Thank goodness for extra checkout steps.
On Feb. 20, Twitter user @JAMAiwuyor, whose real name is Jessica Aiwuyor, related an experience involving her young twin daughters and a grocery delivery app that almost led to a major hit to her finances.
“My six year old twins almost purchased close to $800 worth of snacks using my Instacart app,” wrote Aiwuyor in a tweet that has since gone viral, with over 5 million views and 74,000 likes.
Along with the tweet are screenshots of the would-be order: four packages of Lunchables and Korean-style dumplings, multiple packages of Oreo ice cream sandwiches and Tyson Any’tizers, several beverages including apple juice, Kool-Aid Bursts and a gallon of Turkey Hill lemonade.
The girls, whose names are Efosa and Esosa, also almost ordered 35 cases of Capri Sun Fruit Punch, which would have cost over $300.
The little ones also added 28 bags of chips to their shopping cart, including seven bags each of Lay’s Barbecue, Lay’s Sour Cream, Doritos and Smartfood Popcorn. The subtotal on the entire order? $757.57 — before tax and tip. No wonder Aiwuyor added an image from "Living Single’s" Maxine emblazoned with the words “Proud Freeloader” to her tweet.
“They almost completed the purchase but couldn’t figure out the last few steps,” Aiwuyor wrote in a subsequent tweet expressing her relief. “I serve a living God!”
Replies to her tweets made light of the moment, admiring the little girls’ deep commitment to snacking.
“It’s really the multiple quantities for me. They understood the assignment,” tweeted one person in reponse.
“The babies went off on the Capri Suns and I understand!!!” tweeted another user.
“Other than the Capri Suns, I feel like they exercised great restraint on the other items,” tweeted someone else. “God bless them.”
“The chip quantities check out,” tweeted another Twitter user. “That stuff has to last and you can’t eat just one. The planning!”
The most reassuring comment, however, came from Instacart’s official account the following morning.
“Let’s make this wishlist a reality. Check your DM’s!” read the tweet.
By 3 p.m., the Aiwuyor twins had inadvertently scored their ultimate snack haul for free, all thanks to Instacart.
“Y’all!!!!! @Instacart sent their ‘order,’” Aiwuyor tweeted, along with a picture of the girls, beaming with many of the items Instacart sent them, including lemonades, chips, dumplings and not 35, but two cases of Capri Sun.
Instacart declined to comment further to TODAY.com, but did reply to the photo of the haul with: "Happy snacking!"
According to the girls' mom, who confirmed that Instacart sent two of almost everything (but also some healthier snacks like carrots and bananas), this whole situation is a rather familiar one.
“They have done this with my Target app before, loaded it up and it would be Sour Patch Kids and stuff,” Aiwuyor tells TODAY.com, adding that, thankfully, they didn’t check out then, either. “They would tell me, ‘Mommy, we ordered some stuff from Target,’ and then seeing, ‘Oh gosh, they made a wish list in this cart.’ I’m glad they didn’t know how to complete the purchase.”
She says that while her twins don’t have their own secret language (which can develop between twins sometimes), instead, Aiwuyor says, "They make their own agreements, they’ll have sister pacts."
"The other day, they were arguing about something and I said, ‘You’re sisters,’ and Esosa said, ‘We’re not just sisters, we’re partners.’ Now partners in what is the question.”
Considering the fact that other parents haven't been as lucky — and their children successfully charged their card for hundreds of dollars in ice cream or cheeseburgers — the mom-of-three says the girls were ecstatic that they got their dream snack haul after all.
“They were dancing, screaming and happy, just bouncing all over the place,” Aiwuyor says. “They were very thankful. But I told them, ‘Never again, you cannot do this again. Not every company is going to respond this way, and they will be expecting mommy and daddy to pay for whatever it is you order. So do not do this again.’”
Regarding her viral tweet, Aiwuyor says she was surprised at the response, and loves that parents of twins replied in the thread under her tweet and shared their own experiences with raising multiples.
“I think it’s funny. Twin parents, they can sympathize. I also have a 4-month-old son so it’s a lot going on,” Aiwuyor says.
“Even without multiples, children are a handful,” she adds. “But when it’s twins and they start doing their own thing, having their own side conversations and making their own plans, it’s like nothing can stop ‘em,” she adds. “When you have twins, you’re in for a wild ride. You really are.”
