In the middle of 2012, a three-year-old tech company called Uber announced a new version of its service: Uber X. Until then, Uber had only offered rides in fancy black Town Cars. But Uber X allowed regular people to sign up to pick up customers in their regular cars. Riders would pay less—35 percent less to be exact, according to then-CEO Travis Kalanick at the time. When combined with the recent launch of what would become Uber’s main competitor in Lyft, the birth of “Uber X” helped push the gig economy into the mainstream. It seemed like a simple enough shift to open up the service to more riders and drivers. But within a few short years, there would be protests, resignations, boycotts, and, in some cases, suicide—aftereffects of the a more on-demand economy. Today, using an app to pay people to walk your dog and do your laundry is an unquestioned part of city life. But for the millions of people on the other end, the shift has fundamentally transformed the nature of work, creating an environment where health benefits and rest are harder to obtain, and a forced smile is key to keeping your rating high enough to keep going.