I ordered GrabFood last night. Usual thing: ‘We’re finding you a driver’… ‘Driver on the way to pickup’… ‘Driver at restaurant’.
(Context, for those outside Malaysia who may never have heard of it: Grab is a near-ubiquitous mobile-app-fronted service here in Malaysia, and in Asia more widely, that provides a whole range of logistics-related services to consumers, encompassing for example taxis, couriers, shopping delivery, household services, e-payments, and the subject of this piece, takeaway food delivery.)
Then: ‘We’re finding you another driver’. Ok, I think, no biggie. Will my food be delayed? But soon enough, ‘Driver has picked up and is on the way’.
Except: a few minutes later, well before it was physically possible for the driver to have reached me, even travelling well above the speed limit or even the capabilities of any car yet invented, ‘Order delivered’. (And wallet charged, and would I like to rate my delivery?)