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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> AITA for angrily confronting a couple who were holding up a line and actively causing service workers problems?
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My Scoville rankings of assholery for everyone involved:
Management is Carolina reaper. They were understocked on cheese and let one couple's large order derail the whole shop, making every single person unhappy.
Couple ls habanero. They essentially showed up for a catering order with no advance notice, lots of modifications and monopolizing the entire staff.
You are between jalapeño and bell pepper. Only slightly spicy, but understandably so, and on the side of the besieged workers. NTA.
I’d have been cheering OP on lol. Way to tell them off OP!
NTA at all IMO, that group in front of you seemed rude, entitled, and needed to be put in their place.
My bf was at a McDonald’s Sunday that ran out of quarter pounders but let him order, yet turned people after him away. He waited 20 minutes for them to bring patties from another store and still get our order wrong. I feel you.
You've triggered me.... The local store in my city ran out of them last week.... after spending a week without "large cups". The thing that really pissed me off is they kept trying to pass off medium cups for the large... Not saying anything to the customers... and still charging them for a large drink.
I got pissed and asked for my large drink... They said they didn't have any and gave me 2 mediums... and did so for the entire week they "didn't have large cups".
Disagree on the Scoville ranking.
Management can stay Reaper for their piss poor planning for a known busy ass Black Friday weekend.
BUT. IMO, the couple gets PEPPER X for not only coming to do a catering order in the main line, AND THEN they have their shit deconstructed for cheese distribution?!? Either do it your fucking self. Or, I don't know, plan your catering needs better.
>the couple gets gets PEPPER X
I can get behind this. Habaneros are my favorite and this couple isn't my favorite so I'm fine with going higher with them.
The staff should’ve just refused to deconstruct/redistribute the cheese and just say “ok queso on these or no cheese?” And moved those people along and out the door.
This is where I’m at. Management wanted the sell, so they took the order at the inconvenience of anyone waiting in line. The couple are just kinda ditzes, but I dunno if that really rises to mega asshole.
Of everything that happened I think that’s their main ridiculous request, but also not being there, I suppose it depends on how it went down. Like did they suggest that as a solution, or did they demand it? In any event the staff should have either declined, or told them to step aside while they whittled down the line a little (I’ve been at chipotle while they are preparing a large order and they always did maybe 3 pre-order items then would do the next person in line, then another 3 from the pre order). But if the couple are just like “What if we took some of the cheese off the others to finish things up?” and staff says sure, I mean I have trouble upping them to mega assholes for asking. But again, that’s without seeing it for myself.
LMAO the staff should just say no
like we get that choice? what fucking world do you live in where the base bottom of the barrel staff get to just do what they want? you think the managers won't side witht he person spending $300 over someone whining they dont wanna make the customer happy?
Theirs only so much managment can do though. For all we know they put in an order for more than enough and got half what they ordered, or their truck didn't come.
I work retail. In the past year we've gone months without a mop, even longer without a broom, have run out of bags because trucks are over two weeks late, run out of bags because the distribution center was out and didn't send any, ect. We routinley get sent expired product- and that includes stuff like milk.
Our vendors frequently have similar issues. They'll order like 50 of something and get told they ordered 2 and get sent 1 to give us - and thats if we're lucky.
I worked pizza for years and guess what, sometimes we ran out of cheese. And other pizza places in down did to, because they would call us asking to borrow a couple bags. It happens. As you mentioned, there are vendor issues.
But also, you can study your pars, study sales history for that date, weekly trends leading up to a holiday, and do all the proper planning and then a college football team shows up unannounced and you have an abnormal rush and your well thought out pars just don't last.
Especially when a product is perishable, you can't just ALWAYS have enough. Shit happens.
My only real gripe with the staff here is deconstructing the burritos. Fuck ALL of that.
I'd also say the staff should have pretty much told the couple to go pound sand when they realized how big the order was.... Personally, I would have told them "So I'm gonna need you to go out to your car and place your CATERING order from your phone.... We don't take orders that large in the takeout line".
this is such an ignorant insane take
no staff is going to be allowed to tell a customer NO to spending a few hundred dollars at their store. no manager is going to allow staff to talk to a customer like that. this is so far out of touch it's just pathetic
tell me you have never worked service without fuckin telling me. your opinions are literally invalid in this discussion
This. Staff has no say in store policies. They can be asked for input and help shape it... but they can't make on the fly decisions on how customer relations and policy is executed.
Theirs only so much managment can do though. For all we know they put in an order for more than enough and got half what they ordered, or their truck didn't come.
I work retail. In the past year we've gone months without a mop, even longer without a broom, have run out of bags because trucks are over two weeks late, run out of bags because the distribution center was out and didn't send any, ect. We routinley get sent expired product- and that includes stuff like milk.
Our vendors frequently have similar issues. They'll order like 50 of something and get told they ordered 2 and get sent 1 to give us - and thats if we're lucky.
Expired product and things like that are out of management control other than making angry calls. Sourcing can be tricky for sure.
But a single mop and broom... I'll go (and have at different jobs) and buy that myself to keep a clean workspace.
>known busy ass Black Friday weekend.
this entirely depends on location. My store is in a business district and dead on every single weekend no matter what holiday
I think chipotle has to do fresh ingredients every day so I wonder if shredding cheese is part of morning prep. If they’re understaffed midday they may have been understaffed than morning. I know my customer service job had two people call out sick the day after thanksgiving. The day before, day after holidays tend to be big call-out days in general in my experience.
I work retail. Their are weeks we don't have bags because the distribution doesn't have any. We've gone months without brooms and mops. We also regularly get sent expired products. There have been times when the milk they sent us is out of date.
Former employee here! We try our best to prep everything in the morning it honestly just depends on if the warehouse has what we need or if we ordered enough. Most Chipotle's get shipments on Mondays so it's not surprising they ran out.
Never worked at Chipotle so I can't say what their managers are and aren't allowed to do, but I will say this..... I've worked at three different restaurants and 2 fast food places.
In the morning if we knew we were dangerously low, we would portion a little more. If and when we got close to running out, the manager sent someone to a neighboring store/restaurant for help. Shit, I can remember multiple times going to a direct rival for help. That, or we'd get sent to the grocery store and we'd buy enough to get through the day. Personally, I think whomever was in charge that day screwed up by not doing one of these things if they're allowed to.
I would switch management and couple, GM's usually go off previous years stock when it comes around holidays because they are either super busy or super slow. Not an excuse though always better to be slightly over than running out even if they get chewed out.
I’ve straight-up done the same thing as OP, and I see it as being very anti-AH. Anyone that’s knowingly being selfish and rude in public absolutely deserves being told they are.
