dehumanised when all you do is stare blankly at me or bark your order at me please smile and say hello”

As an autistic person who until just 2 years ago was so socially anxious I couldn’t go outside alone, if you’re an adult and you can’t even give someone a quick smile and a “good thanks how are you?” that’s not poor social skills due to autism or social anxiety, that’s you being a prick.

It is the absolute most basic human decency and manners to fucking smile at someone and say hello and if you’ve made it to adulthood without learning that then someone deeply failed you. It takes 2 seconds and costs absolutely nothing. Yes you may find small talk or whatever uncomfortable, but most people do and it’s just a part of life that you’ve got to learn to deal with. Being a bit awkward or uncomfortable isn’t trauma. You don’t have to tell your whole life story when they ask you how you are, but don’t just fucking ignore them. And tbh associating neurodivergence with acting like an asshole is ironically one of the most ableist things you can do

Also, I see a LOT of people daily who just walk up to service workers and go “CHEESEBURGER” without a “please” or “hello” and I know that 90% of people aren’t autistic adults who were never taught the bare minimum social skills so don’t bullshit me with that excuse. You all just want any reason to be mean or rude and it’s gross

*NOTE: This post is obviously not talking about non-verbal people or anyone else who may struggle with the simplest general conversation due to disability. It’s about people who are capable of having a normal social interaction with for example friends, but then use neurodivergence as an excuse not to treat others with basic decency

#Gotta include that disclaimer because this is the piss on the poor site #My entire childhood I was like a deer in the headlights when someone spoke to me #But I’d still smile and engage with them because I was capable of doing so and wasn’t a little arsehole #I mean ffs I order on apps and use self checkouts because I’d still prefer not to talk to someone #But when they DO talk to me I will at least be polite even if I’m not feeling it #You don’t have to pretend to be sunny and chatty you just have to treat them like a person #Why is that apparently too difficult for so many of you #rant #neurodiverse #neurodivergence #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #autism #social anxiety #retail #service industry #hospitality #text post

[loubella77]

I had surgery today, wanna make me feel better while I’m in post op today / tonight?

$5 for my SECOND hospital set!!

@ Loubellaxx - Venmo

$therealonelucy - CashApp

Dm for google pay + chime pay!!

#hospital gown #hospital core #hospitalcore #hospital cw #hospital #public kink #exhibition kink #kink meme #injury #doctor kink #im sick #cashapp #cash app #venmo #venmoaccepted #venmo me #venmo donations #venmo in bio #donate to my venmo #pay with venmo #i have venmo #ask for my venmo #dm for venmo #chime #google #google pay #tip me please #tip menu #tip me #public exhibition

[skinnypaleangryperson]

Life would have been so beautiful if people in this generation had decided to actually care about each other instead of arguing on apps all day. For example, I would be alive by 40. Lol

#The way my mother looks at me sad and tired as the years go on because she knows I'm not going to make it #nobody cares about each other in this generation and I know that more than anyone #there's nothing that I can do or change or post or be or meet to be able to change the fact that I will be utterly alone once my mother is #dead #I've tried this app I've tried Twitter I've tried other apps I've tried real life #I've tried my whole life and I've only become more off putting and more undeserving of people's even tolerance as I've got an older and I #can't give a damn about it because I don't care about anyone and nobody ever cared about me my whole life except for my very mother #can't drive no resources and can't even have anyone to talk to about it because everybody's so vapidly superficial these days anywhere you #go #The irony of me posting this on Tumblr which is one of the main Pinnacle points of mine bitterness at this point #I tried to commit years ago to save my mother from the even longer death for the both of us #of her gradually aging and seeing her daughter withering away with her quite literally attached to her hip #but she made her choice of keeping me alive and forcing me to even pay for the hospital bill #so I guess she wanted the much longer and more detrimental painful fate #but not because she's thoughtful #it's because she's a f****** idiot

[997]

keep searching for other places to live in but id have to at LEAST double my income to get out of here... demonic

#its impossible to find a place without spiral stairs for access and with windows i swear to god #and when i do its in the other side of town hours away from the nearest supermarket or hospital I: #literally searched from page 1 to the last page on 5 diff websites/apps

[your-decadent-madam]

I declare you

Honorary italian

The honour you have bestowed on me is the greatest achievement I could ever receive. I will honour this recognition by giving my body and soul to the noblest cause: to serve my country.

May glory be our eternal ally and pride our banner.

