Lyft Stories: Raul

Starting over after a bitter betrayal

Raul had one other career before he became a driver, in the warehouse of a wine distributor, starting at the bottom and working his way up to where he was hiring and managing all the workers, teaching them how to pull and load pallets, how to track inventory, and how to do their jobs safely and efficiently.

When a supervisor role came open, instead of giving Raul the title, the owner hired a white man, someone who had never worked there before. The new supervisor did not know the workers and was a careless manager, so the workers wrote a petition for Raul to get the job instead.

But the owner would not change his mind. “He called it a misunderstanding,” Raul said. “A misunderstanding!” Everyone knew what the owner really meant. The workers urged Raul to sue the owner for discrimination. But Raul didn’t see the point in continuing to work for someone who did not respect who he was and what he had accomplished.

Raul got no goodbye party, no farewell from the man he had spent 20 years of his life supporting. So Raul started driving people all over San Francisco, racking up thousands of miles until his car fell apart. He replaced it with a luxury BMW, which he now takes great pleasure driving.

He is rueful about the 20 lost years, and the betrayal. But it worked out, he assured me, he is finally his own boss.