The Conversation (0)
Celebrities
Joshua Zitser
Sep 25, 2020
iStock
An 89-year-old man who delivers pizzas recently went viral on Twitter after he was surprised with a $12,000 crowdfunded tip – but not everyone thinks this is a feel-good story.
Derlin Newey, from Utah, couldn’t afford his bills with Social Security alone so he took a job with Papa John’s pizza. He started working 30 hours a week to make ends meet.
Carlos Valdez, a frequent customer of Papa John's, began posting TikTok videos of Newey delivering pizzas.
Valdez and his followers were upset to see an octogenarian still working so they went about crowdfunding a big tip to help him out.
They managed to get together $12,000 for Newey.
But while some people framed this as a feel-good story, many felt like it’s a bleak display of a broken system.
Always weirds me out when dystopian shit's dressed up in feel-good bells and whistles. Something's wrong when an 89… https://t.co/elMnUZbGHe— Steiner (@Steiner) 1600979341
That an 89-year-old has to deliver pizza to pay his bills (by his own account) should cause us great shame. I’m s… https://t.co/de293mqOjm— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@Yashar Ali 🐘) 1600967786
One angry tweeter even went about fixing headlines.
@NBCPhiladelphia 89-Year-Old Still Works as Pizza Delivery Driver in Failed Nation that Cannot Care for Its Elderly… https://t.co/I1Y423oXU6— Darryl Mott (@Darryl Mott) 1600975597
Others thought it said something about the state of capitalism.