#The way i had to translate this from Spanish because i had no idea how to say it in English. God bless apps that allow translation #Thank you for your hospitality my darling #May the gorgeous things (like you) come your way

[gemgirl28]

Hospital beds aren’t so bad anymore.

No really, it’s true. At least- the new beds in the ER aren’t. Actually they are kind of- almost comfy, like that futon you had in college that was perfect for naps. The new beds sort of mold to your back and keep your legs up in a way that feels like you’re being scooped up into a perfect cloud. Throw in a blanket fresh from the heater and it’s the best night of sleep you can remember.

Or maybe it’s just that after weeks of pain that just won’t go away, when they finally, finally offer you something to make it stop and it trickles through your veins- a perfect, cool shot of relief- maybe by that point you’ve become so used to the Pain that in the wake of the Not Pain, the bed isn’t so bad.

The chairs for family and friends though- those have definitely gotten worse. There’s definitely a recliner in the hospital rooms upstairs. The ones that you convince yourself are better than going home alone despite the havoc they will wreck on your back, but in the ER- no such luck. Just a rolling stool and a hard plastic chair that should be in front of the swivel computer, but you pull it to the other side of the bed where it’s easier to hold your loved one’s hand.

Time moves differently in the ER, especially at night, and it means you have no concept of what time it is while also knowing you’ll be lucky to snag an hour’s nap in the morning before work. Tests and medications come quickly, but results take eons to evaluate. The patient down the hall has finally stopped screaming, so you close your eyes, only for them to come in and check your temperature.

They have more tests to run, so you decide to stay. They do finally bring in a recliner for you and one of those toasty blankets. You set yourself up so you can hold their hand as you both sleep, and for a while you think the recliner isn’t so bad either, that it won’t hurt so much in the morning.

But the monitors keep beeping, and they keep having to check on them, and sometime between night and morning you accept the bags forming under your eyes and take whatever sleep you can get.

There’s no good place to be in the ER, but you know you’d trade spots with the person in the bed in an instant- if not for it’s fleeting promise of comfort, then to at least know they will be okay.

#another thing found in my notes app #from when hubby was in the hospital over the summer #he’s doing WAY better now #but man was that a rough night #anyways #original writing #I guess? #sort of a rambling narrative #my writing

[superkimvettech]

It literally has never come up before in my 20 years as a tech, and I got cussed out on tikytok for my admittance of never hearing of this condition before. Explanation of the condition under the break.

Stud tail is a RARE hormonal condition that causes the sebaceous glands in the tail of (usually) unneutered male cats as they enter into puberty. Can be seen in neutered and female cats, but again, it’s rare.

My cat was a neutered male. He had some greasiness on his tail. The video I first heard about this commented that the patient she was working on had it. She explained what it was, but didn’t explain much further than what I did above. I’ve seen one or two other cats in my entire career that had greasy fur on the tail. None were to the point of having pain, and my boss had said it happens sometimes but didn’t explain what it was. That was the extent of my experience with it.

Apparently bad cases of it can be ouchy, but the vast majority (as far as I can tell, I’m still learning about it) are not bothersome.

I learn new things every day and I’m not going to pretend I know everything about vet medicine even though I’ve been doing it 20 years today. It’s perfectly ok for me to have not heard about a rare condition that affects a minute amount of my patients. It meant I had an opportunity to learn. I hope to have more opportunities tomorrow.

I also hope to not have someone else attempt to make me to feel inadequate because I had not heard of a condition.

#veterinary medicine #veterinary #vet tech #vet #animal hospital #it’s sad when I let that lady know that it’s unhealthy to be suspicious of everyone all the time #and that it is okay that I didn’t know something about a rare condition #that she had to call me some nasty things and say I must be a terrible vet tech if I didn’t know about stud tail #the fuck. #obviously I stopped all communication and blocked her because you curate your own experience on these apps #it’s just sad though! like I really hope she can get past whatever made her this way and become a happier person

[lansplaining]

stupid idea of the day: AU where wei wuxian works in a ghost kitchen (staffed by ghosts) 

#i guess everyone is in hospitality or restaurants in this AU #delivery apps are demonic cultivation #apparently

[sapoteylx]

tw hospital ment.