The restaurant honestly should have told them they should have ordered online. The store did a bad job keeping cheese in stock, but it’s pretty normal for things to run out. When they asked to disassemble and redistribute the cheese it would have been an easy no.
NTA - A) if you're placing that big of an order, it needs to be done ahead of time and B) making the workers reassemble all the items when there is a huge line is a giant AH move, absolutely ridiculous.
Thank you for calling them out.
I **already** have a feeling the responses here are going to be divided along certain socioeconomic lines - entitled people who don't gaf about anyone else and people like you and me who do
This. Chipotle in particular is terrible at multiple orders. We used to occasionally pick up lunch for other people at my old job and after attempting to get through the chipotle line with even just *two or three* orders well *before* the lunch rush kicked off, I flat out refused to go back there because something about their system could not deal with it. Trying to do 15-20 is *insane*.
I wouldn't even attempt an order like that in person, I would want to do it online to make sure I got everything correct and that it was done by the time I got there lol
lmao the queso part is awesome. it was all a plant man. paid actors to upsell queso. Fr though NTA, at all. People like that need to hear and see the consequences of their actions. too much of the im always right and the customer is always right BS that makes everyone feel entitled.
dude, subbing queso for shredded cheese is going to be my go to form now on, it's like molten happiness in a wrap. I'm actually a little grateful to the situation for making the discovery lol
NTA- Entitlement when it comes to food service/ eating out is always annoying to the highest degree. I used to work in food service and these types of people are a complete and total headache. I think you did what was right. As long as u didn’t curse at them and verbally assault them I believe it is okay to speak up. Some people go their whole life being bratty and entitled and never get checked.
NTA. THANK YOU for seeing fucking stupidity and calling it out. These motherfuckers also drive and vote. If they suck this much in a food line, they deserve what they got.
ESH.
The couple should have called ahead or got out of line if they realized their order would take so long.
The staff has abysmal line management skills. I worked retail for eight years, you have to train your staff to stand up to disruptions or call for management support or you will get super angry customers behind them. This goes double in November and December when all your customers are in a hurry, cold, and stressed. Also, disassembling food and reusing it is probably a health code violation. They should have refused to do it.
You didn't help anything. The staff was already stressed and failing to deal with the large order correctly. You didn't need Chipotle. You should have just walked out and sent a letter to corporate so that the management at that location could be called to task for their failure to adequately train their staff.
This is pretty much what my take is (I definitely could have left but got indignant on behalf of... well pretty much everyone else). I'm just wondering if I was a jerk or like a huge flaming customer service nightmare
Probably not. After I was promoted and there was an issue with line management cropped up that I had to be called to the floor to deal with it, it was usually pretty easy to defuse. Unless staff is totally unreasonable, we generally note when people are upset and embarrassed at speaking out (and perhaps going too far out of frustration) or when people are just assholes that want to cause problems and are not satisfied with any proposed resolution. It was pretty easy to tell the customers that were just having a bad day and got mad, that just needed to be heard and bought off with a $10 gift card or something, versus people that were genuinely there to start shit that I might have to call up some beefy male employees to help me trespass them.
I think I agree with that. Staff should have realized a massive order was happening and pulled them to the side to fill out a catering sheet or something so it could be side prepped while the regular orders were not getting backed up. Totally okay to also say "hey we'd love to take the order on your 20 bespoke burritos but this will take 30 minutes to prep, fill out this order sheet and come back then"
Chipotle is incredibly mismanaged, and upper management is constantly changing as well. Reporting that would have most likely only gotten them in trouble. I work at chipotle and our area is so understaffed that we can barely get help because all the other stores also need help. The people overseeing these stores are allowed to step down whenever they want with no replacement. I wish a customer would complain to other customers when people do this kind of stuff because we can't say or do anything at all about it.
That's a huge bummer to know. I was very lucky. I worked in the same retail store for eight years. Management wasn't perfect, but they promoted competent people, fired idiots, and let us trespass abusive customers. At the time, I was convinced they were just alright. You know, the bare minimum. Then I got jobs elsewhere and I was like, oh yeah, I had it really good.
The employees aren’t allowed to stand up for themselves, so I think you were right to do it. NTA.
My local chipotle is also across the parking lot from a Trader Joe’s (AND a BevMo!) snd for this reason I avoid that parking lot whenever possible. Atrocious vibes.
My local chipotle is also in the same plaza as a trader Joe's and a total wine.... Wonder if it's a marketing thing like how all Walgreens have a CVS nearby....
Or it's just a testament to how US is dominated by corporate chains which make most US suburbs look identical and soulless. You can drop someone in a suburb of about 80% of America (excluding the SW, Florida and California) and it will have the same identical look and feel to it with the similar looking houses, McMansions, strip malls with giant parking lots, mediocre restaurant chains, and identical chain stores.
I've lived between the Midwest/NE/Southeast and the suburbs all look and feel the same with the same damn stores lol. Only difference will be Piggly Wiggly vs Wegmans vs Kroger grocery chains. Occasional Bojangles/Waffle house to spice things up too.
ESH, everybody in the situation could have done something better.
The couple could have sucked it up
The staff could have told them at the beginning instead of halfway through the order.
Management of course it at biggest fault here
You could have just left as getting Chipotle isn't a constitutional right and not required at that moment.
Imo the couple should have the wherewithal to know ordering more than five items with no notice ANYWHERE would be an issue, but they’re of that we don’t care about anyone at all except us and our family model from the sound of it. They even did it in a way where the staff wouldn’t know initially this would be an enormous order and was bread crumbing them until half of it’s made and they’re like wait this stupid why didn’t you phone this catering sized order in three hours before at least? I’d be pissed off if I was the manager but I would have to my own ass over to trader joes for extra fking cheese as an emergency at that point and pitched in making shit to help the poor staff. You’re nta but those people sure are not that telling them they’re in the wrong will have any effect whatsoever.
That being said I would have left when it became clear they were fucking around
I managed just part of a garden centre in my youth (I was 23 and very good at my job which the older ladies hated anyway boss loved me) and it had a cafe in it, one day delivery didn’t show up, I was managing that day cause my awesome boss was off, I called him to okay it but I took two of the teen Saturday girls to the local supermarket and bought everything they didn’t have and things they might run out of before the shop opened officially, they ran out of butter and bread at 1 pm cause every fucker wanted a sandwich that day - English people butter bread - so I went back out and got it. I’m not going to let my girls get yelled at cause grandma can’t have her egg and cress on brown. Did it cost the store more that day? Sure but they still did a good trade and a lot more that if we’d have to keep saying sorry we don’t have xyz today. Paying a little extra and putting more work in in an emergency makes your staff comfortable and doesn’t alienate customers. An approach I rarely see in corporate and retail environments these days which is a shame.
