Latest news with #freelancer
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Landmark ruling against RTÉ as tribunal finds Fair City photographer was not a freelancer
RTÉ has failed to have employment rights claims by the former on-set photographer for Fair City thrown out, after the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ruled, for the first time, that a supposed freelancer at the national broadcaster was actually an employee. The statutory complaints were brought by photographer, Beta Bajgart, who was previously the subject of commentary at the Public Accounts Committee when it emerged the national broadcaster was paying €60,000 per year for promotional images of the Dublin-based soap opera. Ms Bajgart's case against Raidió Teilifís Éireann under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003, the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 and the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 will now proceed to a full hearing, following a preliminary ruling on Thursday. It is the first WRC case where the principles of a major Supreme Court ruling in 2023 on the distinction between employees and contractors have been applied to the position of a worker at RTÉ. READ MORE The alleged misclassification of media workers as freelance contractors by RTÉ is a major legacy issue at the national broadcaster. She claims her job as a photographer on the set of RTÉ's flagship soap opera was terminated without notice on December 15th 2023. The broadcaster's lawyers had argued Ms Bajgart was not an employee, but a freelance contractor – giving the employment tribunal 'no jurisdiction' her complaints Adjudication officer Catherine Byrne noted that Ms Bajgart suffered 'negative commentary' in September 2023 after attention was drawn to Ms Bajgart's role following a hearing of the Oireachtas Public Accounts committee, which had been scrutinising RTÉ's finances. In the wake of the publicity, Ms Bajgart's solicitors wrote to RTÉ asserting that she had acquired a contract of indefinite duration and was an employee, the tribunal noted. The broadcaster's director of human resources replied that RTÉ's relationship with the photographer was 'not an employment relationship' but that she was 'a supplier of services'. Ms Bajgart was first engaged for the work as an independent contractor for a year starting in June 2011 at €750 a week. There were repeated renewals of the contract and Ms Bajgart won tender competitions in 2017 and 2019, with the rate for the job rising to €980 a week over that period, the tribunal noted. However, Ms Bajgart did not apply when the work was put out to tender again in September 2023, and ultimately ceased working on the Fair City set on December 15th 2023, when the tender process was readvertised, the adjudicator noted. Ms Bajgart gave evidence that she was interviewed for the job in 2011 and 'got the contract', with 'no discussion about the legal implications'. She explained that she set the rate for the job based on her previous work for another production, Off the Rails. Addressing a gap in her contracts between October 14th 2018 and January 21st 2019, Ms Bajgart said she 'simply continued to work' and got paid. Her barrister, Michael O'Doherty BL, who appeared instructed by Conor McCrave of Setanta Solicitors, asked if she had 'consented to doing the job as an independent contractor. Ms Bajgart replied: 'I wanted the job,' and added that it was 'never offered' to her as a position of employment. Under cross-examination from RTÉ's solicitor, Louise O'Byrne of Arthur Cox, asked Ms Bajgart whether she had done other work while engaged for Fair City. Ms Bajgart said she ran her freelance business around the Fair City shot list and that it was difficult to look for clients because she never knew when she was due on set. Ms O'Byrne also referred to a letter sent by the complainant to the Irish Times and the Irish Independent in September 2023 following remarks by Fine Gael senator Micheál Carrigy about Ms Bajgart's, in which the complainant had stated: 'The photographer on RTÉ's Fair City is an independent contractor.' Ms O'Byrne argued this showed the claimant 'did not consider herself as an employee' of RTÉ. Mr O'Doherty said she had described herself as an independent contractor 'because she did not want to upset her employer and potentially lose her job by publicly describing herself as an employee'. Adjudication officer Catherine Byrne wrote that the 'day-to-day reality' of Ms Bajgart's working relationship with RTÉ was 'not consistent with how she was described in her contract as 'a supplier' and 'not an employee''. Byrne noted that Ms Bajgart had been working 20 hours a week, part-time, for 12 years on 'a series of fixed-term contracts' in a role which 'contributes to the promotion and success' of Fair City. The worker had had a desk on set, 'no discretion' about her level of attendance there, and could only work elsewhere three or four hours a week, and performed the work personally 95% of the time, Ms Byrne added. 'The authors of the agreements… may have genuinely believed that the working relationship with [Ms Bajgart] was that of an independent contractor, at least in the early years,' Ms Byrne wrote. 'However, it seems to me that the sustained nature of her job and the sole reliance by the respondent on the complainant to do the work, means that the legal basis of the agreement evolved from a supplier's agreement to that of an employee,' she added.
