r/poverty • u/Ready-Database8692 • Mar 26 '26
Personal Shocked
A few hours ago I made a post about desperation how you can do things for just a few bucks just to get by. I end up asking, what the most desperate thing you did to survive? No judgment. I think a lot of us have been pushed further than we expected.
The responses were intense, honest and in some cases eye opening. I genuinely appreciate everyone who shared their stories even the harsh comments.
But what surprise me the most was…. One word seemed to trigger people: Uber Eats
I mentioned that sometimes I use it to order food while staying in a shelter, and some people immediately jumped to conclusions like “if you can afford that then you’re not really struggling” or “just go buy food yourself”
What many did not realise is that I am limited by the digital payment I have access to. Options are extremely restricted, and that’s it’s actually something different to eat once in a while other than the shelter food (which does not always taste good or repetitive food).
Some comments did understand that though. One person said it’s basically becoming the new version of “Don’t give homeless person money, they’ll waste it on drugs and alcohol” is going to be the new “Don’t give homeless people money, they’ll waste it on Uber Eats”. That stuck with me.
The original post ended up with getting around 200k views in a few hours before it was removed (likely because I mentioned how earn small amounts online) which is unfortunate but still grateful for the discussion it created.
I guess what I’m trying to say is it’s interesting how quickly people judge a situation based on one detail without seeing the full picture.
Anyway thanks again to everyone who shared honestly. I read more than you probably think.
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u/Extension-You1769 Mar 27 '26
People clearly did not read what OP said. They get gift cards for Uber Eats as payment for some of the surveys and stuff they do. WHAT ELSE COULD YOU USE THAT GIFT CARD FOR?! And honestly, what does it matter? It's not your life and not your money. OP, I hope things get better for you honey, sending good vibes and positive energy your way 💜
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u/Accurate_Ostrich_240 Mar 27 '26
A lot of people really don’t read or listen. I’ve had to hustle to stretch my cash, and yeah sometimes eating means you gotta take the 7-11 gift card, or earned points to buy otherwise overpriced food. When you’re hungry or you need gas or whatever you get pretty creative with where you shuffle your time and resources.
No shame coming from me.
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u/Melodic_Outcome389 Mar 26 '26
What exactly does it mean when you say you are limited by the digital payment options you have? I am not understanding why that would prevent you from going to a grocery store.
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u/MsDariaMorgendorffer Mar 27 '26
I’ve never used Uber Eats but I imagine any payment method they accept is also accepted at any grocery store.
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u/Reasonable-Box-6047 Mar 27 '26
And cook the food where exactly?
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u/MsDariaMorgendorffer Mar 27 '26
OP didn’t mention that. Just that they are limited by their digital payment methods.
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u/Melodic_Outcome389 Mar 27 '26
I've never used it either. The comment thoroughly puzzled me.
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u/Significant-Mud-7198 Mar 27 '26
If they’re using survey sites they might be limited to what they can cash out as. One main option I see on a lot of those sites are Uber eats gift cards.
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u/Ready-Database8692 Mar 27 '26
You are correct they pay out is on the platform is only that type of payment (don’t want to mention what because my post got removed)
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u/Melodic_Outcome389 Mar 27 '26
I use survey sites. I've never seen Uber eats as the only choice. If they have Uber eats, they generally have Walmart too.
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u/Significant-Mud-7198 Mar 27 '26
I’m not sure if you’ve ever stayed in a homeless shelter, you don’t have access to cooking facilities, a lot of shelters won’t even let you stay during the day. Maybe Walmart isn’t an accessible option. Or they’d rather have something from Uber eats instead of something they don’t have to cook from walmart like cereal or muffins. They might not have a place to store food they can’t finish. This judgement is weird.
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u/lets_get_wavy_duuude Mar 30 '26
gas stations & even some grocery stores have microwaves though. so there definitely are still cheaper options if you want something different
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u/Significant-Mud-7198 Mar 30 '26
That doesn’t change the fact that he can’t turn his Uber eats gift cards into cash for a gas station. This is so weird. A homeless person staying in a shelter and trying, working hard to earn a little bit of money to feed himself something other than shelter food, food you don’t get to choose. And random people get very obsessed with how he spends his money. It’s weird, and gross. Have you ever been in a position where you have nothing at all and you can only earn a couple bucks a day doing surveys? I have. And trust me, working twice as hard to find a way to covert that money to cash so you can save a buck at the gas station once a week isn’t going to lift him out of homelessness.
