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Morning show hosts in Pakistan have a remarkable talent for finding new ways to show just how divorced they are from the everyday realities of the people who quite literally keep their lives running. Case in point: Nida Yasir’s latest remarks about Foodpanda riders, a statement so casually crass it would almost be impressive if it weren’t so painfully familiar.

While chatting with her guests, Yasir, quite proudly shared that she believes delivery riders have “made a habit” of taking extra money by ‘pretending’ not to have change. She said she doesn’t mind tipping them per se, but when she suspects they’re “lying”, she makes them wait while her driver fetches change. Not just wait — purposely wait long enough for their next delivery to be delayed. This, she says, teaches them a lesson.

Let’s pause here. A woman with one of the largest platforms in morning television, who sits in an air-conditioned studio discussing the day’s hot topic with a full team at her disposal, is bragging about intentionally sabotaging the workday of underpaid gig workers who spend their days weaving through traffic, rain, roadblocks and the constant threat of being robbed. To “teach them a lesson”.

Customers know the cost — and the app spells it out

The most baffling part is that this isn’t even a situation open to interpretation. The Foodpanda app explicitly notifies customers when the rider is just around the corner, telling them very clearly to arrange change beforehand. Why? Because the app, unlike Yasir, recognises that riders cannot be expected to carry large amounts of cash while navigating unsafe roads. They make dozens of deliveries a day, and the practical, and frankly ethical responsibility lies with the customer to keep change ready or simply pay online.

Ordering via an app is not the same as walking into a store or placing a direct restaurant order. The system is built differently and the expectations are outlined clearly. So when someone ignores those instructions and then punishes the delivery person for it, it’s uninformed and inhumane.

Riders are not props in your personal morality play

What Yasir described isn’t harmless irritation or a “funny anecdote” — it’s a power play. When customers force riders to wait, they’re jeopardising the rider’s next order, their rating, their income, and sometimes their safety. Every extra minute on the road is a risk.

And for workers who have no safety nets, no guaranteed minimum earnings, and constant pressure to meet fast delivery times, a delay means they will now have to choose between driving extra fast and risking their life or driving safely and risking their job.

Making a delivery rider to wait just to make a point says more about the customer than it ever could about the rider.

The riders are pushing back — and rightfully so

In a video now circulating online, Foodpanda riders have demanded a public apology from Yasir — not privately, not vaguely, but on the same show she made the remarks. They described her comments as insulting and dismissive of the very real challenges they face.

They refuted her claim that riders routinely lie and emphasised that their work is already difficult enough without being painted as scammers on national television by people sitting in air-conditioned rooms sipping sodas.

Their request for a public apology isn’t unreasonable. In fact, it’s the bare minimum. If you use your massive platform to demean people who don’t have one, then accountability should be just as public as the harm.

The bottom line

There is nothing funny, clever or righteous about punishing delivery riders, who are the most visible faces of an already fragile gig economy, for a convenience issue the app already tells customers to prepare for.

If you’re really that particular about paying the exact amount, pay online. If for some reason you don’t want to tip, don’t. But don’t force delivery riders to wait simply because you can.

What Yasir said revealed a lot about privilege, entitlement and how easily some people forget the humanity of those providing services to them. The riders deserve an apology and the rest of us deserve better from the people who dominate our morning TV screens.