00:00I'm still working during the COVID-19 pandemic. I work for Instacart in the Los Angeles area.
00:06I'm Kayla and I'm here with Refinery29. I am 24 years old. My job is an Instacart delivery person.
00:13I actually started back in October of 2019. I know the grocery store is like the back of my hand.
00:21I feel super seasoned as a shopper during this hard time.
00:27I just got to Ralph's. I'm about to do an order.
00:31I'll get my car, go to said grocery store, shop your whole list. It can be three items, it can
00:37be 100 items.
00:38So then I'll probably wait like 20 to 30 minutes in line to get into the supermarket.
00:45Grocery stores are pretty empty right now.
00:48When it all started, Instacart was crazy. That first like week and a half,
00:54every order was like $80, $100, $75, like big orders that you would maybe see like once every two weeks.
01:01But then you would get to the store and there would be nothing.
01:05No toilet paper, some paper towels surprisingly. This is all the tissues they have.
01:11So you're starting to refund all these items and then that big order that you took,
01:16when you finish and deliver like half of what they asked for because it wasn't there,
01:20your money goes down. That's the influx has definitely peaked. It's definitely coming down.
01:27It's still higher than it's ever been, but it's not as crazy as it was that first week and a
01:31half.
01:32I will check out, fit everything into my very tiny car and then I drive it to your door.
01:39I just delivered. I had to walk down this very long courtyard with a lot of bags. It's fine.
01:48I got another order right away, going right back to the same routes that we came from to do it
01:53all over again.
01:55Sometimes I do it for little to no tip, hoping they'll tip me at cash at the door.
02:01Most of the time they don't and that sucks, but you know, what can you do?
02:06Continuing to work is so important to me because one, I got bills to pay.
02:12Two, it just keeps you sane, like really having a purpose, providing yourself a purpose.
02:20You could easily get lost in space and time during quarantine. Sometimes you go crazy in here,
02:27so I get to drive around and at least appreciate the traffic-less Los Angeles.
02:34I save way more time driving now and I feel like I make more money because I'm not just waiting
02:38in
02:38traffic for 40 minutes. It's nice when I deliver to old people. It's nice to feel like you're helping
02:43your community. The fellow workers make my day because I know they're doing the same thing I do.
02:50Like when I walk into a grocery store and the bad boy's like,
02:53back again. I'm like, you know, it's nice, just nice to have that sense of camaraderie.
02:59I definitely choose my own schedule. Sometimes like half the day goes by and I haven't left for delivery.
03:04I'm like, oh, I'm just not working today. Or sometimes I wake up really early. There's a really good one.
03:09I just go and then I keep finding good ones and I'll be working for like 10 hours one day.
03:14I live in LA because I am an actress. Staying here is the only way I can see making this
03:22really come to fruition.
03:24So doing Instacart even back in October, like when none of this COVID stuff was happening,
03:30it was just a means to stay here. I think this whole thing has definitely reframed people's
03:39perspective of service workers. I see it a lot on the internet, which is great. I wish I saw it
03:46more
03:46in person. I'm not saying that I don't have people that say thank you. I appreciate you and whatnot. But
03:54I do wish more people weren't like scared of us, I guess. Sometimes I feel like I get treated as
04:02the
04:02disease itself. I understand, but it's like we're people, we're human and we're, we're trying and
04:09we're doing, we're risking for you. So you could at least show like some more compassion. There are
04:14people that are so nice and will have conversations with me and, and stuff. But I don't think I would
04:21say maybe 25% of people are really appreciating in my experience. And the other 75% like hasn't
04:28changed or keeps you at a distance and does not treat you as a human anymore. It's just like,
04:35you're a thing that might hurt your, their family. I don't know it. It's hard. It's hard to explain.
04:41And maybe I'm being a baby about it, but my feelings do get hurt sometimes. Being on the front lines
04:47of this pandemic, it doesn't personally for me feel like I'm taking a risk or like doing something brave.
04:55I'm not a doctor. I'm not a paramedic, but it just doesn't feel like war. I get that it's scary.
05:02I get
05:03that people are dying, but it really, it feels like a weird time. It's the times are weird and
05:07that's what it feels like. So I'm on the front lines of a weird time. I don't feel like it's
05:13war
05:13time. I hope people will take away after hearing my story, um, just to be more compassionate
05:21towards your gig workers, not only just now, but after this is all done, tip them better. Like if you
05:28can afford to deliver food to your house, I know you can afford to tip them 10 more dollars. You
05:34know,
05:34like it means the world to them, to me. I hope people will not be as scared and get all
05:44riled up
05:45because going into grocery stores and seeing everything cleared out for no reason, there's no
05:50shortage of food. There's not, none of, none of that is going to happen, but to see just like how
05:55people
05:56can be so selfish and not care about, you know, old people that can't get to it or,
06:02you know, whoever has an issue and just not thinking about, you know, humanity as a whole,
06:08seeing me, seeing that makes me, um, just hope that people will be more considerate to others.
06:17If you find yourself needing to go to the grocery store and you're not an essential worker, you're not
06:22going out to deliver to someone, and you're not doing like a weekly or bi-weekly haul, you know, like
06:27you're just going out because you ran out of egos, just stay inside and wait until you run out of
06:33more
06:33things to go out. We don't need the lines longer. We, we don't need more people outside right now.
06:39And the more you can stay inside, the more we can, I guess, flatten this curve and the sooner we
06:45can get
06:45out and go back to hanging out at real public institutions instead of going to grocery stores.
06:53Now with, you know, the pandemic and stuff, it gives me purpose, makes me feel like I'm giving
06:58back in the only way I can. There's no other way that I can really help people. I think, I
07:04think this
07:04is the best way for me to do that. I don't know. I don't feel like a hero. I just
07:08feel like, I feel
07:10like a girl against a crazy world right now, trying to make money by delivering groceries. Hopefully we
07:16just keep doing our part and just find some more compassion for humans and, uh, maybe life after
07:23this won't be so hard. Providing groceries for the public is essential. I'm doing my part.
