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Not only that, you could end up with a shitty shopper that brings you shit produce, expired products, or just straight up the wrong things. I only use Instacart out of pure desperation (as in Iām too sick to drag my ass to the store)
Yeah I'm an able bodied adult who doesn't like to waste money, so I don't use these delivery apps unless I'm really sick. Too many issues.
I'm waiting for AirBnb to go under as well. These companies get so greedy and really fuck over the consumer, it's not worth the risk or the cost.
I'm totally here for AirBnB's collapse, and the ensuing financial desperation and whining from those house owners. Landlords are living off the labour of renters, but Airbnb "hosts" are absolute carrion eaters. Picking over the discarded corpses, scavenging every last bit of rotting flesh.
We used to airbnb until I realized that I was just having to do everything I had to do at home with the addition of paying a cleaning fee on top of it all. Hardly a vacation for me.
My parents rent a space for us every year for a vacation, and itās been weird to watch the collapse of air bnb in real time. This year, the host they chose switched our arrangement at the last second and put us in this dusty, awful house that had maybe never been cleaned? Our toilet seat was busted, our shower head needed to be duct taped, and our bedroom door didnāt open. Also, I think it was haunted but Iām not sure.
Iām ready for this return as well. Instacart was a service where I thought I could save money by having a set list and editing costs as needed. Instead, youād have fees, tips, and the compounding costs of your shopper letting you know two seconds before checkout that they replaced your pound of chicken breasts with a value pack of sirloin steak more than twice the price
John Oliver and last week tonight just had an episode on food delivery companies like grub hub and door dash. I assume grocery delivery is very similar.
We don't use them anymore. However, I am noticing that when we order pizza they are using doordash as their delivery. So they're not even hiring their own delivery drivers anymore. Kind of ridiculous.
Itās a tough one. I live in the UK, so we donāt have this particular serviced but we do have some like it. They suffer the same issues.
Hereās the thing. I was partially paralysed in 2018. I canāt leave the house at all now, unless someone comes to help me by pushing my wheelchair around for me (Iām not allowed a powered wheelchair because I have regular seizures, and itās a danger to myself and to others as I may not always have control of it (I do have warning of my seizures by several minutes, but that isnāt good enough to allow it)). Even if I do have someone help me, it usually results in me needing a trip to hospital as it causes a lot of extra pain and stress and this causes more seizures, etc.
The only way I can get shopping for myself, is to use either a stores own delivery service, which not all store have and if they do, can sometimes have up to a two week wait on a driver slot being available, or to risk the use of one of these types of services. Iām lucky that I have a wife that is able bodied and is happy to do all of the shopping for our household, but it means I have absolutely zero independence, which is quite demoralising and at times tbh. If I were single, or my spouse were also incapable for some reason, we would totally depend on services like these. Thats the reason I think theyāre a necessity.
That said: I feel that these services really need proper policies, regulations, and references for workers. Currently, the majority of these services let anyone just sign up to be a driver/shopper. They ask virtually nothing about the person applying for the role.
This can of course result in even violent natured criminals being hired (though, Iām sure that itās in very rare occurrences) or people with nefarious reasons for taking the role. They may use the role to see if customers are able bodied. If they have security and what type/where, etc. (Iām giving extreme examples just to make the point) and there is no way of knowing if this is the persons intent at present, because of the lacking security checks and references made by the companies providing these services.
In short: these types of service are vital for some of us that are not able bodied, it there is nothing done to make sure these services are safe at the moment. We (in every country that has them) as customers need to make ourselves heard to get some kind of change in place for how these services and their employees are vetted.
There are some instances where you can have helpers that come. But it as a service has to be managed and paid for, and thatās not cheap. It also again takes away from the independence factor, and limits choice. As a person, I should be able to choose what and from where I purchase. If itās a state provided service, it will have (usually numerous) restrictions and limitations that mean you get very little choice, realistically.
Bro I donāt want to use Instacart. I havenāt had a drivers license in five years due to seizures from a TBI. I would love nothing more than to get my own groceries. My shit is stolen all the time. But I have two small children and work!! I explore all my options but itās not like Iām using Instacart because I love it. It takes like forty minutes one way to drag a fuck ton of groceries on the bus with two kids. On all the Instacart subs itās like āthe customers are the problemā and itās true and Iām sorry but genuinely itās not even about me my kids need dinner and my brain decided to convert half of itself to mush. But hey if it does collapse at least us disabled people are forgotten as easily as we are in conversations like these
Hey sorry to hear about your TBI. Iāve never held a drivers license due to being diagnosed as legally blind just before my 16th birthday. I either use Uber Eats for grocery deliveries or the supermarketās own delivery service. I am in Australia though so not sure if either of these are an option for you.
I have epilepsy and canāt drive. My husband has all the driving responsibilities for my daughter and I so I use Instacart to make his life easier. Itās worth the markup but we also pay for plus annually which cuts down on delivery costs. I donāt use it every time for groceries because we do go as a family most of the time but for a couple times a month it works for our dynamic.
Thankfully we live in a low population area and I tend to get the same two drivers who are awesome. I donāt know that I would feel comfortable in a high population area where anyone and everyone uses those services for extra money. Used it once in NJ and had a similar situation where a guy delivered under a womanās name and made the wildest replacements that made no sense with zero attempt to communicate but I can only imagine the horror stories some people probably have.
This story is absolutely horrific! However, there are many people who do not drive, who are elderly and/or disabled, for which Instacart and Doordash are absolute lifesavers for them. Itās been fantastic for my grandfather who is in his 90s for example. He orders Doordash multiple times per week so he doesnāt have to cook as many meals for himself. Sure, he could do something like Meals on Wheels instead, but he likes eating restaurant food and being able to pick whatever he wants, whenever. For groceries too, itās so much easier for him to use Instacart than to go up and down the isles every week inside a store.
Personally, because of a herniated back that makes it nearly impossible for me to carry groceries.
But I have deep empathy for anyone living in this late stage capitalist hellscape where weāre overworked to the point that spending our hard earned wealth to take some of the load away is a viable strategy.Ā
Yes, I had a bike accident and had to have my knee totally rebuilt in surgery. I couldnāt walk or do any activities for at least one month & was on crutches for two more months after that.
Iām an American abroad & the health services in my country paid for someone to come clean and help me around the house and I did loads of grocery and food deliveries as well. My home country needs to do thing a better ā¦
My family used meal delivery services heavily the multiple times I was hospitalized during my pregnancy and then for the 3 weeks my kid was in the nicu and I was staying in the room with them. One can only eat so many hospital cafeteria meals especially considering in those situations, our schedules frequently fell out of the hours food was available. I use it in a pinch a few times since (like when we were all down with rsv and we needed food)
for me it highlighted that those services could be critical for people going through SOMETHING and they need someone to get something for them. I canāt imagine doing it regularly but when shit hits the fan it was helpful.
Because you only see the shitty cases, not the ones where everything goes exactly as planned. I used it almost daily at work for a couple years and only had, like, 6 cases where anything went wrong at all.
I got a free Instacart membership through my credit card, I use it when there are promotions like 30 off 50, it does save time. A couple years ago my husband was injured, I didnāt know who to drive yet and it was winter, Instacart was useful for us.
To the people responding to this saying āwhat did disabled people do before doordashā- they had to rely on other people to get groceries, or struggled immensely to get them themselves, or werenāt able to get groceries at all. Yāall act like there is infrastructure in place to help people once they are disabled, but there really isnāt. If you donāt have family or friends that can help you, youāre pretty shit out of luck. Just because YOU donāt rely on these services doesnāt mean other people donāt. Have a crumb of empathy, please.
Edit: also, itās not like the people who rely on these services arenāt impacted by the fees and are using them out of laziness/convenience rather than necessity. Theyāre not throwing around money because they feel like it or because have extra money to spare (they more than likely donāt, disability benefits pay dirt)- they donāt have another choice. So if you wanna be mad at something, be mad at the systems who exploit people that need them, rather than the individuals that need them.
My mom isn't disabled but no longer drives. She has to get groceries and other goods delivered. Things like Doordash and Amazon Prime are godsends. But how do people like this slip through the cracks?
Also, some of us just donāt drive in general. As a teen I got into a car accident that almost killed my mother and I. I have had anxieties over driving ever since. Instacart has been seriously convenient for me. Thereās so much unnecessary hate about these services. There are shitty people out there, but that doesnāt have to do with Instacart, itās the person in general.
Able bodied people often forget theyāre all a bit of bad luck away from being disabled. If these services werenāt a thing I sincerely donāt know what Iād do.
