An emotional video of a tearful UberEats driver urging customers to consider tipping better recently went viral. The video shows the delivery driver, identified as Riley Elliott, talking about the challenges he was facing – from struggling to keep a job to being on the verge of homelessness. The viral clip struck a chord with netizens who have since offered help to Elliot.
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In the video, Elliot also talks about trying to make ends meet with sub-minimum wages and low tips. “It doesn't matter that I'm working multiple jobs, it doesn't matter that I rarely sleep and can barely afford to feed myself," a tearful Elliot says at one point in the video.
Originally shared on TikTok, Elliot’s video went viral after being posted by Twitter user Christian St. Croix. “Something needs to be done about this,” Croix wrote while sharing the video.
Since being shared, the video has gathered more than 3.8 million views. Many inquired about ways in which they could help Elliot. In response, Croix shared a tweet with a Venmo link for those who wanted to help Elliot. And, it didn’t take long for people to come together to contribute.
{{/usCountry}}Since being shared, the video has gathered more than 3.8 million views. Many inquired about ways in which they could help Elliot. In response, Croix shared a tweet with a Venmo link for those who wanted to help Elliot. And, it didn’t take long for people to come together to contribute.
{{/usCountry}}Elliot also shared a link to a GoFundMe page on his personal Twitter handle. In the bio of the page, he thanked everyone for their contributions and shared that he is looking forward to using the donated money to help others.
“My name is Riley Elliot, I am originally from Seattle, but now live in Las Vegas. I was a gig economy worker up until last week when the internet saved my family from homelessness through their generosity! Now I would like to pay it forward to other gig economy workers,” reads a portion of the bio.
What do you think of the video and the Internet's collective effort to help Elliot?