Instacart Shopper Balks When Customer Demands They Carry Dozens Of Cases Of Water Up 17 Flights Of Stairs

Anyone who has been involved in placing an online order or delivering one has probably experienced something disappointing along the way, but more drivers go through drama than they are given credit for.

On the "InstacartShoppers" subReddit, Redditor Aggressive_Candy_345 had a story that left fellow Redditors flummoxed and concerned.

The post included a series of four screenshots, highlighting the Instacart Shopper's conversation with an almost-customer they'd encountered.

They had accepted the order, only for the potential customer to reach out and demand:

"My lift (elevator) is not working and just letting you know in advance. You have to deliver at my doorstep. I live [on the] 17[th] floor, room 1720."

The Redditor was shocked and expressed their concern to the potential customer:

"I might have to cancel. It's 22 water bottles and 17 floors."

  @Aggressive_Candy_345/Reddit

  @Aggressive_Candy_345/Reddit

The customer proceeded to issue demands instead of empathizing with the shopper, stating that the Redditor had to deliver the order all the way to their door on the seventeenth floor, that they had to use the stairs while an elevator was not available, and that they could not cancel any part of the order.

If they did not meet all of these demands, the customer guaranteed reporting them.

  @Aggressive_Candy_345/Reddit

The Redditor again attempted to voice their concern about the task, because of the number of heavy items that needed to be carried up so many flights of stairs.

And again, instead of empathizing with a fellow human being, the customer accused them of demanding a tip and questioned if coercing a tip was "legal."

  @Aggressive_Candy_345/Reddit

Redditor Aggressive_Candy_345, the Original Poster (OP), wrote on the post:

"The nerve of this guy. The whole order paid only eight dollars. NO HEAVY BATCH PAY, EITHER."

"I had to contact support, and they didn't pay me, and they added it to my cancelation rate. The whole time, I was getting harassed by this guy in the chat."

The order included four 24-packs of water, six 12-packs of water, seven four-liter bottles of distilled water, and seven four-liter bottles of mineral water.

Fellow Redditors reassured the OP that he was absolutely right to decline the order.

"Not just no… HELL NO. What are people thinking?" - SeriesPrestigious978

"'I’m going to complain you won’t do my unreasonable task.' I hope no one took his order." - RaisedbyCassettes

"Never apologize for someone else's asinine thinking. Never once did you say anything about a tip. That person was just looking to be the victim and you the bad guy." - ChareSar

"He's thinking, 'Holy sh*t, I don't want to carry water all the way up to my apartment. I bet I can make the DoorDash guy do it instead. Only eight dollars? Awesome, I'm so smart.'" - the_pressman

"That is quite a few kg's of weight to try and carry up 17 flights of stairs for a pathetic small payment."

"Quick calculation about 150+ kgs of water. I would have refused it as well." - Charosrealm69

Some were also concerned by how physically taxing this task would be.

"If they can't go up and down their own stairs, why the f**k would I?" - Descriptionlcy3523

"Between six and 22 trips up and down 17 stories for eight dollars... The best case scenario, you have a dolly, and you can do four packs at a time. Even in that scenario, you're making $1.33 each trip." - aLittleMinxy

"I wouldn't climb 17 flights for a frickin' DoorDash order."

"This guy is a pile of crap and Instacart is the f**king devil. I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Feel horrible for the next shopper." - GirlULove2Love

"If the 12 and 24 packs are 500ml bottles, it would be around 140L of water total, including the four-liter packs, so 140kg / 308lbs."

"Weight aside, that's a lot of bulk and would be many trips up and down the stairs to safely carry them. Probably talking six to eight trips minimum. Even at eight trips up and down the stairs, OP would be carrying nearly 20kg a time." 

"For eight dollars, no heavy add-on fee, and clearly no tip from this guy." - carlbandit

"Dude needs to order a Brita." - Specialist_Egg_7480

There's no telling when we'll need to prepare for a party, stock an emergency bunker, or even fill an indoor pool one water bottle at a time, but one thing is for certain—Be nice to your delivery drivers when you ask them to supply the water.