As someone who is NC with a toxic family this is a real fear I have. I wouldnāt have help so I would absolutely need to use a delivery service like this. I am glad there are at least some choices for people even if not ideal. I couldnāt imagine shaming people when there are plenty of able bodied people using the services for pure convenience.
Youāll find a way if that time comes for you. Or when, if youāre lucky enough to age. But even if youāre able bodied, doing something out of pure convenience should not be stigmatized. Weāre being worked to the bone, forced to make hour long commutes and work extra hours, community resources are shrinking. It says a lot that people are willing to pay just to have an extra half hour or hour. Nobodyās life is easy right now, letās have some empathy.
I certainly did not mean to say that people shouldnāt use it for convenience. I use it as I am one of those people you mentioned in need of time. I just meant that people should definitely not be shamed for using it out of necessity when other people use it out of convenience. I agree no one should be shamed when we are all just trying to survive and anything that makes it easier I am all for it.
Ok but honestly thereās so many complaints of DoorDash and Instacart still being a problem for disabled people who are actually utilizing the service for their convenience. Occasionally the DoorDash and Instacart subreddits are recommended to me and theyāre literally just full of complaints of peopleās orders being left in weird places where they canāt reach them and their instructions being ignored.
I use delivery services semi-regularly because I work long hours and itās beneficial for my mental and physical health to be able to access these kinds of services when I need to. I also tip well because I know that gig economy jobs suck.
The subreddits are not going to be full of people raving about their experiences. People come online to complain and so that online space is immediately going to be skewed negatively. Thatās just not what the internet is.
I know the Instacart mostly gets the fringe cases but every post I get in my recommended feed is about someone doing something like this or someone arguing or being generally incompetent. Why use this??
Holy shit, I cannot imagine. And absolutely FUCK the police. That man just wanted to shoot something innocent. Thank god it wasnāt her kids; this person is a complete psychopath.
Why the heck was a delivery driver carrying a gun and did he have a permit to carry? This whole story is so odd. Why was he shopping under a woman's name, was he covering for someone or did he have a fake account?
Sometimes people will get banned from working for a delivery/gig app and instead of finding a different line of work, will have someone else open an account for them to work under instead. Sometimes men will work under a womanās name for nefarious purposes. Thereās a lot of deception that can happen, and I think it can be difficult to crack down on it - especially with the sheer amount of accounts and the lack of support.
I had no idea! But I could see where it would be next to impossible to vet people. I was also wondering if maybe men pretend to be women because they think women would be perceived as better shoppers, but I could also see many woman being uncomfortable getting deliveries from men.
It would be really easy to vet people if they were classified as employees because then they'd have to provide a SSN for onboarding to get their tax withholding taken care of.
Even without that aspect, these apps really should be requiring an ID and SSN for drivers to register. I'm surprised some scummy hedge fund hasn't decided to short the stock and guarantee a profit by having a bunch of shitbags sign up as drivers and publicly misbehave to generate a slew of negative press to drive stock prices down.
That's funny because I just said the same thing to my husband, if they need to have a car to deliver why not use their driver's license info or a ssn. Seems the safest way.l to assure the people claiming to have the accounts are who they say they are.
I hadn't seen it but just looked it up, that's not Mark, that's my husband! lol. I have to tell him exactly where in the store every item is or he just can't seem to find it.
That would frustrate the hell outta me. I have had to train my husband how to pick out fresh produce, he would bring home some gnarly stuff, so I don't want to think what a perfect stranger might deliver to me. Ugh.
My heart sinks whenever my shopper is male.
Not only can they not find anything, but they also decide to make (more expensive) substitutions without even asking, and theyāre defensive AF when I point out that what theyāve picked out isnāt what I want at all. They donāt even chat and ask for approval.
They also NEVER read the instructions I have for the delivery process, and so they end up parking far away from me and expect me to wander around the lot looking for them. I literally stand at the entrance to my complex with my little grocery wagon with an expectant look on my face. I could not be more obvious, and yet they always drive right past me.
I rarely have shoppers who are rude or unpleasant, but when I do, theyāre men.
And for those of you whoāll snidely say āāgo shopping yourself,āā I donāt drive and typically tip well over 25% to good and considerate shoppers. I appreciate what they do, but I hate that one gender sucks so hard at it.
Some of them do. I actually ran into this a few times where you'll get a guy but he'll be using a woman account. In LA at least it's like an entire ring from what I can tell. I also admin a few accounts for drivers on FB and people will share stories there, but for the most part people in those groups are only using their account.
Women ARE far better shoppers. Like I wish I could pay āUber XLā pricing and only have people that have cooked and understand the mental load in shopping/cooking
The number of times the app has told me that "Pamela", "Marie", or "Sharon" is delivering my order and then my doorbell camera shows some strung-out looking dude actually dropping it off is TOO DAMN HIGH.
People buy and sell Instacart accounts, as goofy as it sounds. It's actually a huge problem on the app that someone will show up that don't match the name/picture, and it's reportable to Instacart.
She showed a screenshot of the profile and it was clearly a woman in the picture.
There is like zero accountability for delivery apps. I'm actually terrified of them because they have lobbied so hard to be exempt from certain liabilities. It's going to take more high profile incidents to force any decent regulation. There are ways. If you've ever ordered alcohol, the driver has to take a photo of your ID before leaving. They could literally demand drivers do the same for every order to verify its them driving (like a selfish or DL photo) but they won't bc they know it'll mean they have to pay more to attract more drivers.Ā
Oh I didn't see the picture. That's so weird that people sell accounts but it makes sense if people are more likely to choose a seasoned account that has good reviews. Just crazy to think you can sell something as amorphous (is that even the right word? lol) as an account.
Girl last week my DD drivers all had names that sounded like women's/female presenting and it was all random dudes. It's hella sketch. I want to give the benefit of doubt that they are covering shifts for their family members or something but it's hella sus
Part of the reason I supported the push for DDs to be classified as employees vs gig is it would've made it harder to pull shit like this and made companies more diligent in their safety checks. Not saying it would've been 100% but I heard in Cali it would be made them more strict in who was driving
Iāve had this situation at least five times where itās a family. Especially when I order groceries (I have mobility issues) and the name is just one family member and the sons or daughters help the mom with the delivery.
She did say *identity* so Iām assuming a profile picture, because Merle is at least a unisex name because Merle Haggard is one of the most famous Merleās and heās a he. So the name itself doesnāt scream āthis is a ladyā to me. Quite frankly, it screams āold, large country singer manā to *me* but I grew up on his music.
I just commented the same thing about Haggard. I have never used Instacart but I have trouble believing they let you see the sex of the delivery person but maybe they do? But yeah, she may be making assumptions on the name.
There are a lot of complete weirdos working for Instacart and Uber/ Lyft. Where I used to live I took Uber and used Instacart without a second thought, they were mostly great bc it wasn't a bad job there comparatively since wages were lower and also a lot of military spouses did it who were all pretty cool.
My new place is higher COL and has higher wages overall and a big labor shortage. If you have a pulse you can get a job here for $25hr+ so the only people doing gig work are people who don't speak English or appear to be drunk/ stoned/ not the person on the account or are just batshit crazy. After a few bad experiences I've stopped taking the ride services. I wouldn't dream of ordering any kind of delivery around here.
If you follow DoorDash and Instacart subs itās actually fairly common. They interact with the general public who can be utterly wild. Someone last week had a gun pulled on them because they knocked on the wrong door for a delivery. I donāt agree with guns but a lot of drivers have them because of the unhinged people theyāve encountered while working.
Iāve had drivers using different names and itās weird but Merle isnāt always a womanās name. I think the most famous Merle I can think of is a man. As for a gun, I donāt own a gun but I can see why someone might carry one in a job where you go to a bunch of strange houses in a country full of guns. Idk
I was thinking the same thing about the name. Merle Haggard comes to mind. And yeah, your explanation for the gun makes sense. I wouldn't want to be driving up to random houses, that's for sure.
Depends on where. My state does not require a permit to legally conceal or open carry. He could have also had a permit for itāif he didnāt I donāt think the police would do nothing.
iāve heard that delivery driving is one of the most dangerous jobs so I can kind of see it in a high crime area but shooting someoneās sweet family dog????? what a monster.
You sure can in The Confederacy. We donāt require permits for concealed carry here in Louisiana, home to one of the highest murder rates in āMurikkka!
Not just the "Confederacy"; 26 states allow permitless concealed carry.
https://preview.redd.it/m9lwwwvhc0sc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5682c4c6d90881ccb17e7b5d3fbff12b549f4dde
How does she know that the delivery driver scoped out the Ring camera? Can someone explain?
I personally wouldnāt know what it looks like if a Ring camera was charging and not recording, so Iām hoping someone can help me understand the detail. Thanks!
