Nothing derails a Thanksgiving dinner quite like your entire holiday feast being hand-picked by a man who thinks “fresh produce” means “whatever’s closest.” That’s the exact horror one St. Louis woman documented on TikTok as she dragged her hands down her face to the sound of a viral scream, watching substitution after substitution roll in. Some viewers offer condolences, while others judge her for ordering her Thanksgiving dinner on Instacart in the first place.
Are Male Instacart Shoppers Really That Bad?
As technology advances more and more each day, what once was a hassle can now easily be accomplished. Hungry but too tired to cook? Doordash. Or maybe you want to cook, but you’re too lazy to get all the ingredients. Enter Instacart.
Where convenience soars high by getting commerce directly to your doorstep, it doesn’t always mean you’ll get exactly what you asked for. As more people start using these new technologies, many new phenomena have been recorded. Case in point: male Instacart shoppers. Apparently, this subset of society is particularly bad at getting the tasks done correctly. Instead of finding the correct items, they substitute them with something bizarre instead.
This is exactly what happened to Sophie (@loren.sophiee). Her seven-second TikTok has gathered 341,000 views, quite a feat since the audio is just a viral scream. The video shows Sophie dragging her hands down her face with the text overlay reading: “I just got assigned a male Instacart shopper for my entire Thanksgiving order.” Like icing on the cake, her caption shares: “I’ve already gotten 5 substitutions and he’s not even finished with the produce omg.”
The Mary Sue has covered various other stories with male Instacart shoppers messing up orders. A TikTok went viral when a woman pointed out the three ways you can tell you got a male Instacart shopper for your order. The Mary Sue also covers how widespread this topic is, from X (formerly known as Twitter) to Reddit with r/InstacartShoppers.
@loren.sophiee I’ve already gotten 5 substitutions and he’s not even finished with the produce omg
♬ som original – ✩
Who’s at Fault: Sophie or the Shopper?
Two apparent sides are growing in Sophie’s comments section. From the sympathizers to those who cast judgment. One viewer says, “It’s so hard to feel bad for people who have the privilege of instacart.”
Another states, “Unfortunately you gotta take the blame for this one bestie because no sane person would shop for THANKSGIVING dinner using instacart lol.” Sophie responds, “Lol yes the blame is 50/50 but I know a female shopper would give me better replacements than a man!! I can work with most things!!!.”
One viewer even gets upset on the male shopper’s account. “What exactly makes a man less qualified to read a list and buy your groceries? my car mechanic is a women…. how about we all put sexism aside and treat people as equals.” Sophie then replies, “Take literally 30 seconds and read through the comments.”
On the other hand, there are many viewers who share their own pain with male Instacart shoppers. One says, “17 substitutions on my last Instacart order and it was a male.”
Another shares, “Tell me why a male Instacart shopper once told me a grocery store had no water.”
The Mary Sue reached out to the creator via TikTok direct message.
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