An Instacart shopper called out a customer who was only willing to tip about $3 for an order at a specialty grocery nearly 50 miles away from their home.
In the viral video, the Instacart shopper (@thatgiglife)—who appears to be based in the Austin, Texas, area—shows that the customer placed an order for a grocery store that is 45 minutes to an hour and a half away from them depending on traffic.
The customer specifically chose Fiesta, a Latino-American supermarket chain that exclusively operates in Texas. According to their site, the grocer has more than 59 locations throughout the Lone Star State including in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and Austin.
The order’s total payout for the shopper amounted to roughly $35, about $38 with tip, and included requests for 24 items, including bacon, bread, pasta, and burger buns.
“Hey Google, how do you say, ‘You got me f*cked up’ in Spanish?” the worker lip-syncs along to a popular audio, then imitating the Spanish version of the phrase.
@thatgiglife Roadtrip anyone? 👎🏾 Sadly these crazy orders are becoming more frequent on Instacart #gigworker #fooddelivery #instacart #instacartshopper ♬ original sound – Ҡąվ འҽҽժ
The video was posted by the @thatgiglife account, which appears to be run by one person. The man behind the account regularly makes comedic content about the situations that gig economy workers face on the job and in their day-to-day lives.
“Roadtrip anyone? Sadly these crazy orders are becoming more frequent on Instacart,” the TikToker captioned the video.
The video has garnered nearly 10,000 views and close to two dozen comments as of Tuesday morning.
The Daily Dot has done extensive reporting on the experience of food delivery drivers. Other Instacart gig workers have complained about a practice called “tip baiting,” where customers set high tips to get the best service and then lower the amount after their order is delivered. A DoorDasher also shared his frustration with getting a contract violation on his account after a customer failed to put in the correct delivery address.
Several commenters shared their own negative experiences as Instacart shoppers.
“Yes, when I see that 127 item order with 4 cases of water and no tip for $11,” one person said.
“And got the nerve to threaten you every five minutes,” another wrote.
“I got one 26.5 miles away 172 items 257 units for 11 dollars + 2.37 tip,” a third commenter shared.
The Daily Dot reached out to @thatgiglife via TikTok comment and to Instacart via email.
