Instacart Shopper Refuses To Carry 168 Bottles And 14 Jugs Of Water Up 17 Floors: “You Have To Use The Stairs”

Working as a delivery person means dealing with heavy loads and sometimes difficult customers. But some cases are just too much—like the outrageous request shared by Redditor u/Aggressive_Candy_345 on r/InstacartShoppers.

One guy bought 168 bottles and 14 jugs of water and insisted that everything be carried up 17 flights of stairs. When the shopper raised concerns, the customer showed he wasn’t willing to compromise at all and threatened to file a formal complaint if the order was canceled. No tip, no sympathy, just pure arrogance.

Gig work is hard, and a huge reason for that is the customers

Image credits: Kampus Production / pexels (not the actual photo)

But this one seems especially evil

Image credits: Ishaq Robin / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Aggressive_Candy_345

Gig economy workers often feel expendable

Image credits: Sargis Chilingaryan / pexels (not the actual photo)

The fact that this particular customer felt like he could treat the delivery person the way he did, saying he will just hire the next in line if they refuse, kind of represents the state of the whole sector.

Gig workers for Uber, Instacart, and other services made less money on average in 2024 even though the number of hours that they worked rose, according to a report by analytics company Gridwise.

For example, Uber drivers’ earnings for 2024 fell 3.4% to $513 a week, but at the same time, they worked 0.8% more hours.

Lyft-ers, meanwhile, worked 5.4% fewer hours in 2024 and saw their pay decline even more — by 13.9% to $318 a week.

Instacart shoppers saw their pay decline 8% (to $194), however, their hours also fell 4.9%.

The only app where workers earned a fair amount more money for the same or less work was Favor, a service owned by Texas supermarket H-E-B that delivers online orders for the chain. Its workers saw their pay rise 3.4% to $155 a week in 2024 as their hours worked fell 13.1%.

An Instacart spokesperson called the numbers “inaccurate and misleading.”

“Shopper earnings remain steady across the … platform, and we continue to hear from shoppers that Instacart creates rewarding, flexible earnings opportunities that allow them to earn on their own time and their own terms,” the spokesperson said.

The gig economy’s future isn’t just a question of scale, it’s also a question of values, and policymakers need to ensure it evolves with dignity, equity, and transparency. However, if you’re working in customer service, every once in a while, you’re bound to run into someone obnoxious.

As the story went viral, the Instacart shopper provided more information on the whole  ordeal in the comments

People were absolutely appalled by the customer

Poll Question

Total votes ·

Thanks! Check out the results:

Total votes ·

Newsletter

Subscribe to Access
Exclusive Polls

Subscribe

By entering your email and clicking Subscribe, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Privacy Policy.

Thank you! You've successfully subscribed to newsletters!

Follow us on Flipboard.com/@boredpanda!