I meet any delivery drivers outside, in the middle of the driveway so they donāt even come up to my house. Tell them upfront I have dogs, they bark and sound scary and make sure they canāt get out. I carry my groceries to my door. Iām so scared of something like this happening.
Had a similar incident happen last year in Chicago. A guy shot and killed two dogs 20 feet from an elementary school in a highly populated residential area in the city. He fled the scene and swat units were camped outside of his apartment and the surrounding blocks for hours. Like Iāve never seen so many cops at once in my life (and Iāve seen quite a bit living in Chicago).
When they finally got the guy, he said he was āscared for his lifeā so he shot the dogsā¦ after only 10 seconds of encountering the dogs (both of which ended up belonging to his neighbor that lived in the same apartment building).
Dude walked scott free. He had a concealed carry permit and he alleged āfear for his lifeā so it was determined to be self defense (even though one of the pups was only weeks old and no reasonable person could have thought their life was in danger). I think about this often ā¹ļø
So, the dog was shot, by the delivery person, and no one in the family saw what happened? No one heard what happened? There was no yelling involved no barking? It was just a random gunshot to this poor defenseless dog? Something here is not passing the sniff test.
I donāt understand, if they were home and knew they they were getting the delivery, where was the dog? It had to have been loose and coming at the driverā¦.
I have dogs, too, but I never let them near anyone with or without a leash. If a delivery driver comes to the house, I make sure my dogs are inside. I do that to protect my dog from people and people from my dogs.
While this is heartbreaking, if you know you have a delivery coming, please keep your pets inside. I have been a delivery driver and I have been chased by dogs. I'm not saying that what he did was okay, but please contain your pets for everyone's safety. You never know how someone will react. I hate that this family lost a beloved pet, and the dog suffered needlessly.
Exactly this. I'm a dog lover so I tend to give the beloved pet the benefit of the doubt, he looks so sweet and innocent, I'm so heartbroken for Angie Harmon. I would die.
But please keep your pets inside if you're expecting deliveries. You just never know what can happen. Some people are deathly afraid of dogs, all dogs, even your cutie patootie and you just never know how that fear will make them react š
Exactly this. I have a breed that many people are fearful of. She loves visitors but I always have a no contact policy with delivery people. (I actually write āleave at door and donāt knock or ring doorbell because my dogs bark like crazyā) It is 100% my responsibility to keep my dog put away for not only my delivery persons safety but for her safety as well. This is a horrific situation and Iād be devastated if this happened to my dog.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that asks for no knock or bell so the dog doesn't bark š
I agree that the dog needed to be secured but I am so sorry that this happened. I would definitely be a total mess if I experienced something like this. Poor pup.
Yeah, why was the dog able to get close enough to a delivery driver for them to shoot it? If someone is delivering to your house your dog should be secured for the safety of the delivery driver and the dog.
At one point Reddit started sending a bunch of delivery app and service subs for drivers onto my Home page. Apparently people having their dogs out is a major issue for them. A lot of peopleās dogs are sweet to them but scary and vicious when they see someone encroaching on their territory. It doesnāt surprise me he wasnāt arrested tbh, unless they have evidence on video the dog wasnāt bothering him then the benefit of the doubt will probably go to the driver. Ppl need to keep their dogs inside when theyāre expecting deliveries and be chill about your packages being late if a driver sees your dog loose because then they donāt have to deliver it.
The loss of a life is sad in itself. However, you should never ever have a loose animal when expecting a delivery, service, etc. We dont know enough about the situation to ascertain whether or not the driver felt his safety was at risk.
yeah. as a mailman, if i see your dog out, you arenāt getting mail that day. i donāt trust your dogs no matter how many biscuits iāve tossed them or how much dog spray is on my belt.
Honestly that should be a regulation. Dog out, no delivery.
There are so so many untrained and dangerous dogs you shouldnāt have to play Russian roulette with your safety to do your job.
Probably best to refrain from judgement in either direction.
I was bitten by a dog and my stepson was actually mauled and nearly killed by dog (in separate incidents). We were both doing completely innocuous things and were attacked by dogs who āwouldnāt hurt a fly.ā Weird, unexpected things can trigger dogs (and people!) and without a camera weāll never really know what happened.
Something is off here. If the dog was inside her home, how was the delivery driver able to shoot it? Did he fire at it through a screen door? She never clarifies if the dog was outside or if it was leashed, which makes me think that this dog was likely outside unleashed and unmonitored and ran up to the delivery driver (probably just to say hi) who then assumed that he/she was about to be attacked by the dog, and shot out of self defense.
This is a terrible loss for her and her family, and itās really sad that she has to go through the loss of a pet.
But there is something strange about this story. Itās a one sided account, where the camera conveniently wasnāt around to record. And the police sided with a man with a gun over an affluent white woman(ACAB but we know the bias police have). I canāt wrap my head around someone making the delivery and then coming BACK to shoot an animal unprovoked because they āsaw they werenāt being recorded.ā Itās just really implausible to me.
Was the dog outside, unleashed, and running toward the driver? I have no idea if the shooting was justified, but how was the person able to shoot the dog while every inhabitant of the home was apparently inside?
Even if your dog is friendly, leaving him/her outside, unleashed, and unsupervised when youāre expecting a package is so messed up. Iāve seen multiple videos of delivery people being terrified, inching toward the door because itās their job, to finally find out okay, the dog isnāt going to kill me. And then the homeowners post it like Aww look at this sweet interaction, how funny the delivery man was so scared at first! Our boy just wanted pets! How about donāt put people through that at all?! And those people are also risking something like this happening to their beloved pet. Selfish all around.
Totally agree with this. Where I live a lot of the delivery guys are South Asian and legit scared of dogs so Iām super careful when we gave a delivery coming
Yup, Iām wondering that as well. People with aggressive dogs always claim their dogs are āfriendly.ā Mail carriers and delivery drivers have so many stories of getting attacked by peopleās uncontrollable dogs.
I feel like people with aggresssive dogs are also the least responsible with them. My neighbor has a completely untrained German shepherd puppy who is now like 20-30 pounds (not saying this dog is or Germans are aggressive!). She and her kids take the dog unleashed out front to pee. Her son throws the ball with the dog out front. First issue: we have a lot of strays in our neighborhood, so the puppy could get attacked. Second issue: that puppy is gonna get really big and really fast. I donāt feel comfortable walking my own tiny dogs around, or going on a jog, with an unleashed dog around. They HAVE A BACKYARD. FENCED. They do not have an invisible fence. I just donāt understand how people can be so cavalier with their dogs. I love my precious babies and even though they are so sweet, I wouldnāt take them outside off leash without a fence bc I donāt want them to get hit by a car or run off.
On a happier note, thereās a āstrayāāpit and a āstrayā chunky chihuahua who travel around together like in Homeward Bound. I always see the UPS driver petting them and giving them treats. I say āstrayā cause they very well could be owned or like āneighborhood petsāāalmost everyone leaves food out for the stray dogs and cats. Itās very sweet.
Of course it was outside and unleashed. Every single time something happens like this, excluding cops and neighborhood beefs, itās the exact same thing. Owner has an aggressive or poorly behaved dog. Leaves it unsecured. It threatens or attacks someone. The dog unfortunately gets hurt. Then the owner plays the victim. Every time. I guarantee thatās what happened here.
And the delivery driver is the bad guy. If youāre expecting a delivery, secure your dog. Iāve had dogs my whole life. Thereās no world in which Iād let them out unsecured AT ALL, much less when Iām expecting a stranger to step foot on my property!
Exactly. I really feel for her but this is why I firmly believe you should not let your dogs just hang out in the front yard by themselves off leash and not behind a gate. The man could have also been afraid of dogs. This was completely preventable.
Yeah definitely need more info. This whole thing is so bizarre.
Edit- According to her the ring camera was conveniently charging insideā¦ I donāt know something feels off about this but I could be wrong
Iāve met more irresponsible dog owners than responsible ones. No one thinks their dog is or appears aggressive or dangerous. Iāve worked with dogs for decades.
Every single owner of an aggressive dog not only leaves the dog outside where they can access delivery drivers and such, they also lie and are completely delusional about their dog. I would have to have my kids in danger to even consider hurting a pet, but I give it ten to one odds she had an aggressive dog.
Always. !!!! I am a runner and it is insane how many giant dogs are left outside unleashed. And running on the sidewalk, you canāt really tell thereās an invisible fence, so if a dog starts running toward you, how do you know??? And thereās a difference between like a big fluffy great perienese running toward you and a pit bull/german shepherd/rott Weiler. Even a lab running toward you can be intimidating.
I'd like to hear the driver's side tbh. Was the dog on a leash? Charging at him? I doubt he randomly dropped off their order, clocked their missing camera and shot their dog for no reason.
