‘Even the eggs’: D.C. woman places Instacart order with male shopper. Why on Earth did he throw it over the fence?
Instacart deliveries usually come with a doorbell ding, not a full Olympic toss. But one woman’s grocery order arrived less “handled with care” and more “yeet it and hope for the best.” Her proof? A video of how she found her groceries launched over her fence and onto the lawn. Yes, even the eggs.
However, TikTok quickly cracked open a bigger debate: was this the chaotic result of a no-tip order, or just a stereotypical male Instacart shopper?
What Happened with this Instacart Order?
Zacharina’s (@zacharina.a) 22-second clip has the TikTok world astonished and dare we say–in disbelief. Between her 339,000 viewers, many think the clip to be fake, but others are unsurprised to learn that an Instacart shopper pulled this stunt.
Zacharina’s clip begins with her walking out of her front door and saying, “No [expletive] way.” On the veranda, two cases of water sit pristinely. The front lawn, on the other hand, is an entirely different story.
As she walks further outside, viewers get a view of a lawn with groceries strewn all about. At first, she zooms in on a pack of bagels, a case of gatorade, and random banana, to name a few. As she pans to the rest, we see juice cartons, cherry tomatoes everywhere, and her pack of chicken to the side.
Another person in the backyard says, “The eggs are still fine.” Someone else then replies, “No, no, no.” Another says “Oh my God.” As the clip comes to an end, Zacharina says, “What the [expletive]?” The text overlay reads: “When a man does your instacart shopping.” Her caption says, “Threw it over the fence, [yes] even the eggs. Mans could’ve at least had it in a bag.”
Are Male Instacart Shoppers Bad at Their Job?
The problem is, this is not the first time Instacart customers have complained about men shoppers messing up their orders. While throwing the order might have been a new awful service, others have shared about substitutions for items in their order.
For example, The Mary Sue covered a story recently where a woman got a male Instacart shopper for her entire Thanksgiving order. The problem? He was substituting multiple items. In another story, one woman claimed the male Instacart shopper replaced her baby formula with protein powder. After this, she claimed some ways you can tell if you have a male Instacart shopper.
The Mary Sue even published a piece showcasing all the discourse surrounding this topic, complete with gender bias and weaponized incompetence.
@zacharina.a Threw it over the fence, year even the eggs. Mans could’ve at least had it in a bag ? #instacartdelivery #miamiartweek #artbaselmiami ♬ Funny – Gold-Tiger
But the Viewers Take Sides
In an interesting turn of events, some viewers take the side of the shopper. Comments range from “you didn’t tip” and “this is what you get for not tipping.”
But others defend Zacharina. One viewer says, “People saying she didn’t tip, I’d be glad af that she didn’t tip. Just bcos you don’t get a tip doesn’t give you the green light to treat people’s stuff like this. This is why I wait until the delivery is done properly before tipping.”
Some share similar horror stories. One viewer shares, “I will say, every time I do a wal mart order and a man is shopping for it, I always get the worst experience. And their substitutions make no sense. Like I had wanted a chuck roast and they substituted it with chicken liver like excuse me.”
One even said, “I do Instacart part time and even i agree that you shouldn’t tip until AFTER the service. I’ve had men drop off my delivery and it would be completely wrong, had items i didn’t order, and one time a guy gave me raw shellfish (I have a severe allergy) and had the nerve to try to hit on me through the chat.
They continued, “I’m not going to tip for shoddy service and weaponized incompetence and I wouldn’t expect others to do it either. Yall in the comments defending this kind of behavior are the reason people feel comfortable doing this. Even if she didn’t tip before placing the order, she could have been planning to tip afterwards. Never assume.”
The Mary Sue reached out to the creator and Instacart via email.
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