I suspect that the Rappi executive who came out this week to say that the company was going to vaccinate part of its delivery men slept very well the night before the interview. Perhaps he went to bed satisfied, almost happy, convinced of how well his ad was going to fall. Vaccinate against the covid to the two thousand domiciliary that more orders deliver? But what a beauty of gesture, what generosity of the company. So much goodness so seldom seen, at any moment the Nobel Committee calls us to give us the Peace Committee again.
I debate with Rappi. On the one hand, I am happy that some compatriots come up with an effective and novel idea, that they provide employment in a country that needs it so much and that they grow to the point of internationalizing the brand. Colombians conquering world markets instead of being invaded by foreign brands, there is a story to tell. On the other hand, you hear so many testimonies of orders delivered late and in poor condition (or simply not delivered) that you wonder why you should undertake on a large scale if you are going to do it wrong. And the trouble is not that they make mistakes, but the complaints about how poorly they manage them.
Anyway, that detail does not matter, in the long run Rappi was made so that its customers receive at home what they are lazy to look for, from a milkshake to a full market, so they deserve the bad service they sometimes receive. I know that now with the pandemic, appealing Rappi sounds perfect, but it is hardly an excuse. Many times those who use it are spoiled who are lazy to get their own food. Although they do not pay me too much attention at this point, that I am done the old-fashioned way: I go out to the street even for a small Jet chocolate bar and all the bank procedures, payment of public services included, I do them at the branch where I opened the savings account.
What you feel about the company’s statement is that they decided to commercialize the vaccine believing it was a good idea. Putting your employees to compete so that the more orders they deliver, the more likely they are to be immunized makes some sense, but it is also ruthless. And that they do not call their employees as such, they are often referred to as ‘associates’, perhaps so that they do not feel so exploited.
However, such condescension can create the opposite effect and make the subject on duty feel worse; just like fast food restaurants that instead of calling their customers by a number do it by name, as if such a strategy makes them feel special.
What happened with Rappi may offend but not surprisingly, the episode is part of the deterioration that his image has suffered over the years. And I’m not just talking about the fact that more and more is known about the treatment their employees receive, the change in the rules of the game and the drop in delivery rates; also, of the non-payment of social benefits and of hiring more and more Venezuelans not because they are concerned about their bad situation, but because they work for half that of a Colombian. Wear is also observed in the ‘rappitenderos’. You would see them before with their orange jackets and backpacks shining from afar, they looked like the fans of Holland. Today they walk with those garments all faded, unstitched, undressed and they are sad, they do not even give for the Envigado bar.
So what should be a pride becomes more of a source of shame. Rappi is, among other things, one of the banners of the so famous orange economy promoted by the Government, which insists on affirming that we can become the Silicon Valley of Latin America, a theory that there is nowhere to grab it. Exploitation, bad wages and worse conditions, that’s what there is; hopefully we are the Cambodia of the mainland.
Adolfo Zableh Duran
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