ummmm fic idea where peter is hospitalized due to mental health and tony avoids him for a little (once hes back) because peter is starting to remind him of himself

but then they finally see each other and tony sees that peter is upset/uncomfortable so hes like. yeah i was hospitalized once too

and they talk?? about feelings and experiences??? oouh shudders

#peter is like “do you think im crazy” and tony is like come on kid i nicknamed you after underwear #anyway tony is just a miserable guy and i feel like he would have been hospitalized at least once for substance abuse or something #idk what this fandoms obsession w substance abuse is all about but yeah youre all correct #i already have a chunk of dialogue written out in my notes app i just needed an excuse to speak my truth #this has been floating like a piece of beef in the stew that is my brain just humor me

[murdleandmarot]

9, 14, 15 aaand 25 for Mungo!!! For the character ask thingy!! :-)! <3

YAY I FINALLY GET TO ANSWER ONE OF THESE :DDDDD

Okay okay Mungojerrie times!! 🧡🖤🧡🖤

9. Him and Rumple are a package deal, so I’d be rooming with the both of them in my mind soooo absolutely!!! They match my brand of chaos and I’d like to help play pranks on the other residents :). Rumple seems like the type to do a bad movie marathon into the night, and I would ADORE doing that. So overall, yes, I think I’d be okay rooming with Jerrie

14. this man is simultaneous the worst and best dresser you’ve ever seen in your entire life. I aspire to be him. His cargo pants? Paired with a silk shirt that he stole. Checkerboard? Paired with red stripes. His socks? Mismatched as hell. Everyone has been begging him to learn color theory for years but he does not care. I call it ‘colorful cluttered maximalism.”

Ex. (Pintrest)

what the fuck is even going on here. I love it so so much.

15. Munkujerrie!!! I thought of it during work today, (when I was *actually* supposed to be doing my job), and it hasn’t left my head since then…I fluctuate on ships like the needle on a ghost meter, but ughhhh the potential……plus it would also be really really funny. Barbie x Ken activities. Also the way the colors work together?????? Like aughhh the more I think about it the more it drives me insane. While it’s not my Munkustrap specific ship, I’ve only known of Munkujerrie for a day and a half, but if anything happened to them, I’d throw a temper tantrum.

25, OKAY SO: I actually saw Cats live when I was in middle school and I LITERALLY REMEMBER ALMOST NONE OF IT MAKES ME SO MAD. WTF. The first thing that I remembered is durning the Addressing of Cats I kept whispering at Tugger telling him to ‘go stand next to his boyfriend’ (literally knew nothing about the musical at the time. How did I do that (I was talking about Misto btw)). THE SECOND THING I REMEMBERED is that Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer’s song was my favorite in the entire show. It’s the only one I looked up when I got home. They were my absolute favorite for an entire week I was rly like ‘these silly thieving motherfuckers I love them so so much.’ Mungojerrie and his stupid crop top <333 their double cartwheel was the coolest thing I’d literally ever seen. 10/10 no notes. Best first impression ever. And now??? Still love him. He’s so silly, and his accent drives me insane. Mungojerrie you will forever be famous <333

#I spent nearly an hour and half typing these answers into my notes app <333 #I need to be hospitalized <333 #cats musical #cats the musical #mungojerrie #rumpleteazer #mungojerrie and rumpleteazer #asks!!!!!!! #yay :D!!!! #I was so happy to get this thank you so much :)))

[mysicklove]

I would probably cry if you deleted your account. You're such a good friend and I cherish you.

-totally not Archer

ly u too, i prob won’t idk. maybe i’ll just limit myself, but god it is so parasitic to like my entire life lol

#💌 - love letters #archer darling #i focus on things that i shouldn’t be #like fucking kinktober #i need to be in a hospital not writing silly little smut #idk #tumblr is such a short term pleasure and i’ve known it for so long #but i spend too much time on it #that i don’t have #i’ve noticed there is like a shift from me and my work ethic before and after i got tumblr #and it’s just so not good #but i really love this app #and everyone on here #i’m just #grrrrr

[rubensmuse]

yes we all know tiktok was designed from the ground up to be hostile to human life, however there are parts of tiktok culture i find beautiful. for example, the "STITCH INCOMING" phenomenon. an alert not to scroll past because this isn't the same video you ignored an hour ago. a white flag of parley thrown up to signal that a good take is coming after the first 1.5 seconds of bad take. tiktok's homegrown "rb for commentary"

#the app is still unsalvageable but it's nice to reflect on how life can thrive even in the least hospitable climes #internet culture #just squirrelly things