There is an Aldi five minutes from my house.

But, I’m a sucker for a deal.

When I see a 30% off $60 deal on grocery delivery, I take a quick inventory, and decide I do in fact need to spend a little money.

After putting together a pretty healthy list, (ground turkey, grapes, berries, avocados, salmon, eggs, yogurt, and a few other treats) I find that, of course, I need to add one extra banana, and a few sweet potatoes to reach my sixty threshold.

In true modern day fashion, the app compels me to apply a tip.  This tipping before the service is complete action always strikes me as a little bizarre, but on this particular order, becomes quite the sticking point.

Modern apps make it quite easy to place this order, and I sit back to a show, content with the laziness I’ve earned at the cost of a routine grocery outting. The discount alone being quite the incentive.

The app provides timely updates, those the initially promised timeframe of forty minutes is more than doubled.

“Enjoy your delivery!” Flashes on the screen, and as in a few minutes aware from finishing a show, I decide to wait a few minutes before plucking it from the twenty degree external environs.

It didn’t matter how long I waited.

When I opened the door, there was nothing there.

I walk out to the street in futile hope that I might catch the driver, after waiting for ten minutes, so I can question them on the delivery location.  In the waning five pm light though, no one is to be found.

I check the app for the picture of the delivery location, and, predictably, it’s a house I don’t recognize.

There’s an option to contact the driver. Perfect! I call the number, and no one picks up. I leave a message. I wait a few minutes, and try again. Nothing. Once more a few minutes later, and still nothing.

Irritation had been building, and now it swells.  What a simple task to pick up the groceries, check the address, then drop it off, isn’t it? How could this get messed up!  If only the person would have just picked up the phone, they might have picked up the bags and dropped them where they were supposed to!

Uber Eats gives you the option of creating a problem ticket, so I did, and was alerted that I would be refunded in 4-10 business days, great. However, the interesting part is that my tip wasn’t included in the refund!

I create another ticket, and firmly plead my case about the fact that I should receive my tip back, in addition to the funds I paid for the order.  A response is promised as soon as possible.

This was certainly a very bizarre  experience.  Not only do I not get the items I ordered, but there’s a chance I don’t get a refund on a tip provided? It’s bizarre enough to tip in advance for a service that hasn’t yet occurred, but for there to be a chance that you might tip, then have bad service and no opportunity to recoup your tip is even more bizarre. Essentially, I would be paying to lose money.

This is certainly not the only example of tipping, before having to evaluate the product or service. Next time you go to a Starbucks, and wait in the drive through for your drink, do you tip at the digital kiosk, before you get your drink? Imagine the hassle if your order is incorrect, and you drive away? When you go to the cafe near your house, do you put money in the jar before sitting down to enjoy your latte and quiche? What if they make your latte with regular milk, and you are lactose intolerant?

I did end up getting the tip back, but the whole process was quite the first world ordeal.

This is what I get for modern laziness.

Humbly yours,

J