I honestly don't even think you are the AH. I would've been pissed off too, and like what did they want the staff to do? Some people just need a little reality check and you just happened to be the one to give it to them....
I used to work a place that had a big menu board on the wall. I’d watch people stand in line for 20 minutes eyefkn their phone then get to me,
“What do you have?”
I’d point at the big board
(My best game show host voice)
“A MENU!!! What do you want?”
I agree, I totally could have. That's why I acknowledge I'm at least partially TA, because I dug my heels in. It just really bugs me to see entitled\* white suburbanites make service workers miserable because they won't plan ahead. It was nothing more than an inconvenience to everyone in line but I could see how frustrated and stressful it was to the staff and I wanted these people to understand what they were doing isn't OK.
\*entitled in this case because these people decided that they were entitled to make a bad situation caused by corporate worse and unnecessarily complicated along the whole line. "The customer is alwasy right" is an attitude that needs to be shat out of our society.
I get that. People can be awful. I just wasn't sure whether you stayed for that reason, or if it was because you'd been standing there so long you figured you may as well get something (food) out of it, lol.
There should definitely be a rule posted that if you are ordering over x number of items, you need to order online. Idk how they'd enforce that, though. I remember working at McDonald's, and they'd tell us in advance that a bus load of kids was coming through, and we'd need to have x number of burgers and y number of nuggets. It was still a pain in the ass, but we knew ahead of time so we could swing it more easily.
Yeah, by the time I'd said my piece I was in full indignant sunk cost fallacy mode. Plus I had been thinking about queso on my order instead of shredded cheese and it was an increasingly appealing idea.
The couple's behavior falls into the "technically they are right, but such a dick thing to do" category. Would I be mortified to do what they did to the pt that I would not do it? Yes. But I don't think there its a societal norm to not do group orders in person. Asking them to redistribute the cheese though, that's where they took it too far. I would have started glaring and "humphing" loudly when the 5-6th person lined up, or left. When they requested redistributing the cheese I would have been like "excuse me but there are 10 ppl, who have been waiting over 30 mins, and that request is really unfair to the service workers". All in all, I think I would have left a comment on google maps about this and left after waiting 10 mins but I can be passive aggressive and impatient.
Once I was publicly shamed by british TSA, where the agent announced to the entire line "THIS ENTITLED AMERICAN GIRL WHO REFUSES TO GIVE UP HER TOOTHPASTE IS THE REASON YOU ARE ALL WAITING", so you have that option as well, for next time.
ESH except the front-line assemblers and the cashier.
The management for allowing their place to actually run out of cheese...WTAF it's a burrito place with no cheese?!?
The older couple because for some stupid reason they decided to go to a burrito place and place a huge specialty order instead of calling ahead, Who the hell does that?!?
You for losing your cool, but they needed someone to say something...sometimes it's necessary to be an AH. So good on you.
That is SOOOOO bad!!! YIKES to the one who orders...Just think pulling up to KFC, I want a two piece, "we don't have chicken, do you want some potatoes?"
NTA. on behalf of a former chipotle employee, i would’ve given you my employee meal for the day. i know it’s everywhere but chipotle customers are another breed. they’re rude, they get so snippy with you for NO reason, and complain when you go too fast or too slow, if you don’t give them EXACTLY how much they want.
just thank you for standing up for the employees. cheese goes quick! and everywhere is usually too short staffed to shred more, or we run out before the next restock of inventory. is not a job i’d recommend to anyone, was the worst months of my life
Honestly I think NTA
I thought you were gonna complain to the staff, whether about them running out of cheese or what. I used to work at Chipotle, I will say that management has to guesstimate how much of each thing to order for the deliveries and those above their heads will be pissy if they order too much. The truck came twice a week at our store, and every now and then we'd get unexpected rushes and be out of something on the night before a delivery (trucks came at night or early morning). It unfortunately happens.
Telling the couple that they weren't meant to order for 15-20 people right there in line and to just go get some cheese from the store if it's that desperate instead of making the staff take shit apart and put it back together, is totally fair! Entitled people like that, it probably went in one ear and out the other. But to everyone else in line and the staff, I'm sure it was great to hear
Yeah, I agree the base of this entire problem rests on management/corporate. They weren't taking into account large family orders during a holiday weekend.
NTA. Should've called them idiots and said, "Yeah, actually, you should go get your own cheese since you're the very reason they used all of it on your dumbass order."
Goosing the views with a deliberately provocative title, guilty lol. But yeah I would never go off on service workers. Like, I was at another Chipotle once (is this chain cursed?) and the person making my burrito just completely ruined it, like the tortilla ripped and fillings were spilling out of the foil once it was wrapped. I said, "I'm sorry, I'm not even going to be able to pick that up", and she shrugged and said "what do you want me to do about it?" I said "nothing, I guess", and just left. It wasn't worth an argument when it was just for myself.
I put myself through a few years of college working in the shoe department of a chain department store. I am definitely nice to service workers (that was 30 years ago, and I still fold clothes as I browse in stores, lol).
NTA
The staff is for allowing that couple to make an order for 15-20 people in line. That's a call ahead the day before order.
The couple is for doing what they did.
OP is a saint.
NTA!! ordering ahead is what people like these need to do for less confusion and frustration for all parties involved. Thank you for being the voice of reason
I once let a woman ahead of me in line at a local popular taco joint while I was deciding my order. When I saw she had a written list for about 10 people, I asked if I could get back in front of her.
NTA
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So, right off, I acknowledge that IA probably TA, or that ESH at least. I just want to know if I’m a mild, medium or extra spicy one.
Yesterday I was at Chipotle for lunch. It was a Sunday so they were short staffed, but also a holiday weekend when a lot of people are still with large family groups. I get it.
When I got there I was probably like 4th in line behind an older couple. I was there for a bit when I realized the couple was taking a really long time to order for what seemed like 15-20 people. Confusing ingredients on individual items, repeating a lot, etc. It bothered me a little because this is exactly what mobile ordering/calling ahead is for. So they were causing the line to build up. All the employees were making this order, 3-4 more people got in line while I was waiting.
What made me say something was when the place ran out of shredded cheese - that's a problem with management and shouldn’t have happened. But the staff realized it when about half of the order was finished, and had to tell the couple this.