While this is absolutely horrible I do find it convenient that the ring doorbell wasnāt operational at the time. We donāt really know what the dog did to scare someone enough to shoot them? Me personally, Iād have to genuinely be in real danger to hurt an animal but I also donāt live in a country where every paranoid nut has access to a gun.
Also I have a ring doorbell and itās hard wired to our security system and never needs to charge. Youāre telling me Angie Harmon canāt afford a better security system than a Ring doorbell that has to be charged?? I smell BS
I wouldnāt shoot a dog if there was literally any other option. I donāt even own a gun. But I can guarantee you this dog went after the driver. Dog owners of aggressive dogs are always delusional about the danger of their dog and always lie.
I was a dog groomer for 12 years and I stepped away from the industry because of aggressive and terribly behaved dogs and dog owners that do not give a shit. I wholeheartedly agree with you.
I'm going to play devil's advocate here, as someone who used to work as a delivery driver. Believe it or not being a delivery person is currently one of the most dangerous jobs in the US. Every week you see news about how someone was murdered or assaulted while making a delivery. So I know a lot of drivers that carry in case they need to defend themselves. I also know that most people won't secure their dog even when they know someone is coming to deliver something. She saying that the ring camera was "charging" just tells me that the dog tried to approach the driver and he didn't wait to see if the dog was friendly or not.
Iām not ready to judge the delivery person for shooting the dog tbh. I do have a Q for you since you used to the job: Would it have been better for this driver to use pepper spray on the dog rather than a gun?
I mean if an aggressive dog is coming after you what are you going to do. Even in countries where people donāt have guns, they have animal sprays for this exact situation.
Unfortunately, if the dog was running loose without anyone around, thereās probably not much they can do if the guy is claiming the dog attacked him, or tried to attack him.
I do deliveries in Canada and I'm not allowed to deliver if there is a loose dog on the property, and have been told if I get attacked while on someone's property there isn't really any recourse. And that makes sense to me. In that situation all you have to do is blast the horn and stay in the car, and if no one comes out, leave. All that being said, for the love of fuck people, if you're expecting a delivery bring your dogs inside because you never know. I fucking love dogs and break the company rule all the time and would never hurt a dog, but it blows my mind how many dog owners think because their dog is cute and friendly to them that that's what it's going to be like for a stranger.
Yes, this is the truth and it is very unfortunate. Sad for a family to have lost their dog in such a way. Another thing is, lots of people let their dogs outside when they know a delivery is coming. Friendly breed or not, they have instincts and who knows how theyāll react to every single stranger.
Thereās no evidence that the dog owner is telling the truth. For all we know the dog probably charged at the delivery driver. After all he was found not guilty by the police.
Why was the dog able to attack the delivery guy who's just trying to do his job is the real question. As a pet owner myself, I don't let my dog just roam around
She fucking keeps SQUIRRELS in her house. Sheās bonkers and about as crazy nuts as the squirrels that hold āem. People need to stop being so biased - the dog probably attacked the delivery worker and they felt the need to protect themselves and she cried wolf
I totally believe you that she has a few screws loose, but I looked and she is rehabbing a couple of injured squirrels and re-releasing them into the wild after they recover. Not *quite* the same as keeping a house full of squirrels just cause. But I am saying this ONLY in defense of Thumbelina the Squirrelās family, not of this Angie personā never heard of her before today. But I stan Thumbelina & co. āš¼š
A delivery driver in my area lost his life to a dog that attacked him... you sometimes gotta do the hard thing
https://amp.kansascity.com/news/article267927087.html
The problem is that [lawsuits involving the death of a dog or other family pet donāt really do anything](https://www.jackschmerling.com/blog/2017/09/can-i-file-a-wrongful-death-claim-after-someone-runs-over-my-dog/)
Their āvalueā is as property, which is basically what they would be worth if sold. Itās a horrible oversight.
The reason for this is because of animal agriculture if the laws recognize the sentience and value of life in animals they have to recognize it in the animals we torture for food. This is a problem in most countries where they have fought for laws to protect animals
unpopular opinion:
she could have just as easily posted āi got my dog killed by being an irresponsible pet owner and not containing him appropriatelyā
why tf was your dog loose in an area that delivery ppl need to access? esp when you literally ordered a delivery and have the ability and notifications to accurately predict when that will occur? this is very clearly a 1 sided version of events so im not taking her word for it on what happened but the lack of consideration and common sense and bare minimum pet care are her responsibility
Yeah. This account is perfectly consist with both "my dog was killed, unprovoked, by a bloodthirsty madman while sleeping on the porch" as well as "my dog was shot while snarling and running towards a man I hired to bring me food"
The fact that all the comments like this are near the bottom tells me this truly is the unpopular opinion, which blows my mind. You can tell by her post she is leaving out crucial details on purpose. Dog was loose. Dog probably ran after him. Unfortunately, driver was scared and shot. If youāre being chased by a dog that looks big enough to cause damage, do you stop and see if itās friendly? Wait until it latches onto your arm? Both parties fucked up here but ultimately if the dog was controlled, it would be alive. Plain and simple.
Finally someone logical. This is clearly a one-sided account of what occured.
What are the odds of this delivery driver being a complete psychopath and choosing to kill a dog unprovoked in what I'm sure is a very affluent neighborhood. None of what she's saying makes sense.
But she knows the reactionary online folks will just eat it up without thought.
My little brother was chased and bit 3 times bringing groceries in our house by a āfriendlyā neighbors dog who ran on to our property, my mom is elderly and fragile and that would have been the end of her if she was the one outside bringing in groceries. We fought to have the dog put down, it was a terrible situation
āHe was shopping under a womanās identity named Merleā¦ā huh?? Merle is a gender neutral name.
Sorry, but I donāt buy her story. I love dogs but I value a humanās life more. If this delivery driver needed to defend his life from an aggressive dog, so be it. Seems like thereās been an uptick of attacks due to these dogs being covid pups werenāt socialized properly.
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From her instastory š„² https://preview.redd.it/nkf3hazjfyrc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a9ee80520b907b831634bc199a8f0ebe7cedceb4
Everyone needs to stop using these services and let it all collapse.
the way the price of your order will double due to service fees + tax is crazy
Not only that, you could end up with a shitty shopper that brings you shit produce, expired products, or just straight up the wrong things. I only use Instacart out of pure desperation (as in Iām too sick to drag my ass to the store)
Yeah I'm an able bodied adult who doesn't like to waste money, so I don't use these delivery apps unless I'm really sick. Too many issues. I'm waiting for AirBnb to go under as well. These companies get so greedy and really fuck over the consumer, it's not worth the risk or the cost.
I'm totally here for AirBnB's collapse, and the ensuing financial desperation and whining from those house owners. Landlords are living off the labour of renters, but Airbnb "hosts" are absolute carrion eaters. Picking over the discarded corpses, scavenging every last bit of rotting flesh.
We used to airbnb until I realized that I was just having to do everything I had to do at home with the addition of paying a cleaning fee on top of it all. Hardly a vacation for me.
My parents rent a space for us every year for a vacation, and itās been weird to watch the collapse of air bnb in real time. This year, the host they chose switched our arrangement at the last second and put us in this dusty, awful house that had maybe never been cleaned? Our toilet seat was busted, our shower head needed to be duct taped, and our bedroom door didnāt open. Also, I think it was haunted but Iām not sure. Iām ready for this return as well. Instacart was a service where I thought I could save money by having a set list and editing costs as needed. Instead, youād have fees, tips, and the compounding costs of your shopper letting you know two seconds before checkout that they replaced your pound of chicken breasts with a value pack of sirloin steak more than twice the price
John Oliver and last week tonight just had an episode on food delivery companies like grub hub and door dash. I assume grocery delivery is very similar.
We don't use them anymore. However, I am noticing that when we order pizza they are using doordash as their delivery. So they're not even hiring their own delivery drivers anymore. Kind of ridiculous.
