My Neighbor Ate My $41 Uber Eats Order. Shouldn’t He Pay Up?

He said he "accidentally" mistook my pad Thai for a burrito. I was sure he'd offer to Venmo me the money. I was wrong.

Dear Robin,

I (“Jamie”) live on a rental property with two units. The other tenant (“Tim”) and I often accidentally receive each other’s deliveries but usually return them without issue

A couple nights ago, I ordered pad thai and egg rolls through UberEats. The order, including a 20% tip for the driver, came to $41. I got a message saying the order had been delivered, but it wasn’t outside my door, nor did it have the confirmation photo showing the order on my doorstep.

I called the driver, and he said there was a guy standing outside my house who was clearly Tim from the description. The driver said, “order for Jamie,” and Tim said, “Yep” and took the order. The driver was worried Uber Eats would think he’d personally stolen the order.

So I texted Tim to ask if he’d gotten my order. He called me back and apologized, saying he’d ordered a burrito from Uber Eats, then mistakenly grabbed my order, thinking it was his. I asked if I could pick up my food. He said no because he’d accidentally eaten my order, thinking it was his. How the hell could he mistake pad thai and eggrolls for a burrito?

I assumed he’d offer to Venmo me the money. Instead, he told me I should report that the order never arrived to Uber Eats and said I was welcome to take his burrito when it arrived… but it never arrived! He swore the app told him it was delivered. Now I’m left wondering if the burrito even existed. Even if it had arrived, I don’t think a $10 burrito is a fair swap for a $41 order.

I wound up reporting the order missing and got a refund (only for the order and not the driver tip). Not to mention the fact that I had to go to the grocery store and cook dinner for myself, which took an hour and a half on a night when I was deluged with work.

It’s been a couple days, and I still haven’t seen Tim. But I’m still floored that he would steal my order. Should I demand that he reimburse me? Tell our landlord that he’s a thief?

-Still Hangry

Dear Hangry,

Maybe Tim thought the egg rolls were mini burritos. Maybe he thought the pad thai was a deconstructed burrito bowl. But if Tim hasn’t snatched your past deliveries, I’d chalk this up to an honest mistake, albeit one fueled by potent edibles.

You could have just asked Tim directly to reimburse you while you had him on the phone. A good script might have been: “I get that this was an honest mistake, but I don’t want to lie and say the order didn’t arrive because that could get the driver in trouble. Could you Venmo me the $41?”

But bringing it up several days after the fact will make things unnecessarily awkward. If UberEats reimbursed everything but the 20% tip, you’re out $8 and 90 minutes. These are sunk costs. Don’t go to war with a neighbor if this isn’t a pattern.

To avoid a repeat, ask future delivery drivers to leave the order at your door with a confirmation photo and not hand it off to anyone.

If this happens again, ask Tim to directly reimburse you, including the tip – which, of course, if what he should have offered in the first place. If he refuses, report to UberEats that he took your order. And if it happens a third time, it’s a pattern, so then you can tell your landlord that Tim has sticky fingers.

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