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Chipotle manager meets Mitt Romney, becomes Internet sensation

The Internet immediately identified an Associated Press photo of the meeting as comedy gold.

 

Fernando Alfonso III

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Posted on Oct 3, 2012   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 10:04 am CDT

When Mitt Romney visited a Chipotle restaurant in Denver, Colo. Tuesday, he got more than he ordered. And we’re not talking about an extra dollop of guacamole.

After ordering a pork burrito bowl with pico de gallo, black beans and rice, the former governor of Massachusetts posed with some Chipotle employees for a photo. Three of the employees smiled pleasantly for Associated Press photographer Charles Dharapak while one man to Romney’s left made a face that immediately set off the Internet’s meme radar.

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That wide-eyed employee was manager Marty Arps, 20, who just couldn’t contain his joy.

“It’s a facial expression I do when I’m excited,” Arps told The Daily. “I [did that] when I met Nicki Minaj. It’s like, ‘Ah, it’s them, right there in front of you!’ They’re not from another world.”

Arps wasn’t the only person to get excited over the photo. On Reddit’s r/PhotoshopBattles community, more than a dozen people have turned Dharapak’s photo into a hilarious meme. Here are some of the best images.

Photo remix by bassguy129

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*First Published: Oct 3, 2012, 3:36 pm CDT