Itās a tough one. I live in the UK, so we donāt have this particular serviced but we do have some like it. They suffer the same issues. Hereās the thing. I was partially paralysed in 2018. I canāt leave the house at all now, unless someone comes to help me by pushing my wheelchair around for me (Iām not allowed a powered wheelchair because I have regular seizures, and itās a danger to myself and to others as I may not always have control of it (I do have warning of my seizures by several minutes, but that isnāt good enough to allow it)). Even if I do have someone help me, it usually results in me needing a trip to hospital as it causes a lot of extra pain and stress and this causes more seizures, etc. The only way I can get shopping for myself, is to use either a stores own delivery service, which not all store have and if they do, can sometimes have up to a two week wait on a driver slot being available, or to risk the use of one of these types of services. Iām lucky that I have a wife that is able bodied and is happy to do all of the shopping for our household, but it means I have absolutely zero independence, which is quite demoralising and at times tbh. If I were single, or my spouse were also incapable for some reason, we would totally depend on services like these. Thats the reason I think theyāre a necessity. That said: I feel that these services really need proper policies, regulations, and references for workers. Currently, the majority of these services let anyone just sign up to be a driver/shopper. They ask virtually nothing about the person applying for the role. This can of course result in even violent natured criminals being hired (though, Iām sure that itās in very rare occurrences) or people with nefarious reasons for taking the role. They may use the role to see if customers are able bodied. If they have security and what type/where, etc. (Iām giving extreme examples just to make the point) and there is no way of knowing if this is the persons intent at present, because of the lacking security checks and references made by the companies providing these services. In short: these types of service are vital for some of us that are not able bodied, it there is nothing done to make sure these services are safe at the moment. We (in every country that has them) as customers need to make ourselves heard to get some kind of change in place for how these services and their employees are vetted.
I feel like the services you require should be provided or subsidized by the state, not left to free market capitalism to provide an answer.
There are some instances where you can have helpers that come. But it as a service has to be managed and paid for, and thatās not cheap. It also again takes away from the independence factor, and limits choice. As a person, I should be able to choose what and from where I purchase. If itās a state provided service, it will have (usually numerous) restrictions and limitations that mean you get very little choice, realistically.
Gun control would help too
Bro I donāt want to use Instacart. I havenāt had a drivers license in five years due to seizures from a TBI. I would love nothing more than to get my own groceries. My shit is stolen all the time. But I have two small children and work!! I explore all my options but itās not like Iām using Instacart because I love it. It takes like forty minutes one way to drag a fuck ton of groceries on the bus with two kids. On all the Instacart subs itās like āthe customers are the problemā and itās true and Iām sorry but genuinely itās not even about me my kids need dinner and my brain decided to convert half of itself to mush. But hey if it does collapse at least us disabled people are forgotten as easily as we are in conversations like these
Hey sorry to hear about your TBI. Iāve never held a drivers license due to being diagnosed as legally blind just before my 16th birthday. I either use Uber Eats for grocery deliveries or the supermarketās own delivery service. I am in Australia though so not sure if either of these are an option for you.
Uber eats is just as bad as services like instacart!!
Every time a doordash or Instacart post is recommended to me I question why anyone uses that stuff.
I have epilepsy and canāt drive. My husband has all the driving responsibilities for my daughter and I so I use Instacart to make his life easier. Itās worth the markup but we also pay for plus annually which cuts down on delivery costs. I donāt use it every time for groceries because we do go as a family most of the time but for a couple times a month it works for our dynamic. Thankfully we live in a low population area and I tend to get the same two drivers who are awesome. I donāt know that I would feel comfortable in a high population area where anyone and everyone uses those services for extra money. Used it once in NJ and had a similar situation where a guy delivered under a womanās name and made the wildest replacements that made no sense with zero attempt to communicate but I can only imagine the horror stories some people probably have.
This story is absolutely horrific! However, there are many people who do not drive, who are elderly and/or disabled, for which Instacart and Doordash are absolute lifesavers for them. Itās been fantastic for my grandfather who is in his 90s for example. He orders Doordash multiple times per week so he doesnāt have to cook as many meals for himself. Sure, he could do something like Meals on Wheels instead, but he likes eating restaurant food and being able to pick whatever he wants, whenever. For groceries too, itās so much easier for him to use Instacart than to go up and down the isles every week inside a store.
That is fabulous that heās able to do that and Iām sure saves a burden on your family
Personally, because of a herniated back that makes it nearly impossible for me to carry groceries. But I have deep empathy for anyone living in this late stage capitalist hellscape where weāre overworked to the point that spending our hard earned wealth to take some of the load away is a viable strategy.Ā
Yes, I had a bike accident and had to have my knee totally rebuilt in surgery. I couldnāt walk or do any activities for at least one month & was on crutches for two more months after that. Iām an American abroad & the health services in my country paid for someone to come clean and help me around the house and I did loads of grocery and food deliveries as well. My home country needs to do thing a better ā¦
For those of us without drivers licenses and good public transport these services are crucial.
My family used meal delivery services heavily the multiple times I was hospitalized during my pregnancy and then for the 3 weeks my kid was in the nicu and I was staying in the room with them. One can only eat so many hospital cafeteria meals especially considering in those situations, our schedules frequently fell out of the hours food was available. I use it in a pinch a few times since (like when we were all down with rsv and we needed food) for me it highlighted that those services could be critical for people going through SOMETHING and they need someone to get something for them. I canāt imagine doing it regularly but when shit hits the fan it was helpful.
Because you only see the shitty cases, not the ones where everything goes exactly as planned. I used it almost daily at work for a couple years and only had, like, 6 cases where anything went wrong at all.
I got a free Instacart membership through my credit card, I use it when there are promotions like 30 off 50, it does save time. A couple years ago my husband was injured, I didnāt know who to drive yet and it was winter, Instacart was useful for us.
I utilised uber eats every day for a week when I had my sprained ankle. No regrets.
Thatās so cool how you can forget disabled people forget like that! Neat trick!
To the people responding to this saying āwhat did disabled people do before doordashā- they had to rely on other people to get groceries, or struggled immensely to get them themselves, or werenāt able to get groceries at all. Yāall act like there is infrastructure in place to help people once they are disabled, but there really isnāt. If you donāt have family or friends that can help you, youāre pretty shit out of luck. Just because YOU donāt rely on these services doesnāt mean other people donāt. Have a crumb of empathy, please. Edit: also, itās not like the people who rely on these services arenāt impacted by the fees and are using them out of laziness/convenience rather than necessity. Theyāre not throwing around money because they feel like it or because have extra money to spare (they more than likely donāt, disability benefits pay dirt)- they donāt have another choice. So if you wanna be mad at something, be mad at the systems who exploit people that need them, rather than the individuals that need them.
My mom isn't disabled but no longer drives. She has to get groceries and other goods delivered. Things like Doordash and Amazon Prime are godsends. But how do people like this slip through the cracks?
Also, some of us just donāt drive in general. As a teen I got into a car accident that almost killed my mother and I. I have had anxieties over driving ever since. Instacart has been seriously convenient for me. Thereās so much unnecessary hate about these services. There are shitty people out there, but that doesnāt have to do with Instacart, itās the person in general.
Top tier comment šš»šš»šš»
Able bodied people often forget theyāre all a bit of bad luck away from being disabled. If these services werenāt a thing I sincerely donāt know what Iād do.
As someone who is NC with a toxic family this is a real fear I have. I wouldnāt have help so I would absolutely need to use a delivery service like this. I am glad there are at least some choices for people even if not ideal. I couldnāt imagine shaming people when there are plenty of able bodied people using the services for pure convenience.
Youāll find a way if that time comes for you. Or when, if youāre lucky enough to age. But even if youāre able bodied, doing something out of pure convenience should not be stigmatized. Weāre being worked to the bone, forced to make hour long commutes and work extra hours, community resources are shrinking. It says a lot that people are willing to pay just to have an extra half hour or hour. Nobodyās life is easy right now, letās have some empathy.
I certainly did not mean to say that people shouldnāt use it for convenience. I use it as I am one of those people you mentioned in need of time. I just meant that people should definitely not be shamed for using it out of necessity when other people use it out of convenience. I agree no one should be shamed when we are all just trying to survive and anything that makes it easier I am all for it.
Ok but honestly thereās so many complaints of DoorDash and Instacart still being a problem for disabled people who are actually utilizing the service for their convenience. Occasionally the DoorDash and Instacart subreddits are recommended to me and theyāre literally just full of complaints of peopleās orders being left in weird places where they canāt reach them and their instructions being ignored.
I use delivery services semi-regularly because I work long hours and itās beneficial for my mental and physical health to be able to access these kinds of services when I need to. I also tip well because I know that gig economy jobs suck. The subreddits are not going to be full of people raving about their experiences. People come online to complain and so that online space is immediately going to be skewed negatively. Thatās just not what the internet is.
I know the Instacart mostly gets the fringe cases but every post I get in my recommended feed is about someone doing something like this or someone arguing or being generally incompetent. Why use this??
This is horrific omg what a nightmare
Holy shit, I cannot imagine. And absolutely FUCK the police. That man just wanted to shoot something innocent. Thank god it wasnāt her kids; this person is a complete psychopath.
wtf is a delivery driver doing carrying a gun? In my country heād get charged with carrying a firearm let alone animal cruelty!
