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Pikachu Now Driving for Uber Due to Drastic Rent Increase

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Pikachu and the car he drives for Uber. image from Deviant Art

Yes, it’s true: despite his success as the most famous Pokemon character in the world, Pikachu is now driving part time for Uber.

How does this happen to a character that has provided so much joy to people around the world? Earlier this week Jigglypuff, Pikachu’s longtime domestic partner, was captured by a 16 year old kid playing Pokemon Go. While this meant that Pikachu now had to cover Jigglypuff’s half of the rent, things became even more problematic since Jigglypuff was the master tenant on their San Francisco rent controlled apartment. With Jigglypuff gone, Murphy’s Investments Property Management – the group that manages the apartment for Pikachu and Jigglypuff’s landlord – served Pikachu a notice alerting him that his rent was effectively tripling.

“It was hard enough knowing that some creepy little 16 year old kid had captured Jigglypuff,” Pikachu told BrokeAssStuart.com, “but then when they raised my rent this much it was like they were kicking me when I was already down. Who does that to someone who just lost their partner? My landlord and Murphy’s Investments Property Management are the real monsters here.”

When we reached out to Murphy’s Investments Property Management to get a quote, their spokesperson had this to say, “You don’t get incredibly wealthy by helping out Pokemon characters in their hour of need. This is San Francisco, we can do anything we want in the name of profit. Hell, we just served Charmander an Ellis Act eviction and he’s  96 year old. We don’t give a fuck.”

As sad as it is to say, don’t be surprised the next time you call an Uber, and Pikachu is the driver who picks you up. Just be kind to him and don’t try and capture him. He’s had really rough week as it is.

**This story is based on a very real story where a San Francisco man had his rent tripled by his landlord and Murphy’s Investments Property Management after his partner committed suicide. My heart goes out to Christopher Holden. 

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Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Stuart Schuffman, aka Broke-Ass Stuart, is a travel writer, poet, TV host, activist, and general shit-stirrer. His website BrokeAssStuart.com is one of the most influential arts & culture sites in the San Francisco Bay Area and his freelance writing has been featured in Lonely Planet, Conde Nast Traveler, The Bold Italic, Geek.com and too many other outlets to remember. His weekly column, Broke-Ass City, appears every other Thursday in the San Francisco Examiner. Stuart’s writing has been translated into four languages. In 2011 Stuart created and hosted the travel show Young, Broke, and Beautiful on IFC and in 2015 he ran for Mayor of San Francisco and got nearly 20k votes.

He's been called "an Underground legend": SF Chronicle, "an SF cult hero":SF Bay Guardian, and "the chief of cheap": Time Out New York.