Footage of an absolutely packed Chipotle location in Boston is sparking a debate among viewers.
The video, which was shared to @josephmfares account, is short and uncomplicated. It provides context with a text overlay, which notes that “Chipotle has $5 bowls and the staff is 2 hours behind orders.”
The footage itself shows a Chipotle that is bursting at the seams with customers. It looks more like a nightclub than a restaurant location, with customers crowded in shoulder to shoulder. There is hardly room to stand among the throngs of hungry, masked humans that inhabit every inch of space apart from the area behind the counter. The claustrophobic clip is set to the clashing, awkward kazoo’s of one of TikTok’s favorite sounds, typically used to soundtrack awkward, unfortunate, or weird videos.
Commenters immediately pounced on the video, and soon a lively debate was dominating the comments section. The vast majority of users were in agreement about the video, noting that “Chipotle is irresponsible as a brand for letting this happen without enough help.”
Most people empathized with the overworked and likely stressed employees who were forced to prepare food for the overflowing restaurant. They informed impatient viewers that they are putting “the workers through hell to save a couple bucks.”
“Chipotle did their employees so dirty with this,” one commenter wrote. “They KNEW they weren’t going to be able to keep up with the online orders.”
Numerous people expressed bewilderment at the number of people jumping at the $5 deal, particularly after it was pointed out that a bowl from Chipotle typically runs between $7 and $9. Most people felt that between $2 and $4 in savings was not worth a multi-hour wait, nor was it worth running the employees ragged.
Despite the clearly challenging task being thrust upon employees, numerous people criticized them for not working fast enough. They questioned how the line got so long, with one person wondering “how you fall 2 hours behind? Its throwing ingredients into a bowl.”
Commenters who have clearly never worked a day in food service agreed, complaining that Chipotle has “the slowest workers,” with one person claiming that “it should take like 30 seconds max to make an order.”
One person even proclaimed that the employees “need to be fired for allowing the line to back up this long. They can’t properly do their jobs.”
The vast majority of viewers disagreed with this sentiment, however, and criticized dissenters for treating the employees like “robots.”
“Some of y’all in the comments have absolutely no empathy and it shows.”
A small group of commenters ignored the debate over burning out employees, and instead wondered why people would make such a fuss over Chipotle. They alleged that “Chipotle ain’t even all that,” and claimed that the restaurant is only good for giving people “food poisoning.”
The deal is apparently an annual thing, which occurs every Halloween from 5pm onward. Numerous people discussed their experiences in previous years, and noted that the company should have learned to structure things better by now.
Update 8:13am CT Nov. 3: When reached for comment, Chipotle told the Daily Dot in a statement: “Chipotle recently celebrated the 21st year of its Boorito promotion with $5 digital entrées from 5pm to close and gave out $1 million in free burritos through our digital restaurant on Roblox. We had systems in place to handle the anticipated influx of digital orders, however, in a few minor instances we were challenged with staffing needs. Our engaged and hard working employees are what make us great so we will continue to evaluate our promotions to ensure they can be executed with excellence.”
@josephmfares could not be reached for comment.
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