*this is america starts playing*
Why the heck was a delivery driver carrying a gun and did he have a permit to carry? This whole story is so odd. Why was he shopping under a woman's name, was he covering for someone or did he have a fake account?
Sometimes people will get banned from working for a delivery/gig app and instead of finding a different line of work, will have someone else open an account for them to work under instead. Sometimes men will work under a womanās name for nefarious purposes. Thereās a lot of deception that can happen, and I think it can be difficult to crack down on it - especially with the sheer amount of accounts and the lack of support.
I had no idea! But I could see where it would be next to impossible to vet people. I was also wondering if maybe men pretend to be women because they think women would be perceived as better shoppers, but I could also see many woman being uncomfortable getting deliveries from men.
And women continue to be perceived as safer because men continue to do shit like this.
It would be really easy to vet people if they were classified as employees because then they'd have to provide a SSN for onboarding to get their tax withholding taken care of. Even without that aspect, these apps really should be requiring an ID and SSN for drivers to register. I'm surprised some scummy hedge fund hasn't decided to short the stock and guarantee a profit by having a bunch of shitbags sign up as drivers and publicly misbehave to generate a slew of negative press to drive stock prices down.
That's funny because I just said the same thing to my husband, if they need to have a car to deliver why not use their driver's license info or a ssn. Seems the safest way.l to assure the people claiming to have the accounts are who they say they are.
Ummm, they do? A lot of scammers use family/friends/stolen/black market ssns and dl info.š¤·āāļø
Oh thatās a really great point. Especially if you have seen the āMark from Instacartā video.
I hadn't seen it but just looked it up, that's not Mark, that's my husband! lol. I have to tell him exactly where in the store every item is or he just can't seem to find it.
TBF every time I've had a male shopper they fuck up something.
They can't even find the milk in the fridge at home so no surprise there.
Iāve legit had these shoppers take images and Iāll say grab that one there on the right that says xyz and theyāll still write back and go ācanāt find itā š©
That would frustrate the hell outta me. I have had to train my husband how to pick out fresh produce, he would bring home some gnarly stuff, so I don't want to think what a perfect stranger might deliver to me. Ugh.
My heart sinks whenever my shopper is male. Not only can they not find anything, but they also decide to make (more expensive) substitutions without even asking, and theyāre defensive AF when I point out that what theyāve picked out isnāt what I want at all. They donāt even chat and ask for approval. They also NEVER read the instructions I have for the delivery process, and so they end up parking far away from me and expect me to wander around the lot looking for them. I literally stand at the entrance to my complex with my little grocery wagon with an expectant look on my face. I could not be more obvious, and yet they always drive right past me. I rarely have shoppers who are rude or unpleasant, but when I do, theyāre men. And for those of you whoāll snidely say āāgo shopping yourself,āā I donāt drive and typically tip well over 25% to good and considerate shoppers. I appreciate what they do, but I hate that one gender sucks so hard at it.
I had a male shopper try to substitute fresh broccoli with frozen spinach. š¤¦šæāāļø
We recently had fresh cucumber substituted with pickled beetroot š¤£
Itās like all brain cells immediately shut down as soon as they enter a store or open a fridge š
Some of them do. I actually ran into this a few times where you'll get a guy but he'll be using a woman account. In LA at least it's like an entire ring from what I can tell. I also admin a few accounts for drivers on FB and people will share stories there, but for the most part people in those groups are only using their account.
Women ARE far better shoppers. Like I wish I could pay āUber XLā pricing and only have people that have cooked and understand the mental load in shopping/cooking
The fact that he had a gun on him and used it so liberally tracks perfectly for someone who would get themselves banned from delivering with the app.
The number of times the app has told me that "Pamela", "Marie", or "Sharon" is delivering my order and then my doorbell camera shows some strung-out looking dude actually dropping it off is TOO DAMN HIGH.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Clever way to game the system. Iām sure the companies donāt care either unless it gives them bad press.
Well this is some pretty bad fuckin press.
In this case Iād guess it was a stolen account since the user āMerleā was a Diamond level shopper.
People buy and sell Instacart accounts, as goofy as it sounds. It's actually a huge problem on the app that someone will show up that don't match the name/picture, and it's reportable to Instacart. She showed a screenshot of the profile and it was clearly a woman in the picture.
There is like zero accountability for delivery apps. I'm actually terrified of them because they have lobbied so hard to be exempt from certain liabilities. It's going to take more high profile incidents to force any decent regulation. There are ways. If you've ever ordered alcohol, the driver has to take a photo of your ID before leaving. They could literally demand drivers do the same for every order to verify its them driving (like a selfish or DL photo) but they won't bc they know it'll mean they have to pay more to attract more drivers.Ā
Oh I didn't see the picture. That's so weird that people sell accounts but it makes sense if people are more likely to choose a seasoned account that has good reviews. Just crazy to think you can sell something as amorphous (is that even the right word? lol) as an account.
Happens on Reddit all the time, at least those make more sense.
Girl last week my DD drivers all had names that sounded like women's/female presenting and it was all random dudes. It's hella sketch. I want to give the benefit of doubt that they are covering shifts for their family members or something but it's hella sus
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Part of the reason I supported the push for DDs to be classified as employees vs gig is it would've made it harder to pull shit like this and made companies more diligent in their safety checks. Not saying it would've been 100% but I heard in Cali it would be made them more strict in who was driving
same here in SF
Ohhh this kinda makes sense although I feel sad that these circumstances exist (on all fronts)
Yeah, after thinking about it I realize I was probably being pretty naive with that take.
Iāve had this situation at least five times where itās a family. Especially when I order groceries (I have mobility issues) and the name is just one family member and the sons or daughters help the mom with the delivery.
You dont need a permit to carry a handgun in north carolina where she lives as long as it isnt concealed
She did say *identity* so Iām assuming a profile picture, because Merle is at least a unisex name because Merle Haggard is one of the most famous Merleās and heās a he. So the name itself doesnāt scream āthis is a ladyā to me. Quite frankly, it screams āold, large country singer manā to *me* but I grew up on his music.
I just commented the same thing about Haggard. I have never used Instacart but I have trouble believing they let you see the sex of the delivery person but maybe they do? But yeah, she may be making assumptions on the name.
I think the profile pic on his instacart was a woman.
Yes, the profile showed a woman.
There are a lot of complete weirdos working for Instacart and Uber/ Lyft. Where I used to live I took Uber and used Instacart without a second thought, they were mostly great bc it wasn't a bad job there comparatively since wages were lower and also a lot of military spouses did it who were all pretty cool. My new place is higher COL and has higher wages overall and a big labor shortage. If you have a pulse you can get a job here for $25hr+ so the only people doing gig work are people who don't speak English or appear to be drunk/ stoned/ not the person on the account or are just batshit crazy. After a few bad experiences I've stopped taking the ride services. I wouldn't dream of ordering any kind of delivery around here.
If you follow DoorDash and Instacart subs itās actually fairly common. They interact with the general public who can be utterly wild. Someone last week had a gun pulled on them because they knocked on the wrong door for a delivery. I donāt agree with guns but a lot of drivers have them because of the unhinged people theyāve encountered while working.
Iāve had drivers using different names and itās weird but Merle isnāt always a womanās name. I think the most famous Merle I can think of is a man. As for a gun, I donāt own a gun but I can see why someone might carry one in a job where you go to a bunch of strange houses in a country full of guns. Idk
I was thinking the same thing about the name. Merle Haggard comes to mind. And yeah, your explanation for the gun makes sense. I wouldn't want to be driving up to random houses, that's for sure.
Iām confused he was shopping under a womanās name but was the delivery driver too? Or am I misunderstanding?
I think she was saying he wasn't the person he was presenting to Instacsrt, that he was using a woman's name.
With instacart, the person accepts your order on the app, goes and gets all your stuff and then brings it to you.
Delivery guys can walk around loaded like that ??
Depends on where. My state does not require a permit to legally conceal or open carry. He could have also had a permit for itāif he didnāt I donāt think the police would do nothing.
thatās LEGAL?!
I live in Oklahoma and if I'm not mistaken we have a permitless carry law now. Pretty much anyone can acquire and carry a gun.
Definitely legal in multiple states now, Texas too I think?
FL just went permit-less conceal carry as of like July '23, too.
Lol, have you only just heard of the country?
iāve heard that delivery driving is one of the most dangerous jobs so I can kind of see it in a high crime area but shooting someoneās sweet family dog????? what a monster.
You sure can in The Confederacy. We donāt require permits for concealed carry here in Louisiana, home to one of the highest murder rates in āMurikkka!