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
5 AI Certifications For Beginners To Make $100,000+
About 40% of today's workplace skills will be extinct by 2030 By 2030, almost 40% of today's workplace skills will be irrelevant, according to the World Economic Forum. And yet, although these skills are expected to change, many job-seekers are still submitting resumes that don't make any mention of the core skills of the future at all--skills like AI. That makes you…irrelevant. You could be applying to hundreds of jobs, yet still get ghosted, while the candidates who have AI certifications and skills have an advantage over you because employers want them more. In fact, employers have made their sentiments very clear: about 92% have plans to hire this year for positions that have Gen AI skills as a requirement, according to a new AWS survey. What Are The Best AI Certifications For Beginners? In this short article, you'll discover five beginner-friendly AI certifications that you can include in your resume and leverage them to land the job offers you deserve. What you'll learn: Cost: $1,850 What you'll learn: Cost: $100 for the exam; training costs can include $29 for the subscription to course materials What you'll learn: Cost: Seven-day free trial, then $59/month or $399/year What you'll learn: Cost: Seven-day free trial, then $59/month or $399/year What you'll learn: Cost: Seven-day free trial, then $59/month or $399/year These courses teach a wide variety of high-income skills with the potential to pay six figures as a freelancer or even as an employee, from building and deploying your very own AI tools, to creating custom workflows that boost productivity and reduce costs. Do You Need Coding Experience To Learn AI? No you don't. These certifications prove that you can build AI skills within a month (if studying for 10-15 hours a week), or even three to six months at most (if studying alongside a busy schedule), even if you're a complete beginner. How Do You Add AI Certifications To Your Resume? Here are some creative ways to include AI certifications in your resume: The future won't wait for you to be ready. AI implementation and rollout is happening right now as you're reading. AI certifications boost your relevance and value in the labor market So, if you want your career to thrive in this new future of work, you've got to develop the skills that matter the most. Binge-watching a Netflix series won't do much for your career. But using that time to develop yourself professionally through an AI certification? That's time well-spent, and it will boost your income potential forever.
Forbes
7 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
3 Entry-Level Remote AI Jobs That Pay $72,000+
170 million new roles will be reimagined or created by AI AI jobs aren't just for machine learning engineers and data scientists. In 2025, AI has expanded so far and wide across industries that you can get hired for an entry-level AI job in marketing, finance, and even customer success, and make more money without even needing to have a computer science degree. According to the World Economic Forum, the AI rollout will disrupt 92 million jobs, but create 170 million new roles by 2030. The cool thing is that although we're naturally inclined to think of software developers and AI architects as being the ones to experience the most benefit from the AI boom, there are other roles that will be reinvented or reimagined to accommodate partnering with AI, which are the perfect way to get your foot in the door with tech without ever learning a line of code. 3 Entry-Level Remote AI Jobs In this article, you'll discover three AI-powered entry-level jobs that double as popular work-from-anywhere/remote jobs, plus what you'll need to get hired. (Note, these roles may not be advertized with the 'AI' before their title, however in nine cases out of 10, they will require job-specific AI skills anyway, according to AWS.) What you'll do: Use AI marketing tools to optimize your strategy, create content, develop and deliver campaigns, and track analytics and market/customer behaviors, as a freelancer or employee. AI tools you'd use: You'd most likely use tools such as: How do I start without a degree? Take a digital marketing certification like the Google Career Certificate in Digital Marketing and Ecommerce. Average salary: $72,979 What you'll do: Draft blog posts, articles, and other forms of long-form and short-form content, using AI-powered tools for speed of production (while ensuring high quality), research, outlines, and SEO optimization. This can be a freelance contract or project, or a long-term employee position. AI tools you'd use: Some popular AI tools for content writers include: How do I start without a degree? Take HubSpot Academy's free AI for Marketing Course. Average salary: $83,200 What you'll do: Manage customer relationships and nurture them