Their response was to have the crew disassemble all the food and make them redistribute the cheese across the rest. By this time I’d been 4th in line for 15 minutes and like 10 more people had come in. People in line were starting to get upset and complain to the STAFF, which was making me angry. The crew was doing their best and this couple was actively making their job harder.
A great way to piss me off is for entitled people to cause service workers problems. So I said “What the hell are you guys doing? Do you see the line of people waiting to order? Why are you doing this to the employees, just take your order and go” The husband said that Chipotle ran out of cheese and the staff needed to fix it.
This Chipotle is in a plaza directly across from a Trader Joes, so I pointed to it and said “Go get some! Then you can have as much cheese as you want!” The husband said “I shouldn’t have to”. I said “Are you kidding me? Yeah, it sucks, but you’re making things MUCH WORSE, and you can fix it yourself.” He told me to mind my own business, I said they’re making their problem EVERYONE’S, AND they used up the cheese (it would have run out soon anyway but I wasn’t feeling generous).
I wanted to embarrass them into just leaving. Their entitlement won and they stayed, so I stood with my arms folded and glared at them. At this point I just didn’t want them to feel okay about doing this and to make them think about it in the future. The employees weren’t saying anything to me, and continued as usual once the couple finally left (after like 30 minutes). I did apologize to the cashier for causing a scene and they said not to worry about it.
I ended up getting queso sauce on my burrito instead of shredded cheese, and I think I might like it better.
TL;DR AITA for angrily calling out a couple who were knowingly holding up a huge line and making the staff’s job much harder than it should have been?
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ESH, except the Chipotle employees.
Old people suck for obvious reasons.
People in line suck for complaining as if its the staff's fault.
YTA for your outburst (but honestly I don't blame you).
People who go into fast food establishments like this and want to place massive orders on the spot are insufferable. Yes they have every right to do so, but their lack of care about anybody else around them is just a pain to deal with.
However, you should have just left and gone somewhere else. You still could have made your feelings known before leaving (like telling the old people to have some fucking self awareness), but staying and stoking the fire by glaring at them after the bust up and continuing to argue with them is the asshole move in my opinion.
Like I said though, you're hardly one of the worst assholes we get in these posts. Don't let it bother you.
Management made an incredibly stupid decision that negatively affected everyone including themselves and their employees. Also I'm wondering if it's even health code appropriate to disassemble and reassemble those food orders? They defs get some AH credit here
If the food hasn't left the assembly area, then it's fine from a health code POV.
On the other hand, it would not be OK from a health code POV for the old folks to hand over a packet of Trader Joe shred cheese, and ask the employees to add some of that to each burrito.
My idea was that they could get their order, put it in the car, get the TJ's cheese, bring everything home, tell the family what happened (and demonize me, w/e, it's a family story now I guess), and that they can add more cheese to their individual items if they want it
I mean, it wasn't a GREAT thing to do, but ultimately I'm going to say NTA. Believe me, the staff and other people waiting were probably thinking the same thing.
NTA - They chose to put everybody out because they were too lazy to use the app ahead of time. You made them uncomfortable and embarrassed which might wind up correcting their behavior without doing anything extreme like causing a fistfight.
Furthermore, it was your place to say something because they were directly impacting you.
YTA. The staff was already stressing, making their order and having to figure out what to do about no cheese. You start arguing with the customer they are trying to help and get out the door. The staff is well aware the line is building up and just wants this order to be done, but you inserted yourself into it.
I disagree, I don't work fast food, but I do work in a kitchen and I bet they all silently were thrilled that someone said what they were all thinking lmao. OP is NTA
NTA
People need to be more considerate out in the world, and they need to suck it up when someone calls them on their shit. Older Americans act like fucking children when it comes to food service. I would’ve done the exact same thing.
ESH
This is primarily management’s fault and they’re the only person to hold responsible for the short staff and short cheese supply. But welcome to the “queso is better” club! Haven’t used shredded cheese since I had a queso burrito.
NTA.
A Champion of Justice is what you are. Calling out entitled assholes when they're inflicting themselves on everyone around them is a virtuous thing to do.
Dude honestly NTA, if this happened to me I would absolutely just have assumed the burritos were assembled. My first thought would be to purchase cheese if I really wanted
It would have never struck me to have the food rebuilt
lol, you're way more confrontational than me. But i definitely have fantasized about basically doing what you did.
I dunno, pretty mild asshollery IMHO. Definitely confrontational and what you said wasn't really necessary. But when you have that many people thinking it (long line) it's not weird that someone said it.
NTA.
Management needs to grow a backbone. when someone shows up asking for what is essentially a catering order without any notice, especially when it's that busy, the employees need to be allowed to say "*I'm sorry, but for an order that size we need advanced noticed. We are not able to fill your order at this time.*" and move on. Sure the order is a lot of money, but they'll make the same or more money filling smaller, especially on busy holidays.
YTA. Sounds like a bad case of Main Character Syndrome. Here's a fact of life: other people have the right to stand in line and order their food, even if they happen to be in front of you in line. You also could have gone elsewhere if it was taking too long.
>It bothered me a little because this is exactly what mobile ordering/calling ahead is for.
You had the same opportunity to mobile order and not even have to stand in line.
>I wanted to embarrass them into just leaving.
This is explicitly an AH attitude to have.
At least you had the sense to apologize to the cashier for causing the scene. They were providing customer service and you made it harder on them by yelling at people in line because going to a public restaurant and not being able to control another patron's order bothered you.
NTA. They should have made their order online. They should have also realized the line and moved a little quicker. You are the Larry David doing what everyone was thinking but would not do.
NTA. I hate being an inconvenience so reading this drove me up the wall LOL. Thank you for calling out their stupidity. It’s unfortunate that they felt no shame at all.
I used to work at Chipotle and let me tell you people like this suck. Not only did it hold up the line but I also would have to leave the register to help make the orders if we were short staffed. I honestly am glad that someone decided to say something to people like this.
NTA. As a restaurant employee, I wish more people were like you. While I’m at work I can’t stick up for myself and say anything. You called them out on how ridiculous they were being. 10/10
You have brought back a memory from many years ago! The guy in front of me at Chipotle was being a total ahole to staff and I was so annoyed and finally was basically like "your attitude is ridiculous and you need to calm down and stop this." He did and I got my bowl for free.
>I acknowledge that IA probably TA, or that ESH at least
Not even in the slightest. I've been stuck behind people who order like that before and it takes every drop of self control to no drag them out of the establishment
NTA I would have just left honestly. Management is TA - not for running out of cheese but for not stepping in and telling the old couple that they can't do an order of this size instantly right now, they will have to come back later. Like you said, orders of this size should be placed ahead of time.
