TikTok Is Siding With Chipotle Workers After 'Dirty' Restaurant Video
A viral video backfired last month when an aghast customer uploaded a TikTok video of a Chipotle kitchen in Port St. Lucie West, Florida. The spectacle lasted eight seconds. In those eight seconds, we can see meat tumbling off the cutting board and Chipotle fillings spilling from their containers onto the surfaces surrounding the tubs and cutting board. The text over the video asks "PLEASE STOP GOING TO PORT SAINT LUCIE WEST CHIPOTLE! THESE PEOPLE ARE DISGUSTING!"
As of writing, the video has been viewed 3.7 million times. Of those millions, the vast majority seem to have taken issue with the complaint. "They're obviously understaffed and overworked," one noted. "If u got a problem, fill out an application..." Another took the video as a symptom of a societal problem: "This is why I think everyone should work on fast food at least once in their life." The overwhelming consensus was that the videographer was utterly removed from the reality of serving food at peak hours.
In fact, one has to actively search for a comment taking the poster's side, such as "how are y'all mad the creator? We just letting businesses have zero standards now?" A second self-professed Chipotle worker agreed that it was difficult to keep one's station clean during the crunch, but thought that the person cutting the meat was doing a poor job. Regardless, public opinion is clearly not on this TikTok creator's side.
A buggier incident
If you're looking for pristine food service perfection, the kitchen in the TikTok video definitely falls short. But two days after that video was uploaded, a separate Chipotle incident made the original's use of caps lock seem hyperbolic.
On December 19, a TikTok video was uploaded that showed a burrito bowl being taken out of a Chipotle bag. Everything looked fine until a piece of lettuce began to move. "@Chipotle what is it??? I need answers," they wrote in the video's description. "BABY THATS AN INSECT????" one comment shrieked. A follow-up video watched as the leafy-looking insect trekked across the rice and beans to freedom. Viewers, of which there were 8.6 million, agreed that it probably entered the bowl due to unwashed lettuce.
The poster later told The Daily Dot that Chipotle sorted the matter: "I reached out to Chipotle and they compensated me with a full refund which was $30, and apologized." Now, a restaurant shouldn't be waiting for actual pests to emerge before cleaning its station. But there's a stark difference between spilled cheese during a rushed service and literal insects infiltrating food, and only one truly warrants a full-on caps lock meltdown.