So ... I Inadvertently Just Caught a Thief

 

So this happens all the time when dashing/Uber Eats-ing - somebody picks up your order  already.

In THIS situation, however, it wasn't a mistake.

So a couple of weeks ago, I arrived at the restaurant, they said "Somebody just picked this order up already - Latino guy, about 5'4", black baseball cap, green hoodie, you just passed him on the way in."

Frustrating because you just lost money, but it happens frequently, so I thought he just grabbed the wrong order, which happens a lot actually, there's actually an app button for it when the latter happens.

I questioned how he could've said the name/showed them the app, but I figured the app glitched.

So  I canceled the order and hit the button "Order picked up by other driver by mistake."

Then tonight, different restaurant, same side of town, same thing - and it just so happens they described the same guy exactly!

They normally don't describe the person to me when somebody picks up the order by mistake or on purpose, but it just so happened they did these 2 times - and it was the same guy!

So ... that's not a mistake or a coincidence - that's a scam.

So I call the customer and tell them what happened and the restaurant is remaking their food for them.

Then she says "You know? It's so weird, we could see he was at the restaurant, then all of the sudden he canceled and disappeared."

I said "Okay, NOW I get his game - because it's the same guy, 2 different restaurants described him. So what he's doing is showing the restaurant the app order, picking up the food, but instead of hitting "verify order," he just hits "cancel assignment" - - and boom, he has free food that he either eats himself, sells or gives away, who knows lol. Whatever he's doing, we need to report it"

I asked the customer if she remembered his name. She didn't, but she said when she called to report him, they would see it on her account.

When I dropped off her food, she upped my already generous tip by $10 bucks and gave me another $10 in cash and we were like "Ooooh, we're crimebusters now, we're gonna stop this guy so this doesn't happen to anybody else!" 😂

I swear, I don't even think like this, but some people just go out of their way to figure out how to scam/steal!

Thus, the customer and I just reported him and he's blocked from the app pending further review - and all they'll have to see is he habitually cancels after his car arrived at the restaurants several times - and boom, we're done here - no more thief!

Man, I have a habit of stumbling into some strange shit in life, and I don't know how lol.

__________________

PS - I realize I just told those so inclined how to steal food from Uber Eats by explaining how this guy did it -  but be aware both my complaint and the customer's complaint were escalated  to management and the IT department immediately, and the driver was immediately blocked - it was taken very seriously.

Also, either that bad at math, you're that hungry, or you're just a psychopath who just likes to see what they can get away with - because although gas is expensive, even after you subtract gas, you  still would've made about $22 bucks  in 10 minutes from a 2-mile trip!

Lastly, you can't do this with DoorDash - because DoorDash makes you actually check in at the restaurant as well as verify the food via the app and you can't cancel after you've done that - Uber Eats just has you verify the food only, so you could very easily just not hit verify like this guy did.

And if Uber Eats doesn't take this seriously and follow suit with Door Dash?

Well, they're going to lose money and vendors and customers then and it's on them because they didn't fix it.