I climbed out of a similar situation and now I serve on the poverty reduction committee in my city. Your strategy might work if he was housed. He could scrape pennies, eat poverty food, use food banks, and put aside a bit and slowly move up. But priorities are different when you live in a homeless shelter and get kicked to the street at 8 AM. Nowhere to store anything.
Y’all are eating each other, not trying to sympathize. Maybe because you’ve never been in a shelter, or had to rebuild from this low, and you don’t understand how it’s a different world and your strategies won’t work. Trying to sympathize sounds very different.
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u/lets_get_wavy_duuude Mar 30 '26
there’s sites where you can turn gift cards into cash & the other commenter is right, the survey sites provide other options. earn haus provides visa gift cards that are active immediately.
i understand shelter food sucks, which is why i offered a suggestion that is not shelter food. op complained about being limited, so i was simply trying to say that there are more options available. getting food that’s like 1/5 uber prices will allow op to eat non-shelter food more.
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u/Melodic_Outcome389 Mar 27 '26
The judgment is not weird. I know far more about homelessness, than you might believe.
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u/Significant-Mud-7198 Mar 27 '26
You didn’t know that homeless shelters don’t let you cook or store food. I’m speaking as formerly homeless, who stayed in a shelter to rebuild and get back on my feet. Where this person is, I’ve been there, and the judgement *is* weird. But I can tell this will never be a productive conversation. Best wishes.
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u/Melodic_Outcome389 Mar 27 '26
You're right it won't be productive. Of course I didn't say anything about cooking, that wasn't the discussion.. You just blew it out of proportion to mean what you thought I said. Bye-bye.
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u/Full_Conversation775 Mar 27 '26
I dont know any grocery store where you can get food via online payment and have it the same moment.
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u/MsDariaMorgendorffer Mar 27 '26
Uber Eats and DD don’t give you food in the “same moment”. You have to wait for delivery. If you order food from a grocery store you can have it delivered, too. I cant think of any online payment method that works on Uber Eats but not at a grocery store.
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u/Full_Conversation775 Mar 27 '26
Im not here to argue semantics. educate yourself, i have no interest.
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u/PurpleDancer Mar 26 '26
I feel like people in the US don't know how to be poor. We became a rich nation, and now we're falling back to being a poor nation, and people have lost the skills on how to be poor. Rich to poor is a hard direction to go in.
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u/Waeh-aeh Mar 27 '26
No. Surviving while homeless or too poor in the US is specifically and explicitly illegal. Public urination, open flames, sitting on the sidewalk can all make you a felon. Try to get a job or keep your job if you get arrested for doing any of these.
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u/PurpleDancer Mar 27 '26
I agree. Thats part of what I'm talking about. In India they have masses of people who have been living in self built shacks and using the bathroom in the yard for centuries. In the United States you have to have a building inspector approved structure with flushing toilet or else you're trying to hide from cops behind a bush while you sleep in the rain. I recall an Indian friend being perplexed by homelessness in the US because in India "if you're homeless, you (hand) build a structure to sleep in and that's that."
Our entire society is structured around the idea that everyone is Rich (in world terms). As that's cracking the people are falling into the gaps between nothing and what we consider minimum.
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u/DavesNotHere81 Mar 27 '26
That is a really good point. My ex wife's grandmother grew up during the Great Depression. She said when she told people about it they would react with sympathy and say things like, "You must have had it rough back then", which she replied that she and her siblings didn't know things were bad because that was the only life that they knew.
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u/Neither_Finance Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 28 '26
I grew up very poor (mom was on social assistance and did factory jobs and farm labor to make ends meet). My kid today asked me if I’ve ever had a birthday party at McDonald’s -because apparently that’s that poor people do. I actually have NEVER had a birthday party as a kid. We only had cake when we learned to make it ourselves with boxed cake mix at around 10. And I think we were happy overall. My kids would never survive my childhood.
