A DoorDash driver has one complaint for her customers: Stop asking her to pay for your food.
In a TikTok video with more than 166,000 views, Natasha (@lifebeingnatasha) described a recent situation that left her frustrated. While waiting at a restaurant for an order, the customer sent her a message. In it, they asked her to buy food for their children.
Natasha said she was bewildered, especially because the customer had already spent money on an order. It came with service fees and a delivery charge. “They bought food for themselves and then texted when I was waiting at the restaurant if I can buy the kids food because she only had money for herself,” she later explained in a comment.
Wait, how can she pay for their kids’ food if they’ve already paid for the DoorDash order?
The confusion for viewers came from Natasha’s original description of the exchange. In her video, she wrote, “You’re picking up a DoorDash order and then the customer texts you, ‘hey, I ran out of money to buy my kids food. Can you pay for their food?’”
Some TikTokers thought she was saying the customer’s actual DoorDash order had not been paid for. This isn’t possible on the platform. Natasha clarified that the customer was asking for extra food outside of what had been ordered.
Other similar encounters—from DoorDash drivers and customers.
Other delivery drivers chimed in with similar stories. “Someone asked me to pick up a Gatorade from the gas station on my way to drop off their food and said they’d pay me extra for it,” one commenter shared. “Thinking I’d get a bigger tip and they gave me the $2 for the Gatorade.”
On the flip side, many customers say they’ve had drivers push them for additional money. A 2021 VICE article detailed examples of DoorDashers begging for tips. One Reddit post cited in the story showed a driver sending multiple messages. They were asking for extra payment after an order was delayed.
DoorDash told VICE at the time that “while nothing in our guidelines explicitly prohibits Dashers from asking a customer for a tip, we have a zero tolerance policy for harassment by any member of our community on the DoorDash platform. This includes instances where Dashers harass customers for a tip.”
@lifebeingnatasha What’s your craziest DoorDash experience? #doordash #doordashdriver #dasher #pov #doordasher ♬ original sound – presleytried
By that same logic, drivers argue, customers shouldn’t put them in uncomfortable positions by asking them to cover the cost of additional food.
One commenter offered a tongue-in-cheek suggestion for Natasha. They wrote, “Gotta text them back mid delivery and be like, ‘hey I ran out of gas while delivering, can you gimme some gas money?’”
The Mary Sue has reached out to Natasha via TikTok direct comment and DoorDash via email for more information.
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