Viral Video Appears to Show Uber Eats Driver Stealing From Delivery Order

An Uber Eats delivery person has reportedly been fired after footage, showing him siphoning off part of a customer's order using his bare hands, surfaced online.

The video, found here, was posted to TikTok late last week by user @sarahfromflorida, known on the app as Sarah. She explained that the footage was taken by a friend in the Chicago area.

In the clip, a man sits on a sidewalk with an open, paper takeout bag in front of him. He opens the order and uses his bare hands to scoop out a pile of noodles and place them in a reusable container.

The man continues with the other food containers included in the bag, topping off the noodles with several pieces of what appears to be chicken, or another protein. Perhaps most alarming is the fact that he visibly licks his fingers after removing food from each container and before opening the next one.

He even pours a splash of soup included in the order into his container, topping off the portion of food.

Before heading off, the man retrieves a stapler out of his backpack and re-seals the paper bag shut. Sarah wrote in the onscreen text that the use of the stapler might suggest that it was "not his first time" doing this.

While the driver doesn't carry or wear anything that marks him as an Uber Eats driver, Sarah explains in a follow-up post that her friend, who filmed the footage, "did confirm that it was not a canceled order and that it was, in fact, an Uber Eats delivery person, through the restaurant."

In addition to being unhygienic, the behavior directly violates Uber's Community Guidelines, which state that Uber Eats delivery people "may not tamper with or open packaging during delivery."

According to the TikToker, her friend contacted Uber Eats following the incident and reported the driver's behavior.

An Uber spokesperson acknowledged the incident in the following statement, released to Newsweek on Monday: "What's been described is completely unacceptable. The delivery person's access to the app has been removed."

The clip quickly racked up nearly a million views. Many seemed to be appalled by the footage, and viewers flocked to the comments section to express their horror at the incident.

Wrote one commenter: "As a delivery driver, this is sick. I have never even thought about doing something like this."

"Exactly why I don't order my food through a driver," added another.

Newsweek has reached out to @sarahfromflorida for further comment.