I made my first major mistake doing Instacart

in #hive-1679222 years ago

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Last Friday was the day...

I fucked up. Not even going to sugarcoat it. I delivered a $150 order to the wrong house. It may sound like I'm a complete dumbass for doing that, but I'm willing to bet I can prove it was a mistake that can be understood. I definitely learned a lesson.

My error was delivering to 834 Carrol Rd instead of 837 Overbrook Rd. These are both roads I go down all of the time, but they are still really confusing. The oddest part of it is the fact that the turn for both roads is at the same spot. It is a very sharp left, right off the main road called Oakwood. One looks like an obvious entrance to a neighborhood and the other looks like a driveway, at least from the direction was going.

Let me show you.

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I was one street away from being in the right place. I mean I even delivered to 837. Actually, that shocks me that there are two 837s right next to each other like that. I will never make this mistake again because now these road names are eternally etched into my brain.

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Now that you see what happened, let me explain how it happened.

I was sitting outside of the River Walk Kroger, which is on the drive home from my parent's house to my apartment. I don't shop there often, but I have a few times at least. Still, it's not my favorite layout, and navigating it isn't as easy as some other grocery stores. It's far from the worst though.

I accepted a double order worth about $25 bucks. The delivery points were both near where I live, so it was going to be convenient so I could go home and cook some lunch.

It took me a bit longer than usual. I would have liked to complete this in under an hour, that just didn't happen though. After I finished shopping I checked out and loaded up the car. Order A in the back seat and order B (the bigger order) in my trunk's cargo space.

The first order went smoothly. Got it dropped off to this sweet old lady. I hated her building though because there are always so many people just chilling in the lobby talking. Plus, the doors are locked and it's not the best part of town so nobody would let me inside while I stood there holding about 20 bags of groceries on one arm and a case of water on the other. Don't worry, I'm built for this.

Next, I was on to the second order. I knew right where it was because I'd driven by the road a million times and there is an elementary school across the street from it that was easily recognizable. I listened to my GPS and turned down the road that I thought was the one. As I explained earlier, I was wrong but I would not realize that until after I left all of the groceries there with some random old lady and was sitting comfortably on my couch when I received a text from the customer saying "Where is my order?"

She claimed she didn't get the groceries and I thought she was insane. I assumed she accidentally used the wrong address and was tripping. Boy was I wrong. I got a phone call from Instacart about 30 minutes later. My customer service rep spoke perfect English and was both happy and nice. I lucked out there. She told me that the GPS said I delivered to the wrong house. I was blown away. She put me on hold to confirm the customer's address. In the meantime, I looked closely at my GPS map. After examining it, I realized my massive mistake. I delivered to the wrong house.

This woman who lived at the wrong 837 came outside to greet me. She was so happy and surprised by her grocery delivery. She didn't say "I didn't order groceries". She instead said, "It was probably one of my daughters being thoughtful" like it happens all of the time or something. I didn't question a thing after that. I mean, who would have thought there was another 837 (the right one) one road over?

The girl on the phone and I agreed that it was obvious what happened and it was a silly mistake, my first one actually outside of forgetting one pizza in my car that I brought back with no issues. She also alerted me that the customer still wanted their groceries. So I left my house to go knock on the wrong 837's front door and like an idiot, ask for it all back. I dreaded that. Luckily, on the way up there I got a call back from customer service saying never mind. The customer literally told them they did not want the groceries since somebody else had touched them and they were afraid of Covid. How the hell are people still using that stupid ass excuse?

She must not have a brain, because I touched all of her groceries. The cashier and bagger did too. Plus the ones who stocked it on the shelf and the many steps of manufacturing before all that. She sounded stubborn to me and probably just wanted to get a free to reorder. At least I didn't have to go see that poor old lady and ruin her day.

I got lucky that the management division decided that there was no need to escalate my ticket. The problem had been solved, and Instacart cut its losses. Somehow I still got paid for it too. It just sucks that I spent over an hour picking out every single item she wanted and then gave it to the wrong person. That means somebody else probably got her same order and had to shop it again at some point. What a waste. On the one positive note, that old lady was happy as hell and I hope she enjoys the crabcakes and 30+ other yummy items that I accidentally gave her.

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The pay was shit for all of that stress. I earned only about $15.86/hr off this batch. It says An hour and thirty-six minutes, but it was longer than that when you factor in my stressful phone calls. Oh well, I moved on and still ended up having a good day.

I am just going to have to be extra careful in the future. I cannot make this mistake ever again, because I may not be fortunate enough to get a pass like I did this time.




