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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/kait318 on 2025-10-14 17:53:01+00:00.

At my job we offer online grocery orders through Instacart. We shop the items, bag them up, and deliver them to the person curbside when they arrive. However, the Instacart app turns off at 6pm and customers can no longer place orders after this time. It was around 8pm or so and I was ringing out a customer having a nice conversation when I see a lady storm in through the front doors. She beelines for my register and stands there waiting for me to acknowledge her even though I’m clearly helping another customer. I ignore her because that’s rude and after a few seconds she goes “I’m here for a Instacart pickup. I didn’t realize you weren’t going to bring it to my car and I paid for that.” I say “We usually do carry out Instacart orders, however it turns off at 6pm so I was unaware there was anyone here for pickup.” I realize this is a bit of a flawed system on Instacart’s part, however I don’t work for them so I’m just using what information I have. She goes “Okay?? Can you just get it? This is already taking more time than if I had just come inside and got it myself.” (lol, its been 1 minute but ok) I say no problem and run to the back to look for her order. Of course, nothing is where we usually keep the Instacart orders. I check the customer service desk and find her order of one singular item. The label has her name on it (it was actually Karen, btw). So I grab that and head back to the register and hand her her item.

“Well I was charged $4 for carry out so I want my money back”

"Unfortunately, all Instacart issues have to be dealt with through Instacart.

“THERE’S NO WAY TO DO THAT. GET ME A MANAGER”

So I call my manager who is very clearly busy doing something else but says she will be there in a minute. So Karen is on the side of my register tapping her foot, arms crossed, waiting while a new customer approaches to check out. She only has a few items so I ring her up and make some small talk trying to diffuse the tension. She’s pleasant and I’m getting the vibe that she can sense Karen’s energy and is understanding my pain as she kind of smirks at the lady. My manager approaches Karen and says “Hi, I’m the manager how can I help you?” I’m still helping the other customer so I’m busy but I’m listening to see what Karen is going to say. Y’all… She says nothing. For a second I think that maybe Karen doesn’t realize she’s being spoken to so I turn and say to my manager “This is her” and gesture towards Karen. My manager tries again and still Karen is avoiding eye contact, looking at the floor, arms crossed. I’m like wtf? So I go to hand the receipt to this other lady and Karen starts wildly gesturing at me and pointing between me and my manager. She makes the hand gesture for talking and points at me. I’m actually flabbergasted because is this real life? She’s too good to explain her story all over $4? I’m just looking at her because WTF I’m not going to be bossed around like that. Then when I think things can’t get any stranger the OTHER CUSTOMER GANGS UP ON ME. She goes “are you not going to help her??? She CAN’T TALK”. I look at her confused because 1. I thought we were bonding over this Karen 2. SHE CAN TALK WE JUST HAD A WHOLE CONVERSATION.

So she just keeps repeating “are you going to help her???” And me and my manager say “Yes, we are just going to step over here” Because other customers are approaching at this point and a different cashier has arrived to help out. Karen refuses to speak and instead pulls out her phone and starts wildly typing. She shows the message to my manager. I try to read it but its incredibly jumbled and just says that she can’t talk, wants a refund. My manager tells her the same thing that we can’t offer refunds and she needs to contact Instacart. Karen throws her hands up at us and storms out. We are left dumbfounded wondering wtf we just witnessed. I’ve worked retail for many years and have had my share of Karen moments, but this one has left me scratching my head. Was she trying to pull a power trip on me or my manager? Did her voice box run out of juice? Was she trying to garner sympathy from onlookers? I’ll never know.