A Chipotle in Louisville, Kentucky was forced to temporarily shut down after half of its employees on Monday, including its manager, walked out.
They left a "CLOSED" sign on the window, with a note that read, in part: "Half of our staff walked out including the manager and we are no longer able to remain open." It then advised customers and delivery services to cancel their orders.
Apparently, the staff was pushed to the "brink."
According to Daily Dot:
The Chipotle, like many restaurants and fast-food locations across the nation, has been struggling to maintain staff. The ongoing pandemic, paired with difficult customers, uncaring corporations, and low pay, make for a difficult sell, even among the industry's typically young workers. As noted by Whallen, "A lot of people don't want to work nights, and if they do, they're underage. So, it's kind of hard because they all have to be off at a certain time. We have to follow the labor laws."
Another person claiming to be a former Chipotle manager, Sidney Plogsted, noted that customers pushed staff "to the brink" during the pandemic.
"We worked throughout this entire pandemic (and did a damn good job, at that), and the thing that pushed us to our breaking points were the customers treating us poorly for doing the best we can," she wrote. "My team and I were cussed at, threatened, had food thrown at us, and called degrading and dehumanizing things over something as simple as a messed up order."
She went on to say that corporate expected those employees who did show up to work "50-70 hours a week" to cover for missing staff members. All this while the corporation's leaders sat "in their offices not helping us just so we can work ourselves to death as we made them more money," she said.
Although three employees quit on Monday, the restaurant was able to gather enough willing employees to reopen Tuesday morning — but, as of Wednesday, they are closing at 8pm rather than the usual closing time of 10pm.
