I booked a Pronto service for the first time, and what the lady who came to help us with cleaning told us about her working conditions was honestly quite disturbing. She reports at 6:30 AM and works until around 7 PM. That's roughly 12.5 hours a day, and she gets around ₹700 a day, which comes to barely ₹60 an hour. There is no fixed lunch break. The maximum break they get is around 20 minutes, and she told us that sometimes this break can be as late as 5 PM. No fixed timings. There are apparently no proper washroom facilities or place to rest between bookings. Some workers end up sitting in public parks and are driven away by the police. And not everyone gets a scooty. Those who don't have one have to walk from one booking to another, sometimes 20–40 minutes. She also told us that they were initially told they would get one day off as menstrual leave during periods. But when she actually asked for a day off, she was told to just take a 30-minute break and come back. She told them that it takes more than 30 minutes to get back home. She asked if she could take the entire day off and was told that ₹700 would be deducted for that day. Apparently, if they take leave for more than two days, their daily rate itself can be reduced for the subsequent days. The lady who came to our home is planning to work only until Diwali. She said that cleaning work picks up around this time, and she wants to leave the platform as soon as she can. This is the side of India's “convenience economy”. For us, it's just a booking on an app for a dirt-cheap price. Someone comes home, gets the work done, and leaves. But behind that convenience is someone working 12+ hours a day, travelling between bookings, with barely any break and very little control over their own time. Almost felt inhumane. Hearing all of this made me feel quite bad. Startups creating employment shouldn't become a justification for poor working conditions.