This Instacart Worker May Have Saved A Life By Trusting Her Gut
Before the pandemic, Instacart was a grocery delivery app rising in popularity, but it had not yet turned a profit. In fact, it reportedly lost "$25 million every month" in 2019 (via Business of Apps). The COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020 was a factor in its subsequent growth, leading to $10 million in profit in April 2020 and the hiring of an additional 300,000 in the span of eight weeks (via Bloomberg).
Whether customers weren't home or something prevented them from coming to the door, shoppers were still able to deliver orders when Instacart introduced "Leave at My Door Delivery” for a completely contactless experience in March of 2020 (via Instacart). This feature could also be helpful when ordering food on behalf of someone else, which was the case for a woman who recently arranged to have groceries delivered for her elderly father. The woman instructed the Instacart driver, Jessica Higgs, to leave the groceries on the porch. But in an emotional TikTok video, Higgs shared that she had a feeling she should help the man bring the groceries inside. This is something shoppers have the option to do but are not required to, according to Instacart's community guidelines. It's a good thing she listened to her intuition in this situation because the results were potentially life-saving.
'If you see something, say something'
Instacart worker Jessica Higgs explained on TikTok that she normally doesn't bring groceries into customers' homes. But when she was completing an order recently, she had a feeling this particular customer needed extra assistance. She described feeling dizzy after entering the house and noticed a propane tank. In order to keep the lines of communication open with the elderly man's daughter, she did not formally complete the order and instead messaged her to say that the father looked ill. Higgs also expressed her worry that the propane was leaking.
The daughter replied that she was sending her son to check on her father, and Higgs later received a comment on the order that had her in tears. The customer had changed the tip amount from $14 to $100 and said that the propane tank was in fact leaking. According to the daughter, Higgs saved her dad and younger son's life. Higgs ended the TikTok video feeling grateful that she spoke up. As she declared at the start and end of the clip, "If you see something, say something."
Comments on the video are filled with encouragement. Model Bella Hadid declared, "You are not 'just an instacart worker'!!!!!! U R helping people every single day in ways u probably don't even know. Thank U for being U." Even TikTok itself seemed moved by the video, telling Higgs, "you are amazing [heart emoji] thank you for sharing this with all of us."