If you are a regular customer at Chipotle, this is the article for you.
Coming from a three year Chipotle employee, here are 10 things I please beg you not to do on your future visits.
1. Do not get to the front of the line and be on your phone OR not know your order.
First things first, please just wait outside and finish your phone call or if our line is long stand in line but BE READY by the time you get up front. Have courtesy for the people behind you. Also, if we have a line going past the door, and you have well over ten to fifteen minutes to look at our menu, please be ready to order by the time you get up front. It is frustrating trying to make your order as quickly and efficiently as possible if you yourself are not ready.
2. DO NOT say 'yes' when I ask you what kind of salsa you want.
This is my personal biggest pet peeve. We have exactly four different kinds of salsa mild, medium, hot, and corn. Please let me know which one you want when I ask you what kind of salsa you want. Do not say yes or both because I have no clue what you want so I will get frustrated by having to re-ask you again and everyone else again. Also, if you say no and then ask for medium and corn, I will laugh at you because you just said you did not want salsas.
3. Queso, double meat and guac are ALWAYS extra.
It is 2018, people! Get with the program and do not complain to my cashier about how you had no idea guac was extra to get free food. We have signs posted above us and on our glass right in front of your face telling you that what you are getting is going to cost extra, it is not our fault if you do not take the time to read. Also, I'm sorry but it is not my fault that you walked in 10 minutes before we closed and we gave our last portion of steak away to the couple in front of you. No, that does not mean you can get guac or double meat for free, because we are a business and you should have gotten here twenty minutes earlier.
4. DO NOT say 'yes' when I ask you if you want any chips or drinks.
This is another personal pet peeve of mine. As a cashier, it is exhausting asking this same line over and over again during your shift to always getting a simple yes answer. We then have to ask do you want both? A large or small drink, chips and guac, chips and queso, chips and salsa, or just chips? That is a mouthful when you have a line of 35+ hungry customers waiting. Please just let me know if you want a drink and what size and if you want chips and anything to go with it.
5. If you want a side tortilla to accompany your meal, ask the FIRST person you see on the line, not the cashier.
You can hold up the entire line by asking at the end for your three side tortillas. If you ask at the beginning, you are making our lives so much easier.
6. Be confident in what your ordering and speak up.
Oh my goodness, I do not even know where to start with this one. Sometimes I am on the tip of my toes trying to hear what the person right across from me is saying. I end up speaking louder and louder until they get the hint that I can not hear them. It is so frustrating trying to take someones order when they talk like they have lost their voice. For the sake of me keeping my cool, please talk louder.
7. Would you like sour cream and cheese? Yes. *Pours sour cream* Wait! I meant no sour cream.
DO NOT BE THIS PERSON. Listen to what I am saying or get off your phone. Tell me exactly what you want or obviously there will be a mistake. If I have to remake your bowl because you were too distracted flirting with your boyfriend, you are the reason I am in a bad mood the rest of the night.
8. Your burrito is a wet squishy sack that I can not roll
If you get beans, juicy meat, hot, extra sour cream, medium and guac on your burrito do not expect a clean roll. That thing is going to be a wet squishy sack of mush that not even I would want to eat. Yes, we can double wrap it, but be conscious of what you are ordering, ask the first person taking your order to get your burrito double wrapped in advance if this is you.
9. "More rice please."
Please do not come into Chipotle and say you want brown rice and as the worker is scooping it onto the bowl continue to say "more." That is annoying and a hassle. Just tell me how many scoops you want instead of telling to me more, more, more. Yes I understand you are not getting beans but really that does not mean your entitled to six scoops of rice.
10. Clean up after yourself and put the tabasco back.
I do not know why but some people in this world think that Chipotle is a restaurant were we pick up your trash and throw it away for you. It is not like that and we would greatly appreciate if you could clean up your mess. Do not leave your tabasco on the table please, just put it back where you got it, it is so simple.
ADDITIONAL PRO TIPS:
Instead of letting us ask you the questions just go ahead and let us know you want white rice, black beans and chicken and we will personally thank you every time for not making us repeat these repetitive questions. Also have your form of payment ready by the time you get to the cashier and try to remember that if we seem grumpy we are humans who might just have had a bad day and it is nothing personal to you.