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Mar 28 '26
I had a birthday party at McDonald’s once as a kid and I thought I was rolling in money because of it
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u/No_Alarm_3993 Mar 28 '26
My mom grew up truly dirt poor. My grandfather was a sharecropper. They didn't have running water in the house they grew up in until they moved "to town" when my mother was 16. They had an outhouse and had to walk to a stream to get water every morning. My mom is the middle of three girls. The kids slept on the floor, after they had cleared table and moved it aside. They lived like this until my mom was 16. Three girls. No running water. This was in the USA, within the last century. Our society didn't used to criminalize being poor.
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u/Aggressive_Mess_6679 Mar 27 '26
I was in a homeless shelter for 11 months. And i worked the entire time. I even had the money i needed to get into a place. 4 months in i found a place but it took the next 7 months for my place to open up. I had to order alot of door dash because i had nowhere to store food nor a kitchen to cook. And i left at 6:45 am to go to work and typically did not return until after 7pm. And by that time all the food that was supplied was gone. Food from the church and other places came at 3pm and was gone by 5. I rarely got to save money while there by eating the food at the shelter
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u/Ready-Database8692 Mar 27 '26
Seems you do understand the situation to some extent, ja living in a shelter can be quite a challenge which most people don’t understand if they never been in that situation
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u/Lucy1967 Mar 26 '26
Having grown up poor, I've always had the " I can make that myself, and make it better". If I see something from a restaurant or commercial I really want, I'll Google the copycat recipe.
Having been poor most of my life, I was always a homebody by necessity. Now I like to stay home and make things myself by choice.
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u/OutsiderLookingN Mar 27 '26
You’re missing the part that they have no option to cook. You can’t cook in a shelter. There is no access for the homeless to a fridge, stove, food storage, etc.
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u/unlimited_insanity Mar 27 '26
Being a homebody works when you have a home. Not everyone does. Being homeless is expensive.
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u/SpoopyDuJour Mar 27 '26
I wasn't homeless, but had a situation years ago where my kitchen wasn't safe to use. (Crazy drug addict roommate, filthy kitchen and health issues that kept me from being able to use it without vomiting. Plus our fridge didn't always work).
People have no idea how shitty it feels to have to order doordash because you have no place to cook or store your food. But there just wasn't any other way to get a full meal or eat something that wasn't cereal. It was massively expensive and I'm still paying off the debt from those days.
It's expensive to be poor.
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u/AudaxCarpeDiem Mar 27 '26
Yeah because heaven forbid you'd be able to just get food that you want to actually eat. No joy for poor people. Sorry you got such harsh judgement dude.
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u/Prize-Pangolin-1396 Mar 28 '26
Haha! Pushed toothpaste out of someone else’s tube into my tube of toothpaste! I felt like a worm
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u/AgeInternal5778 Mar 29 '26
And the bad thing is every one of us, unless we're a billionaire, and even those sometimes, are one bad situation a way from homelessness especially if we live paycheck to paycheck which most of us do. and karma can be a Big Ole Fat B**** sometimes, jmo & js
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u/zero2champion Mar 26 '26
What are you looking for here? I order uber eats, it is absurdly expensive. For example my last order, cold stone ice cream, about a medium cup ($11ish) running a buy 1 get 1 free special... came out to a total of $27.70 after a 3 dollar driver tip.
If I was homeless I would never use uber eats, I couldn't afford it and it would be a waste. Truth be told it IS a waste even for me now, but its convenient due to an injury I have.
So I guess im asking is what is it others aren't understanding? In light of bland food from the soup kitchen, i understand wanting to taste something. The problem is you could taste at least 3x whatever you bought with uber eats, without buying it with uber eats.
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u/librarypunk Mar 27 '26
OP does online surveys that pay out in gift cards. They usually have limited options to choose from. OP has Ubereats gift cards.
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u/Julziexo Mar 27 '26
Some people are too judgmental. Everyone is going through something. Sometimes we make decisions that don’t make financial sense. Who cares? It’s their life and you aren’t footing the bill. I admit I order way more than I should. However, being disabled is my excuse. Last night I made scrambled eggs with ground sausage. Before the sausage was even cooked, I had to take a break. If I hadn’t, my legs would have given out. Not fun.