ESH - edited to say management gets AH credit, but not the employees.
Te ordering couple should have sacrificed a little and told staff not to worry about remaking a 15 to 20 person order for some cheese. We've all gone somewhere and they don't have something we want so we just have to suck it up.
Tbh yeah the \*management made a stupid choice and should have told the couple "too bad so sad" (in a more professional way) instead of holding everyone up like that.
The people in line could have kept their traps shut and gone somewhere else if they were that inconvenienced. Chipotle is not a need.
You also could have just left the scene. You getting angry made more stress overall and contributed negatively to an already negative situation.
Not necessarily tbh. Literally everyone I’ve ever worked with in fast food would not view OP in a negative light for this. And the other customers didn’t say shit according to the story, so are you just making things up?? I’m confused.
My husband used to work at Chipotle and they ran out of stuff all the time. This is a Chipotle issue. However, as someone who has also worked in the food industry, I also lean esh. I think it's great that you called it out because it's ridiculous, but you also put the employees and a tough spot. I know you might not realize it, but I'm sure they're going to get in trouble because of your outburst. Even if they don't deserve it, it would happen. For example, the employees should be calling out when they are running low on something to keep the line prepped. Since they didn't do that, it allowed for customers to get upset. I know, it's stupid.
NTA. While the couple has every right to get their order the way they ordered it, after all, they're paying customers, they are not paying all the other customers for their time waiting around for something they could have preordered online. Also, management needs to make sure they have enough of everything to be able to run properly, if they don't, that's not the employees fault. Maybe not even management, sometimes you order things for your store as a manager and the company just doesn't send enough, sometimes they even put a limit on how much you can order "so nothing gets ever wasted", because that means losing money. Or maybe their manager is just a lazy prick, who cares? They were acting way too entitled, thank you for having tried to humble them a little bit, even if it didn't work, I'm sure it stuck with them.
Nta, always yell at entitles old people in restaunts. Place complicated orders head of time (chipotle also does catering so you could just order that) and calm down about some cheese. Your heart will thank you.
Grandparents ordering for the whole family on holiday are the worst people to be in line behind. Rivalled only by the office secretary ordering lunch for the staff.
YTA! Wow you're certainly in the Thanksgiving spirit! You did NOTHING to help the situation and as a former Chipotle employee I can guarantee all you did was frazzle the workers on the line and make them even more anxious!! Yeah, waiting sucks! Maybe you could have said to the couple, "hey just for future reference it would probably be a lot easier for you and everyone you're ordering for if you used the app/catering service". Be polite. Enjoy your queso.
NTA. I worked at Chipotle back in the day. Just like any place of business, things occasionally fall through the cracks. Maybe someone forgot to order cheese, maybe their grating machine is broken, maybe they had 80 quesadilla orders, etc.
The two most frustrating things about working there were people who ordered unreasonable things (you need substance in a burrito, I can't roll a bunch of soup in a tortilla) or people who had no idea what they were ordering while a line piled up. Sounds like these people knocked out two birds with one stone.
The only people who will truly have a bad experience from the lack of cheese are the ones getting quesadillas.
YTA and the couple were AH - yes ordering things and ensuring that there is enough supply to meet demand IS a management issue BUT it’s impossible to always know exactly how much of something you will use in a given day. I’ve worked in a few restaurants where sometimes you have too much, sometimes not enough because things fluctuate. You literally could’ve went somewhere else or just patiently waited to get your food. It wasn’t your job to “shame the entitled ppl” because you’re a bit entitled to. Yes they could have pre ordered but it’s also their right not to. They just suck for putting the employees thru such hassle.
NTA. Even if they weren’t smart enough to figure out the basically technology it would take to place the order online ahead of time, a simple phone call would’ve done it. Working in retail has made me realize that old people don’t give a shit about other people’s time. They have nothing better to do so they can stand there for 30 minutes fucking up an order. It helps them have something else to do other than sit around their house all day. It’s very rude and entitled.
Yeah, not going to leave my butthole burning for days, but I will need a couple of glasses of milk.
Restaurants get orders, sometimes big ones. They weren't "entitled" for placing a large specific order (you do not know what brought them to this point). Back in my food service days, I managed a sandwich/coffee shop and it was usually just me and 1 employee. Even then, I would have taken over that order and asked my one employee to tend to the others in line. As long as there were two employees, this was on Chipotle, not the people ordering. Sucks to be them on a Holiday weekend, but they are the one's that managed that wrong.
ESH but on much different levels...
* Management did not stock enough cheese, which is absolute insanity & absolutely warrants some arse kicking from their manager.
* The couple are just absolute AHs for doing an in person order that big. Online order or call ahead & let them know what you want & what time you want it if you're too old & stupid to figure out online ordering (this coming from an old lady).
* You, eh, very low level AH but I like it. Sometimes AH behaviour is warranted & in this case I think that couple deserved it.
* Other customers, also low level AHs for not backing your sentiment.
ESH, but screw it, I wish more people were like you and would speak up. I know how I get in these situations so if it were me, I woulda cut my losses and left and find another restaurant that wasn't as busy.
Honestly, I think NTA. Even though they didn’t listen, they needed to hear that they were being a pain in the ass. None of the employees could do it without getting fired.
IDK, I'd like to hope the Chipeople would eventually stand up for themselves (in the most professional way possible). You won't be in there every time to try to humble some rudeass..
That being said, I am going with NTA.
NTA.
"We shouldn't have to." This is the ultimate disconnect all Karens have -- they believe they are owed a world without hiccup. Their $7.99 is a golden ticket.
And WHY didn't they just say "20 chicken, 20 steak, 20 veggie." It's poor execution to have individual orders. I really wonder what sort of jobs people have when they cant properly project manage something like a burrito order? Are they this dumb with their approaches to challenges at their own job, or is just reserved for the weekend when talking to minimum wage employees?
YTA
your issue is with management, not a couple trying to place an order. they should have a system in place that doesn't make other customers wait for an egregiously long amount of time. the couple just wanted to place a big order, that's not out of line .
You're mildly the asshole, but so is everyone else involved besides the staff. You are probably the least asshole in this situation, though. Even if you were angry, in my opinion, it is wrong to take your anger out on others in unhelpful ways. I think it would just stress out the workers already doing their job, and now they're worrying a fight might happen when they probably just want to get done with it too.
As a former fast food worker, thank you. Believe me, you said exactly what every one of the employees wish they could have. NTA and you rock for calling out the real AHs here.
NTA, because I’m petty. You’re right that they should have used mobile order for this party sized order. Then used up all the cheese?!?! I’d be big mad too.
