Shoppers don’t know what’s in the batch until they hit accept. This can make for some uncomfortable surprises … like sex toys. There was nothing like that this time, but he was frustrated to find that he had to return to the makeup area about 10 times to get someone to unlock a desired item for him. And that the customer kept adding items as he shopped. By the end he had two carts, overflowing with organizational containers. Checkout took 20 minutes.
On the challenging end, some customers want to talk … and talk. Sometimes allowing a lonely stranger to share a story feels good, said Jessica Smalley, a shopper in Portland, Maine., another shopper in Southern California, told me. She also once had a man open the door fully clothed, only to undress further each time she brought in a bag. “The last time I went up, he was in his underwear. I got out of there SO quick!” she wrote to me. She reported him to Instacart.