Random Thread ~Usagi-Chan ☮ Tūsurī~

[TotallyUncool]

I use Instacart and Walmart Home Delivery. Most of the time, they're pretty good. I specify substitutions with Instacart, and I have one or two notes attached to specific items (basically, "I'd prefer this size/flavor/etc., but if you don't see it, get whatever's available."). With Walmart, I just say "no substitutions" for items where I don't want to take a chance on their substitutions. Occasionally, I'll wind up with a substitution that I didn't want, or something from someone else's order. When that happens, I let it go; so far, I've given five stars and good tips. These are hard times, and I'm pretty sure that a lot of the delivery people are new to the job and dealing with difficult economic circumstances, so I'd rather make life a little easier for them.

[Celedam]

"These are hard times" is not a good reason to tip people who can't — or won't — do even the bare minimum. It's a job, after all, and not a difficult one, either. I've watched them do it — I've seen more and more of them in the store as the service has become more popular over the last several months. They have an app that handles almost everything for them; all they need to do is find an item on the shelf, scan its barcode, and then confirm that it's marked off the shopping list. Checkout and payment are done automatically.

Maybe this is my bitterness talking, after a particularly bad experience yesterday, but c'mon. In fact, it's likely because of experiences like mine that Meijer just changed its policy and switched to its own personnel. I as a long-time customer find that reassuring.

[TotallyUncool]

I'll tip who I want to tip, and I'll tip them however much I want to tip them, for whatever reasons I have, or for no reason at all, and I'm sure as hell not going to worry about whether you like it or not.

[Zunu]

I guess most people are generally satisfied with home delivery services, but personally I feel weird about randos picking out my produce and whatnot for me. I haven't used any of the Instacart type delivery services. I don't even get takeout delivered anymore. I just do my own shopping, as much as possible. I barely even use Amazon any longer.

[Moh]

personally I feel weird about randos picking out my produce and whatnot for me.

Same. I like being able to smell tomatoes or make sure potatoes aren't sprouting.
Though it's not like anyone delivers out here anyway.

[TotallyUncool]

I've got at-risk people living with me, I work from home, and there are good home-delivery services in my area, so I've been doing a full lockdown. I realize that I've been thinking of it like a game - the world has been infiltrated by plague-bearing zombies, you gain points by finding ways to take care of business without leaving the house/yard, and you lose points by going off-premises or having short-distance contact with someone from outside (or maybe kind of like a total hermit version of Animal Crossing).
There are stores that I miss going to, but home delivery covers a lot. More than anything, I miss outside social contact - just hanging out with people for the most part. But that really is going to have to wait. In the meantime, social media and Zoom are OK.

The most annoying thing about ordering produce through Instacart is the site's apparent inability to handle quantity vs. weight - very often, if I enter a weight, it gets switched to a quantity somewhere along the way, so one pound of tomatoes becomes one tomato. I've just taken to doing most of my produce orders by quantity, because it's easier to do that than to try to get around the bugs in the system.

[erilaz]

Even during the first two months of the lockdown, when I was otherwise at home 24-7, I went out and did my own grocery shopping. For restaurant food, it's mostly takeout at this point, though I've recently eaten at outdoor tables at a couple of places that now have them available. I'll still get restaurant food delivered if I don't feel like making the trek. My last food delivery was from an excellent Ethiopian restaurant 4½ miles away, but that was nearly three weeks ago.

My sister sent me this picture yesterday, and I fully concur.

[CaptainBerryzGiraffe]

Even during the first two months of the lockdown, when I was otherwise at home 24-7, I went out and did my own grocery shopping. For restaurant food, it's mostly takeout at this point, though I've recently eaten at outdoor tables at a couple of places that now have them available. I'll still get restaurant food delivered if I don't feel like making the trek. My last food delivery was from an excellent Ethiopian restaurant 4½ miles away, but that was nearly three weeks ago.

My sister sent me this picture yesterday, and I fully concur.

I was supposed to go in summer 2018 to an avenged sevenfold concert... the singer had some vocal problems and the tour was cancelled.
I was supposed to go in March 2020 to a dragonforce concert.... covid.

That picture speaks VOLUMES

[erilaz]

^ When shelter-in-place started, I had tickets for five concerts. Since then, two of those (Japan Nite, The Warning) have been cancelled and refunded, two (Mandy Moore, The Go-Go's) have been postponed to a later date TBD, and one (Kyary Pamyu Pamyu) has been rescheduled for October, but I don't think that will happen.

[esm]

I had tickets to one of the few shows Taylor Swift was going to play for her Lover Tour (in Foxborough, MA).

I've been getting takeout more lately even though I'm trying to get back to cooking more. There's just such a great variety of food in my area though. I was obsessed with Ethiopian food for a while, and lately I've been getting various things from Latin American places around here because there's a huge selection here beyond just Mexican food.