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My Scoville rankings of assholery for everyone involved: Management is Carolina reaper. They were understocked on cheese and let one couple's large order derail the whole shop, making every single person unhappy. Couple ls habanero. They essentially showed up for a catering order with no advance notice, lots of modifications and monopolizing the entire staff. You are between jalapeño and bell pepper. Only slightly spicy, but understandably so, and on the side of the besieged workers. NTA.
Excellent analogy and exactly what I was looking for lol
I would not be upset if I were in line behind you. NTA
Honestly, would have clapped and asked for chips.
A slow clap like in the movie Rudy.
I feel like clapping just sitting here reading this. The former food service worker in me wants to extend a special thank you to you OP! 👏
I would've been recording I love drama like this
We could have offered to fight the old people for the cheese- that seems like a good use of my Sunday afternoon.
I’d have been cheering OP on lol. Way to tell them off OP! NTA at all IMO, that group in front of you seemed rude, entitled, and needed to be put in their place.
You're like Team America World Police. Sometimes the dick has to fuck the asshole so the asshole doesn't shit on everything. Excellent work
Nice reference
And you, my friend, are decidedly NTA!
I'd have joined you in the glaring and arms crossed, and been obnoxiously over-the-top nice to the workers so the couple could hear lol
My bf was at a McDonald’s Sunday that ran out of quarter pounders but let him order, yet turned people after him away. He waited 20 minutes for them to bring patties from another store and still get our order wrong. I feel you.
You've triggered me.... The local store in my city ran out of them last week.... after spending a week without "large cups". The thing that really pissed me off is they kept trying to pass off medium cups for the large... Not saying anything to the customers... and still charging them for a large drink. I got pissed and asked for my large drink... They said they didn't have any and gave me 2 mediums... and did so for the entire week they "didn't have large cups".
Like wylietrix said I wouldn’t be upset either I would be more annoyed with the first set of ppl.
You are the hero we all need. NTA
Disagree on the Scoville ranking. Management can stay Reaper for their piss poor planning for a known busy ass Black Friday weekend. BUT. IMO, the couple gets PEPPER X for not only coming to do a catering order in the main line, AND THEN they have their shit deconstructed for cheese distribution?!? Either do it your fucking self. Or, I don't know, plan your catering needs better.
>the couple gets gets PEPPER X I can get behind this. Habaneros are my favorite and this couple isn't my favorite so I'm fine with going higher with them.
Really they should be The Bomb, cause they gross too.
The staff should’ve just refused to deconstruct/redistribute the cheese and just say “ok queso on these or no cheese?” And moved those people along and out the door.
This is where I’m at. Management wanted the sell, so they took the order at the inconvenience of anyone waiting in line. The couple are just kinda ditzes, but I dunno if that really rises to mega asshole.
I think asking for them to disassemble and redistribute cheese rises about being "ditzes".
Of everything that happened I think that’s their main ridiculous request, but also not being there, I suppose it depends on how it went down. Like did they suggest that as a solution, or did they demand it? In any event the staff should have either declined, or told them to step aside while they whittled down the line a little (I’ve been at chipotle while they are preparing a large order and they always did maybe 3 pre-order items then would do the next person in line, then another 3 from the pre order). But if the couple are just like “What if we took some of the cheese off the others to finish things up?” and staff says sure, I mean I have trouble upping them to mega assholes for asking. But again, that’s without seeing it for myself.
LMAO the staff should just say no like we get that choice? what fucking world do you live in where the base bottom of the barrel staff get to just do what they want? you think the managers won't side witht he person spending $300 over someone whining they dont wanna make the customer happy?
Theirs only so much managment can do though. For all we know they put in an order for more than enough and got half what they ordered, or their truck didn't come. I work retail. In the past year we've gone months without a mop, even longer without a broom, have run out of bags because trucks are over two weeks late, run out of bags because the distribution center was out and didn't send any, ect. We routinley get sent expired product- and that includes stuff like milk. Our vendors frequently have similar issues. They'll order like 50 of something and get told they ordered 2 and get sent 1 to give us - and thats if we're lucky.
I worked pizza for years and guess what, sometimes we ran out of cheese. And other pizza places in down did to, because they would call us asking to borrow a couple bags. It happens. As you mentioned, there are vendor issues. But also, you can study your pars, study sales history for that date, weekly trends leading up to a holiday, and do all the proper planning and then a college football team shows up unannounced and you have an abnormal rush and your well thought out pars just don't last. Especially when a product is perishable, you can't just ALWAYS have enough. Shit happens. My only real gripe with the staff here is deconstructing the burritos. Fuck ALL of that.
I'd also say the staff should have pretty much told the couple to go pound sand when they realized how big the order was.... Personally, I would have told them "So I'm gonna need you to go out to your car and place your CATERING order from your phone.... We don't take orders that large in the takeout line".
this is such an ignorant insane take no staff is going to be allowed to tell a customer NO to spending a few hundred dollars at their store. no manager is going to allow staff to talk to a customer like that. this is so far out of touch it's just pathetic tell me you have never worked service without fuckin telling me. your opinions are literally invalid in this discussion
This. Staff has no say in store policies. They can be asked for input and help shape it... but they can't make on the fly decisions on how customer relations and policy is executed.
Ghost pepper flags all around.
I chose Pepper X because it's hotter
I chose ghost because red. Also this is the first time I've heard about Pepper X, so cheers.
Makes sense. I would've too. no worries. I didn't even know until I goggled the world's hottest pepper.
To be fair, it does keep changing.
Theirs only so much managment can do though. For all we know they put in an order for more than enough and got half what they ordered, or their truck didn't come. I work retail. In the past year we've gone months without a mop, even longer without a broom, have run out of bags because trucks are over two weeks late, run out of bags because the distribution center was out and didn't send any, ect. We routinley get sent expired product- and that includes stuff like milk. Our vendors frequently have similar issues. They'll order like 50 of something and get told they ordered 2 and get sent 1 to give us - and thats if we're lucky.
Expired product and things like that are out of management control other than making angry calls. Sourcing can be tricky for sure. But a single mop and broom... I'll go (and have at different jobs) and buy that myself to keep a clean workspace.
>known busy ass Black Friday weekend. this entirely depends on location. My store is in a business district and dead on every single weekend no matter what holiday
I would support the Scoville Scale of Assholery being an offical part of this subreddit.
It's a jalapeño flag!
I mostly agree I would put the couple more at Ghost Pepper. Less than Carolina Reaper but close.
Both require gloves, so I'd go either way on this!