for the entire customer lifecycle, using AI tools to power your insights, drive customer retention and loyalty, and scale personalized customer service. AI tools you'd use: A few AI-powered tools that are great for CSMs to use are: How do I start without a degree? A fantastic customer success training course to pursue would be the Customer Relationship Management course by Starweaver, via Coursera. Average salary: $83,064 Salary information is derived from Glassdoor and ZipRecruiter. How Can I Get An Entry-Level AI Job? Besides these roles, there are the more technical entry-level AI jobs, such as: To land one of these AI jobs, you can: You don't need a master's degree in machine learning, or a Silicon Valley background to land a remote entry-level AI job. Today's job market is flooded with entry-level roles that are the new jobs of the future--the ones that take existing job titles and reinvent them by integrating AI tools to boost these roles and improve their efficiency. These AI jobs are perfect for you whether you're pivoting careers or stepping into the job market for the first time. AI-powered remote entry-level roles can pay as much as $80k As an entry-level career starter, your best tactic is to have the willingness and passion to learn. Continuously update your AI skill stack and build projects that showcase what you're capable of. You've seen the jobs. Now it's your time to get hired.
Forbes
7 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
5 Ways To Stand Out As A Freelancer And Keep Clients (Almost) Forever
Stand out as a freelancer by delivering good work—and by how you do the work! How do you know if you stand out as a freelancer? I can tell you how I know. Just last month, I got a call from one of my very first clients. Back in 2002, after I first opened my freelance writing business, she hired me via Elance, now Upwork, to edit a company brochure. That small project could have been a one-and-done transaction, but it became the start of a relationship that has lasted for more than two decades. As she's said to me more than once, 'That's longer than most people have been married!' My client has since sold her original consultancy, started and sold two more businesses, climbed into C-suite positions at several different companies, and brought me along for the ride each time. New companies, new roles, same freelancer—me. Guess what? That's not luck. (And she's not been my only long-time client.) It happened because I know that freelancing isn't just about delivering good work. It's also about becoming the kind of person clients don't want to work without. On the client side, I also hire freelancers. And I've worked with plenty who treat projects like transactions: Deliver the work, collect the payment, move on to the next gig. But the real money—and the real satisfaction—comes when you delight your clients, doing the things that turn them into repeat buyers, word-of-mouth advocates, and long-term partners. Based on my 20-plus years of experience, these are my top five ways to stand out as a freelancer and move from gig-getter to go-to freelance professional. 1. Stand out as a freelancer by always closing the loop Stand out as a freelancer by NOT going on vacation in the middle of a project—without letting your ... More client know! I once hired a freelancer to transcribe research interviews for a client project. She seemed like a good fit from the start. She was capable, asked good questions about formatting and turnaround times, and delivered solid early work transcribing the first couple of interviews. I was relieved to know that I could move on to the next task on my list. Then, suddenly, she disappeared without explanation or warning. She just went quiet in that way that makes you wonder if your last email got lost, or if something happened, or if you're being slowly, politely, albeit rudely ghosted—all the while as your client deadline looms closer and you still have half a dozen interviews left to transcribe. I sent a follow-up message, then another. The days passed, and I grew more worried. We still had some time before I needed the rest of the interviews, but as the silence stretched, I found myself bouncing back and forth between annoyance, anger, and genuine concern. Had something happened to her? Was I about to get stuck trying to hire someone else? When she finally resurfaced—eight days later!