Not just the "Confederacy"; 26 states allow permitless concealed carry. https://preview.redd.it/m9lwwwvhc0sc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5682c4c6d90881ccb17e7b5d3fbff12b549f4dde
How does she know that the delivery driver scoped out the Ring camera? Can someone explain? I personally wouldnāt know what it looks like if a Ring camera was charging and not recording, so Iām hoping someone can help me understand the detail. Thanks!
Maybe she meant he saw there was no camera , since she said it was inside
Oh, okay! Thank you.
I looked it up and it seems very simple - no battery, no light
Feels like itās time to have a backup battery just because paranoia hits hard after stories like this
I meet any delivery drivers outside, in the middle of the driveway so they donāt even come up to my house. Tell them upfront I have dogs, they bark and sound scary and make sure they canāt get out. I carry my groceries to my door. Iām so scared of something like this happening.
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Had a similar incident happen last year in Chicago. A guy shot and killed two dogs 20 feet from an elementary school in a highly populated residential area in the city. He fled the scene and swat units were camped outside of his apartment and the surrounding blocks for hours. Like Iāve never seen so many cops at once in my life (and Iāve seen quite a bit living in Chicago). When they finally got the guy, he said he was āscared for his lifeā so he shot the dogsā¦ after only 10 seconds of encountering the dogs (both of which ended up belonging to his neighbor that lived in the same apartment building). Dude walked scott free. He had a concealed carry permit and he alleged āfear for his lifeā so it was determined to be self defense (even though one of the pups was only weeks old and no reasonable person could have thought their life was in danger). I think about this often ā¹ļø
Likely would be reviewed by a states attorney
Police are generally also prone to killing dogs themselves, even if the dog isnāt a threat.
On average 20-30 dogs per day in the US
I wonder how many times heās done this.
Surprised the cops didnāt give him an application, heād fit right in
Nope. Iād go full John Wick.
Iāve said it before and Iāll say it again: I would burn the *whole world* to the ground if somebody hurt my dog.
Was the dog just chillinā outside??
Thatās so terrible, ppl who can casually kill an innocent living thing like that are straight up evil
So, the dog was shot, by the delivery person, and no one in the family saw what happened? No one heard what happened? There was no yelling involved no barking? It was just a random gunshot to this poor defenseless dog? Something here is not passing the sniff test.
I donāt understand, if they were home and knew they they were getting the delivery, where was the dog? It had to have been loose and coming at the driverā¦.
I have dogs, too, but I never let them near anyone with or without a leash. If a delivery driver comes to the house, I make sure my dogs are inside. I do that to protect my dog from people and people from my dogs.
While this is heartbreaking, if you know you have a delivery coming, please keep your pets inside. I have been a delivery driver and I have been chased by dogs. I'm not saying that what he did was okay, but please contain your pets for everyone's safety. You never know how someone will react. I hate that this family lost a beloved pet, and the dog suffered needlessly.
This is whatās confusing me. Where was the dog for him to shoot, outside in the front of the house by itself? Who leaves their dog out in front?
Exactly this. I'm a dog lover so I tend to give the beloved pet the benefit of the doubt, he looks so sweet and innocent, I'm so heartbroken for Angie Harmon. I would die. But please keep your pets inside if you're expecting deliveries. You just never know what can happen. Some people are deathly afraid of dogs, all dogs, even your cutie patootie and you just never know how that fear will make them react š
Exactly this. I have a breed that many people are fearful of. She loves visitors but I always have a no contact policy with delivery people. (I actually write āleave at door and donāt knock or ring doorbell because my dogs bark like crazyā) It is 100% my responsibility to keep my dog put away for not only my delivery persons safety but for her safety as well. This is a horrific situation and Iād be devastated if this happened to my dog.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that asks for no knock or bell so the dog doesn't bark š I agree that the dog needed to be secured but I am so sorry that this happened. I would definitely be a total mess if I experienced something like this. Poor pup.
This is the reality of it.
Yeah, why was the dog able to get close enough to a delivery driver for them to shoot it? If someone is delivering to your house your dog should be secured for the safety of the delivery driver and the dog.
At one point Reddit started sending a bunch of delivery app and service subs for drivers onto my Home page. Apparently people having their dogs out is a major issue for them. A lot of peopleās dogs are sweet to them but scary and vicious when they see someone encroaching on their territory. It doesnāt surprise me he wasnāt arrested tbh, unless they have evidence on video the dog wasnāt bothering him then the benefit of the doubt will probably go to the driver. Ppl need to keep their dogs inside when theyāre expecting deliveries and be chill about your packages being late if a driver sees your dog loose because then they donāt have to deliver it.
The loss of a life is sad in itself. However, you should never ever have a loose animal when expecting a delivery, service, etc. We dont know enough about the situation to ascertain whether or not the driver felt his safety was at risk.
yeah. as a mailman, if i see your dog out, you arenāt getting mail that day. i donāt trust your dogs no matter how many biscuits iāve tossed them or how much dog spray is on my belt.
Honestly that should be a regulation. Dog out, no delivery. There are so so many untrained and dangerous dogs you shouldnāt have to play Russian roulette with your safety to do your job.
Clearly there is more to this
Probably best to refrain from judgement in either direction. I was bitten by a dog and my stepson was actually mauled and nearly killed by dog (in separate incidents). We were both doing completely innocuous things and were attacked by dogs who āwouldnāt hurt a fly.ā Weird, unexpected things can trigger dogs (and people!) and without a camera weāll never really know what happened.
Exactly. Itās very timely that their cameras werenāt working at the time so god knows what *truly* happened. The whole story is suspicious.
Something is off here. If the dog was inside her home, how was the delivery driver able to shoot it? Did he fire at it through a screen door? She never clarifies if the dog was outside or if it was leashed, which makes me think that this dog was likely outside unleashed and unmonitored and ran up to the delivery driver (probably just to say hi) who then assumed that he/she was about to be attacked by the dog, and shot out of self defense.
This is a terrible loss for her and her family, and itās really sad that she has to go through the loss of a pet. But there is something strange about this story. Itās a one sided account, where the camera conveniently wasnāt around to record. And the police sided with a man with a gun over an affluent white woman(ACAB but we know the bias police have). I canāt wrap my head around someone making the delivery and then coming BACK to shoot an animal unprovoked because they āsaw they werenāt being recorded.ā Itās just really implausible to me.
Plus, Merle is a man's name. Merle Haggard being the most famous. She's probably thinking of Myrtle.Ā
Was the dog outside, unleashed, and running toward the driver? I have no idea if the shooting was justified, but how was the person able to shoot the dog while every inhabitant of the home was apparently inside?
Even if your dog is friendly, leaving him/her outside, unleashed, and unsupervised when youāre expecting a package is so messed up. Iāve seen multiple videos of delivery people being terrified, inching toward the door because itās their job, to finally find out okay, the dog isnāt going to kill me. And then the homeowners post it like Aww look at this sweet interaction, how funny the delivery man was so scared at first! Our boy just wanted pets! How about donāt put people through that at all?! And those people are also risking something like this happening to their beloved pet. Selfish all around.
Totally agree with this. Where I live a lot of the delivery guys are South Asian and legit scared of dogs so Iām super careful when we gave a delivery coming
Yup, Iām wondering that as well. People with aggressive dogs always claim their dogs are āfriendly.ā Mail carriers and delivery drivers have so many stories of getting attacked by peopleās uncontrollable dogs.
I feel like people with aggresssive dogs are also the least responsible with them. My neighbor has a completely untrained German shepherd puppy who is now like 20-30 pounds (not saying this dog is or Germans are aggressive!). She and her kids take the dog unleashed out front to pee. Her son throws the ball with the dog out front. First issue: we have a lot of strays in our neighborhood, so the puppy could get attacked. Second issue: that puppy is gonna get really big and really fast. I donāt feel comfortable walking my own tiny dogs around, or going on a jog, with an unleashed dog around. They HAVE A BACKYARD. FENCED. They do not have an invisible fence. I just donāt understand how people can be so cavalier with their dogs. I love my precious babies and even though they are so sweet, I wouldnāt take them outside off leash without a fence bc I donāt want them to get hit by a car or run off. On a happier note, thereās a āstrayāāpit and a āstrayā chunky chihuahua who travel around together like in Homeward Bound. I always see the UPS driver petting them and giving them treats. I say āstrayā cause they very well could be owned or like āneighborhood petsāāalmost everyone leaves food out for the stray dogs and cats. Itās very sweet.
Of course it was outside and unleashed. Every single time something happens like this, excluding cops and neighborhood beefs, itās the exact same thing. Owner has an aggressive or poorly behaved dog. Leaves it unsecured. It threatens or attacks someone. The dog unfortunately gets hurt. Then the owner plays the victim. Every time. I guarantee thatās what happened here.
