Instacart quickly became one of the most valuable services available during the early days of the pandemic, both for people unable to leave their homes and for those looking for a new source of income. But frustrations with the service have abounded in the past year, largely from customers who say some shoppers aren’t cutting it, but from workers as well.
A recent TikTok video from an Instacart shopper named Sydney (@getfitwsyd) is highlighting one unexpected way in which a single job can quickly become a regrettable decision.
“I just accepted an order without realizing it has 30 gallons of milk in it,” she says in the clip. “Each gallon of milk is eight pounds… so by the time I’m done, I will have lifted 240 pounds two times, three times?”
@getfitwsyd ♬ original sound – sydney
Sydney went on to film herself pushing a cart filled to the brim with jugs of milk around the grocery store, before filling up the backseat of her car with the jugs. The trunk, she reminded her usual audience, is still broken.
While some viewers were left confused at the prospect of anyone needing that much milk, other Instacart shoppers immediately understood what had happened.
“Was it for Starbucks!?” @hot_mess_autism_momma asked in the comments, and Sydney confirmed that she delivered the order to a Starbucks location.
Others who have been on either side of an order like that commiserated, with @stopnootalie noting “everyone and their mom always stares at me” at the store when she has to buy a milk haul for a coffee shop.
“Wait until you do bags of ice,” @xo_madeline added. “I had 20 large bags of ice to Starbucks.”
“I’ve had to place an order like this a couple times for work, I always feel bad lol,” said @princelypotato, an alleged Starbucks worker.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Sydney via TikTok comment for more information, but she did leave viewers one more tidbit about the unexpected haul.
Responding to a comment hoping that she was tipped well for dragging 30 gallons of milk through a snow-covered parking lot, Sydney replied: “$14.”