—she apologized for missing my messages. She said she'd gone on vacation. Vacation! She gave me no heads-up. There was no out-of-office message. She just packed her bags and left, apparently without a second thought for the work she'd left hanging or the client who might be wondering what the hell happened. Stand out as a freelancer by NOT going on vacation in the middle of a project, without warning or ... More informing! Here's what I learned from that experience: Good work isn't enough if your client spends the entire project wondering whether the job will get done. Or if you've vanished and wasted their precious time. Trust builds up in the spaces between deliverables; it grows thicker with each quick confirmation, proactive update, and simple courtesy of letting someone know you're still there. That's why I always close the loop, even when it feels unnecessary. When a client sends me a project file, I let them know I received it. When I'm a week into a project with a three-week deadline, I send an update even if nothing has changed. And if something threatens a deadline—illness, tech trouble, life getting complicated, vacation (ahem)—I definitely reach out immediately with a revised plan, not an excuse. I even follow up in reverse. For example, if a client promises to send me something by the end of the day, and the end of the day comes but I haven't seen it, I'll check in with the client before logging off. Not to nag, but to make sure nothing fell through the cracks. Sure, I sometimes worry I'm being annoying, but I've learned that clients would rather hear from me too much than wonder if I'm still paying attention. The fact is, clients notice. One of my earliest clients specifically mentioned how much they appreciated how I 'always closed the loop.' It was the first time I'd heard the phrase. I practically glowed. Both the phrase and the practice of closing the loop stuck with me. Loop closing is a way to signal that you're present, engaged, and taking responsibility for more than just the final deliverable. It's how you become the freelancer clients stop worrying about—and start relying on. 2. Stand out as a freelancer by charging like you understand the job Housekeeping isn't really freelancing, but it is a solo enterprise, so the same rules apply. I once hired a house cleaner who quoted me $245 for what I'd described as a thorough, top-to-bottom deep clean of my fairly large home. The number felt wrong right away. It was too low, and I found myself pushing back in a way that probably seemed ungrateful. 'Are you sure that's enough?' I asked. 'It's a lot of square footage, and we really want you to touch every surface.' She reassured me with a confidence that made me second-guess my own instincts. She'd done this before, she said. She could handle it all in a day, for that price, no problem. Maybe she had done it before, but she didn't do it that day. First, she arrived late—hours late! She told me she'd forgotten to buy supplies and had to stop at Walmart. Then, as she started cleaning in earnest, working methodically through each room, I watched the clock. As the hours ticked by, the sick feeling in my gut grew stronger. I knew my suspicions about the timeline were right. By the time dinner rolled around, she was still scrubbing. By 10 p.m., she was starting in the kitchen. By 11:30 p.m., she was still there, although (thankfully) wrapping up. I was exhausted and angry. And she hadn't even finished everything she'd promised to do. I didn't feel like I'd gotten a bargain. I felt frustrated and, strangely, taken advantage of. I would have gladly paid twice her quote if she'd just been honest about how long the job would take her. The same thing happens with freelancers who underbid projects, thinking a low price will help win the work. They don't ask enough questions, don't account for revisions, and don't build in buffer time for unexpected complications. I guess they just pick a number they think sounds appealing and hope they can make the math work later—if they even think about the math at all. Stand out as a freelancer by pricing right. Quoting too low hurts everyone—and your wallet. But pricing isn't just arithmetic. It's also a matter of communication. Your quote tells a prospect whether you understand the scope, whether you've thought it through, and whether they can trust you to stay calm when something goes sideways. If your price is too low, I worry you're missing something important. If it's too high without explanation, I wonder if you're padding the estimate to cover your own uncertainty. The sweet spot is the number that makes a client feel like Goldilocks, 'Yes, that feels just right'—not cheap enough to raise red flags, not expensive enough to create anxiety, but grounded enough to suggest you know exactly what you're getting into. Price like you understand the job, and clients will trust you to do it. 3. Don't be an order taker (unless your client wants one) Stand out as a freelancer by being an order taker—when your client wants you to. Otherwise, be a ... More consultant. I hate getting my hair cut, and for years, I blamed myself for not knowing exactly what I wanted. Then I realized the real problem: I keep encountering order-takers instead of consultants. Here's how it usually goes. I sit in the chair at Great Clips and explain what I'm looking for: something that looks good and takes practically no time to style. I may mention that I don't want my bangs cut straight across. Then I say the magic words: 'I trust your judgment.' What I'm really saying is, 'You're the expert here. Please use your expertise to give me a haircut that works for my face, hair type, and lifestyle.' Instead, I get interrogated. 