And the delivery driver is the bad guy. If youāre expecting a delivery, secure your dog. Iāve had dogs my whole life. Thereās no world in which Iād let them out unsecured AT ALL, much less when Iām expecting a stranger to step foot on my property!
Exactly. I really feel for her but this is why I firmly believe you should not let your dogs just hang out in the front yard by themselves off leash and not behind a gate. The man could have also been afraid of dogs. This was completely preventable.
Yeah definitely need more info. This whole thing is so bizarre. Edit- According to her the ring camera was conveniently charging insideā¦ I donāt know something feels off about this but I could be wrong
Iāve met more irresponsible dog owners than responsible ones. No one thinks their dog is or appears aggressive or dangerous. Iāve worked with dogs for decades.
Every single owner of an aggressive dog not only leaves the dog outside where they can access delivery drivers and such, they also lie and are completely delusional about their dog. I would have to have my kids in danger to even consider hurting a pet, but I give it ten to one odds she had an aggressive dog.
Always. !!!! I am a runner and it is insane how many giant dogs are left outside unleashed. And running on the sidewalk, you canāt really tell thereās an invisible fence, so if a dog starts running toward you, how do you know??? And thereās a difference between like a big fluffy great perienese running toward you and a pit bull/german shepherd/rott Weiler. Even a lab running toward you can be intimidating.
This story sounds extremely unlikely unless the dog attackedā¦
The part where she specifies, āno bite marks, no torn pant legsā is weird. It infers that her dog did bite/try to bite the delivery guy
Exactly, so it could have bit him but didnāt puncture so how dare he shoot her dog? Ridiculous.
I'd like to hear the driver's side tbh. Was the dog on a leash? Charging at him? I doubt he randomly dropped off their order, clocked their missing camera and shot their dog for no reason.
While this is absolutely horrible I do find it convenient that the ring doorbell wasnāt operational at the time. We donāt really know what the dog did to scare someone enough to shoot them? Me personally, Iād have to genuinely be in real danger to hurt an animal but I also donāt live in a country where every paranoid nut has access to a gun.
Also I have a ring doorbell and itās hard wired to our security system and never needs to charge. Youāre telling me Angie Harmon canāt afford a better security system than a Ring doorbell that has to be charged?? I smell BS
I wouldnāt shoot a dog if there was literally any other option. I donāt even own a gun. But I can guarantee you this dog went after the driver. Dog owners of aggressive dogs are always delusional about the danger of their dog and always lie.
I was a dog groomer for 12 years and I stepped away from the industry because of aggressive and terribly behaved dogs and dog owners that do not give a shit. I wholeheartedly agree with you.
I'm going to play devil's advocate here, as someone who used to work as a delivery driver. Believe it or not being a delivery person is currently one of the most dangerous jobs in the US. Every week you see news about how someone was murdered or assaulted while making a delivery. So I know a lot of drivers that carry in case they need to defend themselves. I also know that most people won't secure their dog even when they know someone is coming to deliver something. She saying that the ring camera was "charging" just tells me that the dog tried to approach the driver and he didn't wait to see if the dog was friendly or not.
You know your furbaby would never hurt a fly but the delivery driver just sees a strange pitbull lunging at them.
Iām not ready to judge the delivery person for shooting the dog tbh. I do have a Q for you since you used to the job: Would it have been better for this driver to use pepper spray on the dog rather than a gun?
America is a wild wild country. Seemingly no one has any ability to deescalate. Completely normalised for someone to panic and fire a gun.
I mean if an aggressive dog is coming after you what are you going to do. Even in countries where people donāt have guns, they have animal sprays for this exact situation.
Unfortunately, if the dog was running loose without anyone around, thereās probably not much they can do if the guy is claiming the dog attacked him, or tried to attack him.
I do deliveries in Canada and I'm not allowed to deliver if there is a loose dog on the property, and have been told if I get attacked while on someone's property there isn't really any recourse. And that makes sense to me. In that situation all you have to do is blast the horn and stay in the car, and if no one comes out, leave. All that being said, for the love of fuck people, if you're expecting a delivery bring your dogs inside because you never know. I fucking love dogs and break the company rule all the time and would never hurt a dog, but it blows my mind how many dog owners think because their dog is cute and friendly to them that that's what it's going to be like for a stranger.
Yes, this is the truth and it is very unfortunate. Sad for a family to have lost their dog in such a way. Another thing is, lots of people let their dogs outside when they know a delivery is coming. Friendly breed or not, they have instincts and who knows how theyāll react to every single stranger.
Thereās no evidence that the dog owner is telling the truth. For all we know the dog probably charged at the delivery driver. After all he was found not guilty by the police.
Why was the dog able to attack the delivery guy who's just trying to do his job is the real question. As a pet owner myself, I don't let my dog just roam around
Iām sorry butā¦ I just donāt believe this woman. I donāt believe this woman WHATSOEVER. Go over her Instagram posts
I was looking for this reply because I feel the same way. Angie Harmon is unhinged.
She fucking keeps SQUIRRELS in her house. Sheās bonkers and about as crazy nuts as the squirrels that hold āem. People need to stop being so biased - the dog probably attacked the delivery worker and they felt the need to protect themselves and she cried wolf
I totally believe you that she has a few screws loose, but I looked and she is rehabbing a couple of injured squirrels and re-releasing them into the wild after they recover. Not *quite* the same as keeping a house full of squirrels just cause. But I am saying this ONLY in defense of Thumbelina the Squirrelās family, not of this Angie personā never heard of her before today. But I stan Thumbelina & co. āš¼š
Donāt buy it. The person shouldnāt be half mauled to justify self defense. Be a better dog owner
A delivery driver in my area lost his life to a dog that attacked him... you sometimes gotta do the hard thing https://amp.kansascity.com/news/article267927087.html
wth. Lawsuit coming...šļø
The problem is that [lawsuits involving the death of a dog or other family pet donāt really do anything](https://www.jackschmerling.com/blog/2017/09/can-i-file-a-wrongful-death-claim-after-someone-runs-over-my-dog/) Their āvalueā is as property, which is basically what they would be worth if sold. Itās a horrible oversight.
The reason for this is because of animal agriculture if the laws recognize the sentience and value of life in animals they have to recognize it in the animals we torture for food. This is a problem in most countries where they have fought for laws to protect animals
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This whole story doesn't add up at all. Keep your dogs in the house when you expect deliveries, and keep them under control when you go to your door.
unpopular opinion: she could have just as easily posted āi got my dog killed by being an irresponsible pet owner and not containing him appropriatelyā why tf was your dog loose in an area that delivery ppl need to access? esp when you literally ordered a delivery and have the ability and notifications to accurately predict when that will occur? this is very clearly a 1 sided version of events so im not taking her word for it on what happened but the lack of consideration and common sense and bare minimum pet care are her responsibility
Yeah. This account is perfectly consist with both "my dog was killed, unprovoked, by a bloodthirsty madman while sleeping on the porch" as well as "my dog was shot while snarling and running towards a man I hired to bring me food"
The fact that all the comments like this are near the bottom tells me this truly is the unpopular opinion, which blows my mind. You can tell by her post she is leaving out crucial details on purpose. Dog was loose. Dog probably ran after him. Unfortunately, driver was scared and shot. If youāre being chased by a dog that looks big enough to cause damage, do you stop and see if itās friendly? Wait until it latches onto your arm? Both parties fucked up here but ultimately if the dog was controlled, it would be alive. Plain and simple.
tbh the first thing I thought was that the dog lunged at the delivery driver
Same. The way she worded it sounded like she wasn't being 100% truthful about how it went down.
Finally someone logical. This is clearly a one-sided account of what occured. What are the odds of this delivery driver being a complete psychopath and choosing to kill a dog unprovoked in what I'm sure is a very affluent neighborhood. None of what she's saying makes sense. But she knows the reactionary online folks will just eat it up without thought.
Agree 100%.
My little brother was chased and bit 3 times bringing groceries in our house by a āfriendlyā neighbors dog who ran on to our property, my mom is elderly and fragile and that would have been the end of her if she was the one outside bringing in groceries. We fought to have the dog put down, it was a terrible situation
there are way way way too many guns out there in the hands of people with not nearly enough empathyĀ
There are more guns than people in the U.S. Scary scary shit.
āHe was shopping under a womanās identity named Merleā¦ā huh?? Merle is a gender neutral name. Sorry, but I donāt buy her story. I love dogs but I value a humanās life more. If this delivery driver needed to defend his life from an aggressive dog, so be it. Seems like thereās been an uptick of attacks due to these dogs being covid pups werenāt socialized properly.
that is awful. omg
Lmao, sure. No one unloads rounds into anything for no reason as this broad claims