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Lol what a funny story, she worry about covid, meh its an old lady its fine for her to be worry, got to be more careful next time, probably do a checklist per order its a bit more work but its a procedure to very data, usually works, good luck bud 🤘

I'm not how old the actual customer was. The only mistake I made was turning down the wrong road. It's on me though.

well at least you owned the mistake and everything turned out ok in the end. It is quite bizarre that they would have two identical numbers right next to one another on different streets. I thought there were safeguards in place to prevent exactly this sort of thing from happening but I would be willing to bet that you don't do it again!

There is a proximity safeguard that is supposed to tell you when you aren’t close to the house. I guess I was so close that it thought I was there and still let me deliver it.


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Bueno mi brother aqui en mi pais hay una frase "perdiendo tambien se gana" se gana experiencia y aprendizaje.

The only thing left to do is learn from mistakes, my friend, and surely you will be much more careful when it is your turn to deliver the orders in that area

I would have just been mad when I was younger. Now that I'm older I can look at things objectively and gain something from a negative experience.

That road layout looks confusing as hell. It definitely could have happened to anyone. That would be stressful but It's pretty awesome that instacart didn't doc your pay or anything.

I thought for sure I was right in the beginning. Once I started putting all the pieces together I was like "Oh shit"

Yeah I know the feeling. It's not pleasant

It Happens some time, You don't need to worry for this mistake at all, Some time mistakes are meant to happens and they teaches us something, this mistakes was meant to happens to teach you , you need to be more precise on your delivery, if there are two ways with the same street number.

Oh, I'm not worried, but I did learn a lesson from the experience.

This is how it happens. Sometimes it is so similar that one does not know where one has gone. The way that happened to you that you have shared with us is very similar. Those who are order should also understand that sometimes the order may be late and it may be difficult to deliver it there. And the way this lady has treated you is totally wrong. When grocery items are prepared, many people still touch their hands, then there is no fear of corona. She didn't want to take this stuff, so she made an excuse of Corona.

My customer was not understanding of my mistake, but luckily customer service dealt with that and I did not have to. I was more than willing to redeliver, but her anger wouldn't allow that.

You are absolutely right, the person goes back to delivery but the attitude she had was very wrong with you and there is no way to go there again.

That was really a costly mistake

That was really a costly mistake

That could have been a costly mistake though

Amazing work you are doing!! we can put a stop or reduce the damage the system has caused us. We need more people like you in this world!! ❤👍

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so there will be some difficult days and others not so much but the important thing is to learn and continue to grow in your work

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I've done that with Grub Hub, it's not fun but oh well, it's a lesson learned.

Live and learn.

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Easy mistake to make! We got got delivered a whole grocery order that we didn't order recently and it was just left at our door without even the bell being rang. There was no identifying information whatsover included with the groceries. We kept it for 3 days before eating it in case someone came for it but we didn't hear anything!

Anyway in your case - surely those people at those particular addresses have had this happen before! Probably happens to them all the time!

That's crazy that the person didn't even at least knock on the door first. I mean I have left groceries at houses where nobody answered and nothing bad ever came of it. But doing that at the wrong address, that's gotta suck. Better your family eats that stuff than it going to waste.

I'm sure it is a common address confusion. There is no solution to the confusion either besides never making the mistake after you do it the first time.

Yeah they do have some types of deliveries here where they are supposed to just leave it on the doorstep without knocking. Weird but it happens. I'm pretty sure we were in when they were left.

Good luck with it all!

That's a really strange setup for the streets, and I can definitely see how the one looks like a private drive rather than a street. Are there houses in between those two streets too? That would make it even more difficult to differentiate the two!

But it's an honest mistake bro, and like you said, just a learning experience that you will be more aware of next time! The really cool thing was how cool the Instacart people were about it, and that they still paid you for your time!

I'm happy for you bro! Seems like Instacart is working out for you (for the most part lol), and I'm glad to see that you're staying positive through some of the unfortunate events that have happened! (Like your car!) Keep it up brother! 💚

You'd think these roads would have very obvious signage, but nope. One was slightly hidden behind a tree branch.

I usually don't fuck up this badly, but yea it happens sometimes. I'm glad I wasn't in trouble for it. The girl on the phone that helped sort it all out was a saint.

As long as I can drive, this job will continue to get better.

What a shame to that lady who doesn't want to return the groceries!
Yes , her excuse was not that valid and obviously wanted to take advantage of the situation.
What happened to you earlier was one of the common human errors as they.

Now, I am curious, was it possible not to entertain that lady order next time?

I have no way of knowing who my customer will be until I accept the order. You do have the option of canceling the order after you accept, but too many of those look bad on your profile.

Oh, so there would be a chance that you will be catering her services again.

Yes and I really hope it never happens. If it does, at least now I will find her house no problem.

yay nice, old lady..

BOO for covid ppl!

:P

i woulda made that wrong turn too.. it's pretty bad..

The few lingering COVID people should be forced to drink their own piss daily until they wake up.

🤣😉