'How much do you want taken off? An inch? Half an inch? Do you want layers? What about the back?' And I'm sitting there thinking, 'Isn't this literally your job?' I came to a professional because I wanted professional judgment, not because I wanted to make every technical decision myself. But I'm too polite to push back, so I pick some random measurement and cross my fingers. The result? A cut that's technically what I asked for, but rarely what actually makes me look or feel good. The stylist filled my order. She didn't solve my problem. I've had the same frustration with all sorts of freelancers, too. Years ago, I hired someone to add dropdown menus to my website. The project seemed straightforward enough to me, although at the time I didn't realize that dropdown menus caused rendering problems. The developer I hired didn't tell me, either. He just built what I asked for, no questions asked. Stand out as a freelancer by informing your clients if anything in your life will cause a delay for ... More their projects. When I discovered that the new menus didn't work on every browser, my blood boiled. I had to hire a second person to fix the problem. Nope. There were now different issues! Seeing red, I hired a third developer, who told me that dropdown menus were 'a real problem' and maybe I should consider a different approach. Sigh. Why didn't the other developers tell me that? Why did they just take my order? Why didn't they know? By the time I signed the contract with the third developer, I'd already spent more than $1,000 on a feature that never would have worked. See, there's a difference between being an order taker and being a consultant, and you need to figure out which one your client actually wants. Stand out as a freelancer by knowing which way to go: order taker, or consultant Some clients genuinely do want you to carry out a vision exactly. They've thought it through, they know what they want, and your job is to deliver it efficiently and professionally. That's fine—as long as you're excellent at taking orders. But other clients come to you precisely because they don't know what they want, or because they suspect their initial idea might not be the best solution, or because they're just struggling with a problem, like my dropdown menus. These clients come to you hoping that you'll bring expertise, not just execution. They want you to do the deep thinking, ask the hard questions, flag potential problems, and guide them toward the best results. The trick is learning to read the signals. If someone gives you detailed specs and seems confident about their approach, follow their lead. But if they're vague about the details, or if you spot a potential issue with their plan, speak up. Most clients would rather hear 'I think there might be a better way to do this' or 'I think I see a problem here' than discover later that you noticed and didn't say anything. Your job isn't (always) to do what they ask. It's to help them get what they need. 4. Stand out as a freelancer by following the $!%& instructions If a prospect shares an RFP or if a client shares instructions, stand out as a freelancer by READING ... More them! I once posted a detailed request for proposal that took me the better part of an hour to write. I outlined the project scope, explained the technical requirements, specified the timeline, and even included a content-mapping document and annotated screenshots to make sure there was no confusion about what I needed. Then I started getting responses. I was annoyed to see that a surprisingly large number of freelancers had somehow managed to bid on my project without actually absorbing the information in it. Did they even read my request? One response in particular made me want to bang my head against my desk. 'Good morning, I am hoping that you might be able to go a little deeper into your project. If you don't mind, I'll put a couple of questions out there for you that would get us started. Do you have your detailed requirements completed? Can you give examples of the site you would like to emulate?' I stared at that message for a full minute. This guy was asking me for the exact information I'd already given in my original project description. It wasn't just lazy. It was insulting. With his response, that freelancer essentially told me that he couldn't be bothered to read my request for proposal. There's no way I'd hire him. My response when a freelancer asks for information I've already provided in the RFP... The thing about instructions? Clients don't include them for fun. When I ask for proposals with the word 'blueberry' in the subject