Calculating the amount of money you really make in a day of work after things like taxes, lunch breaks, and transportation can be a harsh reality check—something one TikToker recently drew attention to after realizing just how much having to Uber to her job was setting her back.
Tiana (@tiana.com) kept things short and not-so-sweet with a recent video she posted to the platform from the back of a car.
“me after spending $100 in ubers to go to work,” she wrote, “and profiting $30.”
Tiana didn’t get into details about whether that was before or after her paycheck was taxed, or how long her work day lasts. She did indicate in a previous video that she has more than one job.
Regardless of the specifics of her situation, it quickly became clear from the comments on her video that this was the kind of dilemma others had encountered trying to keep some sort of cash flowing in as well.
“This was me working at Macys,” @capocartier wrote. “check was literally like $560, $430 after taxes & then it was like $220 after the Ubers & lunch.”
“literally me for a year and then i bought a car cash this past may, i constantly felt stressed taking ubers,” said @dollorataa, while @stickitinallthe way added, “I bought myself a ev scooter for 600 in payments with PayPal. I haven’t waited for a bus or Uber in half a year.”
Another viewer admitted they “had to find a job where I can walk because I realized I will never get a car spending $60 a day just to work.”
Gen Z workers and the cost of getting to work
Of course, finding a job closer to home or buying a car with cash isn’t necessarily so simple. Other solutions people offered, such as getting a remote job or taking public transportation, also have their difficulties.
Tiana responded to the latter suggestion by sharing that Uber already took an hour each way, and said that public transportation would have taken even longer. A 2019 study showed that public transportation often takes twice as long as driving in large cities, and cited Los Angeles, where Tiana lives, as having “one of the biggest discrepancies” between the two options.
@tiana.com in my bag😈 (i’m losing money)
♬ TURNNN DOWNN FOR WHATT – maryam<3
For some people, spending four or more hours per day on public transportation to keep that $100 in their pocket certainly might be worth that trade-off, but it also seems like the kind of bleak choice that shouldn’t have to be made in the first place.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Tiana via TikTok comment.