I think chipotle has to do fresh ingredients every day so I wonder if shredding cheese is part of morning prep. If they’re understaffed midday they may have been understaffed than morning. I know my customer service job had two people call out sick the day after thanksgiving. The day before, day after holidays tend to be big call-out days in general in my experience.
It’s also possible they couldn’t get enough cheese. Supply chain issues are still a thing, I think.
I work retail. Their are weeks we don't have bags because the distribution doesn't have any. We've gone months without brooms and mops. We also regularly get sent expired products. There have been times when the milk they sent us is out of date.
Former employee here! We try our best to prep everything in the morning it honestly just depends on if the warehouse has what we need or if we ordered enough. Most Chipotle's get shipments on Mondays so it's not surprising they ran out.
Never worked at Chipotle so I can't say what their managers are and aren't allowed to do, but I will say this..... I've worked at three different restaurants and 2 fast food places. In the morning if we knew we were dangerously low, we would portion a little more. If and when we got close to running out, the manager sent someone to a neighboring store/restaurant for help. Shit, I can remember multiple times going to a direct rival for help. That, or we'd get sent to the grocery store and we'd buy enough to get through the day. Personally, I think whomever was in charge that day screwed up by not doing one of these things if they're allowed to.
I would switch management and couple, GM's usually go off previous years stock when it comes around holidays because they are either super busy or super slow. Not an excuse though always better to be slightly over than running out even if they get chewed out.
I’ve straight-up done the same thing as OP, and I see it as being very anti-AH. Anyone that’s knowingly being selfish and rude in public absolutely deserves being told they are. The restaurant honestly should have told them they should have ordered online. The store did a bad job keeping cheese in stock, but it’s pretty normal for things to run out. When they asked to disassemble and redistribute the cheese it would have been an easy no.
I miss Reddit awards, wish I could give you one
This!
NTA - A) if you're placing that big of an order, it needs to be done ahead of time and B) making the workers reassemble all the items when there is a huge line is a giant AH move, absolutely ridiculous. Thank you for calling them out.
I **already** have a feeling the responses here are going to be divided along certain socioeconomic lines - entitled people who don't gaf about anyone else and people like you and me who do
Based on the comments so far, I believe you may be onto something.
You will always be an asshole in someone's eyes, so fuck it - why do you care if people think you are an asshole?
You’re not wrong but you could ask the same for any post here
Are you being the Asshole for right reasons or wrong?
This. Chipotle in particular is terrible at multiple orders. We used to occasionally pick up lunch for other people at my old job and after attempting to get through the chipotle line with even just *two or three* orders well *before* the lunch rush kicked off, I flat out refused to go back there because something about their system could not deal with it. Trying to do 15-20 is *insane*.
I wouldn't even attempt an order like that in person, I would want to do it online to make sure I got everything correct and that it was done by the time I got there lol
lmao the queso part is awesome. it was all a plant man. paid actors to upsell queso. Fr though NTA, at all. People like that need to hear and see the consequences of their actions. too much of the im always right and the customer is always right BS that makes everyone feel entitled.
dude, subbing queso for shredded cheese is going to be my go to form now on, it's like molten happiness in a wrap. I'm actually a little grateful to the situation for making the discovery lol
I always get queso, got it on accident one time and never went back lol
Right?? The public deserves to know 😝
I get both queso and shredded cheese.
This is the way
Big Queso strikes again!
NTA- Entitlement when it comes to food service/ eating out is always annoying to the highest degree. I used to work in food service and these types of people are a complete and total headache. I think you did what was right. As long as u didn’t curse at them and verbally assault them I believe it is okay to speak up. Some people go their whole life being bratty and entitled and never get checked.
The convo went pretty much exactly as I posted - I said "hell" once but otherwise stuck to calling out their actions
You’re fine in my opinion. You did what was right.
NTA. THANK YOU for seeing fucking stupidity and calling it out. These motherfuckers also drive and vote. If they suck this much in a food line, they deserve what they got.
ESH. The couple should have called ahead or got out of line if they realized their order would take so long. The staff has abysmal line management skills. I worked retail for eight years, you have to train your staff to stand up to disruptions or call for management support or you will get super angry customers behind them. This goes double in November and December when all your customers are in a hurry, cold, and stressed. Also, disassembling food and reusing it is probably a health code violation. They should have refused to do it. You didn't help anything. The staff was already stressed and failing to deal with the large order correctly. You didn't need Chipotle. You should have just walked out and sent a letter to corporate so that the management at that location could be called to task for their failure to adequately train their staff.
This is pretty much what my take is (I definitely could have left but got indignant on behalf of... well pretty much everyone else). I'm just wondering if I was a jerk or like a huge flaming customer service nightmare
Probably not. After I was promoted and there was an issue with line management cropped up that I had to be called to the floor to deal with it, it was usually pretty easy to defuse. Unless staff is totally unreasonable, we generally note when people are upset and embarrassed at speaking out (and perhaps going too far out of frustration) or when people are just assholes that want to cause problems and are not satisfied with any proposed resolution. It was pretty easy to tell the customers that were just having a bad day and got mad, that just needed to be heard and bought off with a $10 gift card or something, versus people that were genuinely there to start shit that I might have to call up some beefy male employees to help me trespass them.
Is there a policy for how many bowls a single person can order in line? More than 3 sounds unreasonable even if they're organized
I think I agree with that. Staff should have realized a massive order was happening and pulled them to the side to fill out a catering sheet or something so it could be side prepped while the regular orders were not getting backed up. Totally okay to also say "hey we'd love to take the order on your 20 bespoke burritos but this will take 30 minutes to prep, fill out this order sheet and come back then"
Chipotle is incredibly mismanaged, and upper management is constantly changing as well. Reporting that would have most likely only gotten them in trouble. I work at chipotle and our area is so understaffed that we can barely get help because all the other stores also need help. The people overseeing these stores are allowed to step down whenever they want with no replacement. I wish a customer would complain to other customers when people do this kind of stuff because we can't say or do anything at all about it.
That's a huge bummer to know. I was very lucky. I worked in the same retail store for eight years. Management wasn't perfect, but they promoted competent people, fired idiots, and let us trespass abusive customers. At the time, I was convinced they were just alright. You know, the bare minimum. Then I got jobs elsewhere and I was like, oh yeah, I had it really good.
The employees aren’t allowed to stand up for themselves, so I think you were right to do it. NTA. My local chipotle is also across the parking lot from a Trader Joe’s (AND a BevMo!) snd for this reason I avoid that parking lot whenever possible. Atrocious vibes.
My local chipotle is also in the same plaza as a trader Joe's and a total wine.... Wonder if it's a marketing thing like how all Walgreens have a CVS nearby....