line, it's not because I'm obsessed with fruit. It's because I'm about to get 75 emails, and I need a way to sort and organize them. When I give you a timeline, budget range, or formatting particulars, it's because those details matter to the success of my project. Following instructions shows your client that you read carefully, process information accurately, and pay attention to the details that matter. If you can't follow the guidelines in a job posting, why should anyone trust you to follow the requirements in a project brief? It's tempting to fire off quick, identical responses to multiple job posts, especially when you're trying to build momentum or fill your pipeline. But taking an extra five minutes to actually read and respond thoughtfully will put you ahead of half the people who are just spraying generic proposals and praying something sticks. Instructions exist for a reason. Follow them, and you'll signal that you're someone who takes direction seriously and pays attention to what matters to clients. 5. Trust your gut and set boundaries Stand out as a freelancer by learning to 1) develop and 2) trust your instincts. (It's not always ... More natural!) I once took on a client who seemed reasonable enough during our initial conversations. But then something shifted the moment we started working together. He began questioning every single recommendation I made, turning each suggestion into a debate. I suggested adding a PDF download to make it easier for readers to save and share the content. He said no, people no longer want PDFs. I recommended breaking up a massive wall of text with subheadings to improve readability. He preferred it as one solid block. I proposed restructuring his homepage to highlight the strongest value prop first. He wanted to keep his long, winding introduction that buried the important information three paragraphs down. He met (what felt like) every suggestion with pushback and explanations about why I was wrong and why his approach was better. It was like being hired as a consultant and then having to justify every piece of advice to someone who had already made up his mind about everything. The breaking point came during a 15-minute phone call, during which he managed to dismiss or contradict nearly every point I raised. I was so frustrated! I'd start to explain the reasoning behind a recommendation, and he'd cut me off with reasons why it wouldn't work for his audience, his industry, his particular situation. By the end of the call, I felt like I'd been arguing with someone who had hired me specifically so he could have someone to disagree with! Stand out as a freelancer by owning your expertise. I hung up and immediately sent him a full refund along with a polite note explaining that we weren't a good fit. I kept it professional, but the message was clear: If you don't trust my judgment enough to consider my recommendations, you don't need my services. Experiences like that one taught me that some clients hire experts not because they want expertise, but because they want validation for decisions they've already made. They're not looking for fresh perspectives or strategic guidance. They're just looking for a patsy—someone with the credentials they need to rubber-stamp existing plans. That's not the kind of work I do best. I'm not a yes-woman. I'm not here to nod along with everything you say. If you want someone to simply execute your vision without question, hire an order-taker, not a consultant. Now I watch for early warning signs, like clients who push back on every suggestion during our initial conversations, clients who seem more interested in explaining why things won't work than exploring how they might, and clients who treat every recommendation like a personal challenge rather than professional advice. Your expertise is worth something. Don't let difficult clients convince you otherwise. Stand out as a freelancer by doing the real business of freelancing Success as a freelancer depends on more than doing the work; it depends on HOW you do the work! Look, I'm here to tell you that you don't need to be the cheapest, the fastest, or the most talented freelancer in your field. But you do need to be the one clients remember when they need work done—and the one they recommend when someone asks for a referral. Those things happen when you make clients' lives easier, not harder. They happen when you solve problems clients didn't even know they had, when you show up consistently, communicate clearly, and treat their success as your own. Good work gets you paid. Great relationships get you rehired again and again. The freelancers who understand this distinction become the CEOs of successful freelance businesses. I want you to be one of those freelancers. Be the freelancer your clients can't imagine working without. Then you'll truly stand out as a freelancer and keep clients for (almost) forever.