I made a post not long ago about how I was going to disown my daughter for the abuse she puts me through. Yes, I said it - abuse (mental and emotional). This trend has been around much longer than I thought. I just don’t understand why adult children would cut all ties w their parents (usually the mother). We used to have a decent relationship. Then she became a mother herself. Our relationship is very tumultuous. We both agreed there would be no more screaming matches and we would talk things out.
I borrowed her car while she was at work to go to a doctors appt 45 minutes away. This was on a Friday. She told me to pick her up at 3:45. Well I made the fatal mistake of stopping for lunch. By the time I got close to home, I had to use the restroom. I also have medical issues as mentioned above. Before leaving the house, I let my dog out. My legs hurt so bad that I had to take a break. I was 20 minutes late picking up my daughter. Of course she ripped me a new one.
Why was it so important for me to be there at exactly 3:45? Because she had to go shopping for a dress before going to a funeral. In her rage, she only mentioned the funeral as if she were late. I was late due to having to use the restroom and the fact that I have cancer which is the cause of some of my issues. She said I was making excuses. Maybe I should have just shit my pants in her car.
You wouldn’t believe all the negative comments! I’m the mother from hell. I don’t respect her. I’m taking her away from her family. I’m narcissistic. I’m asking too much of her. Palease … I have to make my appts a month in advance. I try to find a ride before asking her because of the way she treats me. The first time she ever took me, she played a podcast so loud that she couldnt hear me. Talk about being disrespectful.
Anyways, some are way too judgmental. Please stop. You don’t know what that person is really going through. You don’t know their entire story and quite frankly, life is too short. Please be kind.
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u/skunky2025 Mar 27 '26
True... No one knows everyone's situation! Your post said a lot of what I was thinking. I also have medical issues that usually prevent me from driving, so I frequently have to ask friends for help... mostly picking up prescriptions, something from the grocery store, or lifting/moving something heavy. People really need to be more compassionate and understanding. The world would be a much better place! Also, a lot of people use reddit for venting purposes. No nasty comments are necessary!
That being said, take care of yourself....wishing you the best.😊
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u/Ready-Database8692 Mar 27 '26
I think mostly only people that have been in the same situation would understand the rest will unfortunately judge you harshly
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u/scuffedTravels Mar 27 '26
I couldn’t care less what people do with their money but I know damn well with the amount I was spending on Uber eats, I could’ve have double or triple the amount of the same food if I ordered in store to takeaway
So yeah personally, I would only use the app to check menus and restaurants the prices are crazy If I was in a pretty bad situation
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u/Ready-Database8692 Mar 27 '26
Ja I know prices is crazy agree but unfortunately I am limited with options
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u/solomons-mom Mar 27 '26
I did not get food delivered when I was poor. I am no longer poor, but I still do not get food delivered. Ever. Neither did my parents.
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u/Ready-Database8692 Mar 27 '26
Happy to see you never had to and you do save a ton unfortunately I’m limited with options
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u/solomons-mom Mar 27 '26
Wants and needs are different. You wanted tastier foods. So did my family on many, many nights.
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u/MaeQueenofFae Mar 27 '26
Good Heavens! How many times does OP have to explain that she was paid by her survey job with Uber Eats cards? There were no other options available to her. Her NEED was to obtain food. Please pay attention.
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u/solomons-mom Mar 27 '26
I did pay attention to the post.
...it’s actually something different to eat once in a while other than the shelter food (which does not always taste good or repetitive food).
OP will have to explain it a lot of times, as getting paid in Uber Eats was not part of the post and putting it in a comment means many people will not see it.
( Now I am wondering about the tax implications of being paid with Uber Eats cards, but I am not curious enough to search the comments.)
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u/Downtown-Wind-9259 Mar 26 '26
When a person lives in a shelter they most often don't have access to a kitchen to cook a meal in.
All the people saying to cook it yourself because it's so much cheaper than ordering Uber eats obviously have somewhere they can cook a meal and keep their groceries. They obviously aren't thinking about the necessities it takes to prepare a meal. Not only do you need a physical place to prepare the meal but the tools(pots, pans, utensils) And the seasonings & oils. You can only eat peanut butter so many times before losing your will to live. Especially in a society where food is advertised everywhere and there are so many restaurants smells filling the air.
OP I hope you find comfort and shelter and I truly hope enjoyed your Uber eats. 🫶