It's been a few days since a video of a food delivery executive employed by Zomato, eating the food that he was supposed to deliver, went viral on the internet. However, the debate around the video is refusing to die down. While Zomato customers had initially reacted to the video with outrage, demanding that the international food delivery company take stringent action to prevent any such incidents in the future, people are now unsure of whether the delivery person ought to be seen in such a harsh light. After Zomato released a statement about the incident saying that they have taken the delivery executive in question off their platform, some Twitter users have expressed anguish on his behalf. A number of people have called for giving the benefit of the doubt to the delivery person, who was spotted eating customers' food in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.
The video, which was reportedly shot from a balcony, showed the Zomato delivery executive eating a little bit of food from a number of boxes and re-packing them into a bag. Zomato took cognizance of the incident by saying that the company takes "food tampering very seriously" and that it was working to introduce measures like 'tamper-proof tapes' to avoid such incidents in the future. Zomato also revealed that they had "spoken to him (the delivery executive) at length and while we understand that this was a human error in judgement, we have taken him off our platform." The video was watched by people thousands of times on Twitter and had elicited mostly angry reactions from customers from all across the country, some of whom also found Zomato's response unsatisfactory.
Also Read: Zomato Responds To Viral Video Of Delivery Executive Eating Customers' Food
However, some people including food bloggers, eminent food critics and others, pointed to the difficult and long working hours and tough deadlines for food delivery, which may have lead to the said lapse in judgement from the Zomato delivery executive.
Here are some people who called for a more compassionate view of the incident:
The Zomato delivery chap eating from various orders is depressing. It's what happens when you make people who can't afford a square meal, keep handling mountains of food. All food deliveries should offer 1-2 square meals a day for their delivery people. It's only fair. Great CSR.
— Brown Sahiba (@Rajyasree) December 11, 2018
Also may I please say how horribly we treat delivery folk? Especially in summer. No water no tip no nothing.
— Aparna Jain (@Aparna) December 11, 2018
I am very conflicted about that image. Yes of course he should not have done it.
— vir sanghvi (@virsanghvi) December 12, 2018
But there is something deeply offensive about prosperous people laughing at a poor man who is driven to do this out of hunger. https://t.co/842BVKp12d
Well said sir. Delivery boys work under difficult conditions, they are hard-pressed to deliver on time . May be the guy seen eating food from the 'ordered food packet' was overcome by hunger. Why to mock him & other such men who earn their living by being delivery boys.
— Pramod Kumar Singh (@SinghPramod2784) December 12, 2018
Yes. Very disturbing that we the reasonably well-off should scoff at someone who is not so fortunate. Also think Zomato over-reacted out of concern for image.
— tweetdka (@tweetdka) December 12, 2018
There were yet others who pointed out that the furore caused by the video and the reactions to it, may have been justified:
He's not a poor guy, he's got a two wheeler. He gets a salary, incentives & tips. No excuses.
— Sudeep (@sudeepdg) December 12, 2018
According to this article, delivery boys earn reasonably well on most of the food delivery platforms. The Zomato incident looks like a misconduct / lunch break issue. Not underpayment. - Swiggy, Zomato hike delivery boy salaries as competition grows https://t.co/J3pXrRCgoW
— That Goan Boy (@schmmuck) December 11, 2018
I don't think that is an excuse for taking a bite out of food meant for customers. And then surreptitiously resealing it.
— Varad Diwate (@varaddiwate) December 11, 2018
Zomato had released a detailed statement in response to the viral video on December 10, 2018, saying, "Zomato maintains a zero tolerance policy for tampering of food." It added by saying that this particular incident was "highly unusual and a rare case" and that the company stands behind its delivery fleet "who do the right thing across many hours of the day."
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