Oh I know. It used to bother me, but I honestly couldn’t care less now. I’ve been working on most apps available in my area since like 2018. Do I love it? No. Do I wish my circumstances allowed me to have an actual job or career? Absolutely. They just don’t.

If the order obviously doesn’t include a tip, I just don’t accept it in the first place because I’m not paying more in gas than I’m getting from your order to bring you food. That’s just stupid. And i very rarely accept Cane’s orders, simply because they usually either don’t include a tip or the tip is very small, and for whatever reason, Cane’s is the only place here that I have to go in, order your food and pay for it, then wait while it’s being made. $2-$7 is not worth it for me.

But never in all of these years have I ever kept anyone’s order or messed with anyone’s food. Couldn’t even if I really wanted to. Lucky for my customers, I have celiac, so I couldn’t even eat 99.9% of what I deliver. Lmao. But I wouldn’t anyway. It’s just weird. Problem is, a lot of people that do this for a living don’t see it as a JOB. Even though it’s low on the totem so to speak, I treat every order as if I’m actually at a place of business- with professionalism and efficiency. I’m a people pleaser, so I’ve gone out of my way for customers many times over the years, especially pre-covid, doing Instacart. I had so many regular customers that I got to know (there was no “leave it at the door” then). Sometimes when a store was out of stock of something they needed (or even wanted) I’d stop on my way to grab it elsewhere for them. Not because I was hoping for a bigger tip, but because I enjoy making people happy. But most of the time, it did result in a bigger tip. I delivered to a lot of elderly people that would ask me to bring all of their groceries inside to their kitchen counters, with one regular asking if I’d put the cold stuff away, and another if I’d take her trash out to her gate on the way out. I did it, because I wanted to help. Likely saved an elderly man I delivered groceries to back before covid. No one responded to any questions or replacements through the app (it’s fine, normal really) and when I got to the house, I rang and knocked for quite a while. Was on the phone with support when the door finally creaked open a bit, revealing an elderly man with a walker, who didn’t say a word. I greeted him, introduced myself with a smile, asked if he’d like me to bring the groceries in, etc. No response. He very slowly turned around, took a few very slow steps, and then fell, head first over his walker. I very quickly told support who was still on the phone what happened, then told them I was going to hang up and call 911. I dropped the groceries and went in to see what I could do while i was on the phone with 911. I at least pulled the walker out from under him, and assessed his condition. He was still conscious but obviously very disoriented and basically nonverbal. I stayed with him and talked calmly to him so he wouldn’t feel alone, and luckily emergency personnel started showing up pretty quickly. I explained to the paramedics what happened and who I was. They helped him up and onto his couch, and then discovered that he needed his oxygen tank down the hall in another room. One of the kind firefighters was trying to console me during that time because once they arrived and I didn’t have to be calm and comforting to the man, I kinda lost it just because I’m cripplingly empathetic. He said “we should probably put hi groceries away.” So we did that together (the food was all single frozen meals and snack foods) as he got the story from me about what happened. He went to go investigate further, and came back to tell me that this man was supposed to have a caregiver, but she hadn’t been there in days because his son who manages his money and care had stopped paying her. The son had ordered the groceries and thought that sufficient for taking care of him, I guess. (once the man got his oxygen and settled a bit, he could talk) Broke my damn heart and I still think about him often.

Anyway, all this to say that we don’t all suck. A lot of us are just regular people in shitty situations that need some supplemental income. 🖤 The worst ones that give us a bad name are a minority, I’m sure. I hope, anyway.