You may recall in my most recent Gig Income Report that I had no desire to work this weekend…and I didn’t. In fact, as we close in on noon in the Eastern Standard Timezone, I am still in bed. However, initially, this bout of laziness and rest came with a great deal of guilt. I don’t know if other folks in significant debt experience this or if this is an adverse effect of gig apps…

I celebrated a month of using gig apps a couple of days ago and I know this because Qwick sent me a celebratory email. For the most part, I have loved gig apps. They are as advertised and as long and you show up to your shift on time and work hard, all is well. However, one of the things that I didn’t mention in my initial review, Gig Tales: The Apps, is that in addition to seeing gig opportunities as they are posted, the apps will often send you notifications and text messages to let you know that gigs are available, especially if they get a “last minute shift” or have someone call out. Qwick calls them “hero” shifts and in addition to bonus points to your “Qwick Score” for accepting these shifts and no penalty for arriving late, they also offer a bonus percentage on top of the original hourly rate. The rates for these last minutes shifts can creep up quite a bit and I have been offered as much as $22.50/hour to polish silverware. I kid not. And obviously I accepted that gig.

At this point, you might be asking, “So AP, what is the problem? Good pay and you only work when you want to work. Where is the bad?” The bad is that it means that work is always available and that you are always being given the opportunity to work. Yesterday, between Qwick and Tend* I received more than ten text messages and numerous app notifications alerting me to available shifts. I think when you are paying off debt, especially a significant amount of debt, it feels like you don’t have the right to turn down work. I think being “unaware” of work or “unable” to work is a bit easier outside of the apps because it can take a great deal of luck, timing, and energy to arrange casual work. However, with the apps that is not the case. There is always work available, especially on the weekends, and if you aren’t working it’s because you are making a choice not to work.

Ultimately, I asked a male person I have been seeing (not Dude Avery…I know! Maybe more on that later…) if I was being a lazy heffa by not working this weekend and his response was fast and succinct: “No, you need a day off or you will burn out.” While I have known this person since I was 27, like most people, he has no idea how much student loan debt I have. However, for whatever reason, Squaddie (we’re referring to this male person as “Squaddie”) telling me that it was okay to take time off was what I needed to stop looking at my phone and feeling guilty every time I got a ping or a text and finally settle in to enjoying my weekend off. And I have.

*I turned the notifications for Instawork off two weeks ago because they are automated, repetitive, and happen at a very high frequency.
** I recognize that C has been warning of this moment for some time and like most things, she was eventually proven to be correct. Time off is important and I will prioritize it more in upcoming weeks as the start of the academic semester results in my primary job at University B becoming more demanding.