Motor 1
18-07-2025
- Automotive
- Motor 1
‘Another Pink Tax:' NYC Woman Hires Man to Be Her Boyfriend for 1 Hour So She Doesn't Get Scammed When Buying Ford Truck
A woman is going viral on TikTok after revealing the extreme step she took to avoid getting scammed while buying a used Ford truck: hiring a fake boyfriend off TaskRabbit. TikTok user @ says she didn't know any car experts—or, as she puts it, 'blue collar' men—so she hired someone to pose as her boyfriend during the transaction. In the clip, the man is seen chatting with the seller and doing a full inspection of the truck, even getting on his hands and knees to check underneath and popping the hood to look for issues. Get the best news, reviews, columns, and more delivered straight to your inbox, daily. back Sign up For more information, read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use . 'Me & the man I hired to play my boyfriend for an hour so I wouldn't get scammed buying this car,' she writes in the overlay text. 'Unfortunately, my type is emotionally unavailable men who can't change a tire,' @ adds in the caption. The video has racked up over 821,000 views as of Wednesday. What's TaskRabbit? TaskRabbit is a platform that connects people with local freelancers—called 'Taskers'—for help with everyday tasks. That can include anything from moving furniture and assembling IKEA shelves to, as @ proved, pretending to be your boyfriend while you buy a car. Taskers set their rates and choose which jobs to take based on their availability and skills. Are women more likely to get scammed when buying a car? Trending Now 'We're Not Seeing It:' Woman Takes 2016 Versa to Nissan 5 Days Before Her Warranty's Up. Then the Tech Says Something Shocking 'You Want a Porsche, You Gotta Pay Porsche Prices:' Woman Quoted $9,000 to Fix A/C in Porsche Cayenne. Should She Even Bother? Plenty of anecdotal evidence suggests women are often scammed at both the dealership and the mechanic. In a 2022 AskMechanics Reddit thread, one user said they avoided two repair shops after hearing employees brag about ripping off female customers. People on Reddit and those who viewed @ video echoed that experience. 'Even though I know about cars, they still try [to] scam me,' one woman said. 'If I take my dad, it's a different environment.' Some argue the issue is less about gender and more about opportunism. 'If some 'nerdy' guy turns up, I'm sure it would be the same,' one Redditor said. Still, studies suggest women often pay more. A deep dive by The Atlantic found women, especially those who appeared less informed, were quoted higher prices for the same repairs as men. Researchers attributed this not necessarily to outright sexism but to statistical discrimination: Mechanics assume women know less about cars, and quote accordingly. In the comments on @ video, one viewer compared it to the pink tax , referring to the phenomenon where products and services marketed to women cost more. 'Another pink tax,' they wrote. 'Find a Mechanic' Commenters were quick to praise @ creative approach to avoiding a scam, and many shared their own strategies when buying a used car. 'I always find a mechanic who has an hour and just offer 100-200 bucks to come along when I buy a used car,' one viewer shared. 'Did the same for my lesbian bestie for her first motorcycle,' another wrote. 'I felt honored.' 'I'm friends with my mechanic, so when I bought my last car, I took him with me and paid him with lunch and a beer, haha,' added a third. Some people, however, warned that hiring a stranger isn't always foolproof. 'That's a very good idea,' one said. 'But make sure he knows wtf he is talking about and looking for. Because he, too, can get scammed.' 'Luckily, you didn't hire me, we would have been scammed together and would have to walk home together,' joked another. Others saw a potential business opportunity—offering car-savvy folks as help for nervous buyers. 'Honestly, more people who aren't knowledgeable about cars should do this,' one man said. 'We'd love to help out.' 'Not me staring at my husband, wondering if I can rent him out to help since he knows about vehicles,' someone else said. 'Or we can be the brother/sister helping out.' Motor1 has reached out to @ via a TikTok comment. Her account does not accept direct messages from people she doesn't follow. We'll update this post if she responds. More From Motor1 'Any Car I've Ever Owned:' Mechanics Reveal Which Cars 'Look Fast' But Actually Aren't 'Help Me Find Stacey:' Man Uses Girlfriend's Mercedes-Benz. Then She Finds a Delta Airline Name Tag in It You're Not Going Crazy: Affordable Used Cars are Disappearing 'That Honda Fit Sounds Like the One:' Used Car Salesman Picks His Top 6 Vehicles Under $4,000. But How Reliable Are They? Share this Story Facebook X LinkedIn Flipboard Reddit WhatsApp E-Mail Got a tip for us? Email: tips@ Join the conversation ( )
