KNEEJERK REACTION CORRECTED: CHIPOTLE MANAGER FIRED, REHIRED

Chipotle Rehires Manager Fired Over Racism Accusations After New Twitter Revelations

By Jessica Fecteau

People
November 20, 2018

After new details emerged, a Chipotle in St. Paul, Minn. has rehired one of their managers who was let go when a video went viral last week in which she told a group of African-American customers they need to pay before being served.

In the video, posted by Masud Ali on Twitter on Friday, a group of young men are trying to place an order when the manager says, “You got to pay because you never have money when you come in here.” The group then accuses her of racism.

Ali captioned the video: “Can a group of young well established African American get a bite to eat after a long workout session. @ChipotleTweets ??”

A Twitter user named Tony later posted a screenshot of Ali’s previous tweets, which discuss dining and dashing, specifically at a Chipotle restaurant.

On July 15, 2015, Ali tweeted: “Dine and dash is forever interesting.” Another tweet, from February 12, 2015 says, “I ain’t broke I just don’t wanna by [sic] Chipotle.”

“@ChipotleTweets you need to look deeper into this. That manager had obviously previously dealt with these guys who don’t pay,” Tony writes. “They’ve bragged about STEALING from your business (and others) several times.”

Laurie Schalow, Chipotle’s chief communications officer, wrote in an email to The Post that after spending the last few days reviewing evidence, they have offered the manager her job back.

“While our normal protocol was not followed serving these customers, we publicly apologize to our manager for being put in this position,” Schalow says. “We will work to continue to ensure that we support a respectful workplace for our employees and our customers alike. Our policy is to treat our customers and employees fairly and with respect at all times and under any circumstances. We will work with all our restaurant teams to ensure they are prepared to handle situations of this kind and know they have our full support. We are committed to doing the right thing and acting in a manner consistent with a thoughtful, fact-driven approach.”

The manager tweeted about being rehired on Monday: “Racism is a real issue that I do not take lightly. Racism must be addressed, but what happened here was just wrong. Falsely accused and in return, cut off from a goal that I worked hard for. Today, I was ‘officially’ offered my job back. I’m truly grateful for all the support.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the age of social media, one must avoid even the false appearance of being racist.