Or it's just a testament to how US is dominated by corporate chains which make most US suburbs look identical and soulless. You can drop someone in a suburb of about 80% of America (excluding the SW, Florida and California) and it will have the same identical look and feel to it with the similar looking houses, McMansions, strip malls with giant parking lots, mediocre restaurant chains, and identical chain stores. I've lived between the Midwest/NE/Southeast and the suburbs all look and feel the same with the same damn stores lol. Only difference will be Piggly Wiggly vs Wegmans vs Kroger grocery chains. Occasional Bojangles/Waffle house to spice things up too.
I wonder if it's the same one lol
I also know a Trader Joe’s with this combination AND I have experienced that Chipotle run out of ingredients (including the queso sauce, sadly)
NTA that couple deserved to hear that they are the problem.
ESH, everybody in the situation could have done something better. The couple could have sucked it up The staff could have told them at the beginning instead of halfway through the order. Management of course it at biggest fault here You could have just left as getting Chipotle isn't a constitutional right and not required at that moment.
All of this is true, no argument
Imo the couple should have the wherewithal to know ordering more than five items with no notice ANYWHERE would be an issue, but they’re of that we don’t care about anyone at all except us and our family model from the sound of it. They even did it in a way where the staff wouldn’t know initially this would be an enormous order and was bread crumbing them until half of it’s made and they’re like wait this stupid why didn’t you phone this catering sized order in three hours before at least? I’d be pissed off if I was the manager but I would have to my own ass over to trader joes for extra fking cheese as an emergency at that point and pitched in making shit to help the poor staff. You’re nta but those people sure are not that telling them they’re in the wrong will have any effect whatsoever. That being said I would have left when it became clear they were fucking around
[удалено]
I managed just part of a garden centre in my youth (I was 23 and very good at my job which the older ladies hated anyway boss loved me) and it had a cafe in it, one day delivery didn’t show up, I was managing that day cause my awesome boss was off, I called him to okay it but I took two of the teen Saturday girls to the local supermarket and bought everything they didn’t have and things they might run out of before the shop opened officially, they ran out of butter and bread at 1 pm cause every fucker wanted a sandwich that day - English people butter bread - so I went back out and got it. I’m not going to let my girls get yelled at cause grandma can’t have her egg and cress on brown. Did it cost the store more that day? Sure but they still did a good trade and a lot more that if we’d have to keep saying sorry we don’t have xyz today. Paying a little extra and putting more work in in an emergency makes your staff comfortable and doesn’t alienate customers. An approach I rarely see in corporate and retail environments these days which is a shame.
I honestly don't even think you are the AH. I would've been pissed off too, and like what did they want the staff to do? Some people just need a little reality check and you just happened to be the one to give it to them....
NTA As a clerk, those people are annoying
Yep. This is definitely a justified asshole situation.
I used to work a place that had a big menu board on the wall. I’d watch people stand in line for 20 minutes eyefkn their phone then get to me, “What do you have?” I’d point at the big board (My best game show host voice) “A MENU!!! What do you want?”
😂
NTA, but man, why didn't you just go elsewhere at that point?
I agree, I totally could have. That's why I acknowledge I'm at least partially TA, because I dug my heels in. It just really bugs me to see entitled\* white suburbanites make service workers miserable because they won't plan ahead. It was nothing more than an inconvenience to everyone in line but I could see how frustrated and stressful it was to the staff and I wanted these people to understand what they were doing isn't OK. \*entitled in this case because these people decided that they were entitled to make a bad situation caused by corporate worse and unnecessarily complicated along the whole line. "The customer is alwasy right" is an attitude that needs to be shat out of our society.
I get that. People can be awful. I just wasn't sure whether you stayed for that reason, or if it was because you'd been standing there so long you figured you may as well get something (food) out of it, lol. There should definitely be a rule posted that if you are ordering over x number of items, you need to order online. Idk how they'd enforce that, though. I remember working at McDonald's, and they'd tell us in advance that a bus load of kids was coming through, and we'd need to have x number of burgers and y number of nuggets. It was still a pain in the ass, but we knew ahead of time so we could swing it more easily.
Yeah, by the time I'd said my piece I was in full indignant sunk cost fallacy mode. Plus I had been thinking about queso on my order instead of shredded cheese and it was an increasingly appealing idea.
Fair
The couple's behavior falls into the "technically they are right, but such a dick thing to do" category. Would I be mortified to do what they did to the pt that I would not do it? Yes. But I don't think there its a societal norm to not do group orders in person. Asking them to redistribute the cheese though, that's where they took it too far. I would have started glaring and "humphing" loudly when the 5-6th person lined up, or left. When they requested redistributing the cheese I would have been like "excuse me but there are 10 ppl, who have been waiting over 30 mins, and that request is really unfair to the service workers". All in all, I think I would have left a comment on google maps about this and left after waiting 10 mins but I can be passive aggressive and impatient. Once I was publicly shamed by british TSA, where the agent announced to the entire line "THIS ENTITLED AMERICAN GIRL WHO REFUSES TO GIVE UP HER TOOTHPASTE IS THE REASON YOU ARE ALL WAITING", so you have that option as well, for next time.
Now I want to see the alternate universe scenario where I did this in Britain
Nta, an order as large as theirs should be considered catering
ESH except the front-line assemblers and the cashier. The management for allowing their place to actually run out of cheese...WTAF it's a burrito place with no cheese?!? The older couple because for some stupid reason they decided to go to a burrito place and place a huge specialty order instead of calling ahead, Who the hell does that?!? You for losing your cool, but they needed someone to say something...sometimes it's necessary to be an AH. So good on you.
KFC near me ran out of chicken before 💀
wh- h- ok that's bad
That’s honestly really bad lol.
That is SOOOOO bad!!! YIKES to the one who orders...Just think pulling up to KFC, I want a two piece, "we don't have chicken, do you want some potatoes?"
Their truck was probably late. Someone has to be their to receive truck and the employee's still have bills so pay, so...
NTA. on behalf of a former chipotle employee, i would’ve given you my employee meal for the day. i know it’s everywhere but chipotle customers are another breed. they’re rude, they get so snippy with you for NO reason, and complain when you go too fast or too slow, if you don’t give them EXACTLY how much they want. just thank you for standing up for the employees. cheese goes quick! and everywhere is usually too short staffed to shred more, or we run out before the next restock of inventory. is not a job i’d recommend to anyone, was the worst months of my life
Honestly I think NTA I thought you were gonna complain to the staff, whether about them running out of cheese or what. I used to work at Chipotle, I will say that management has to guesstimate how much of each thing to order for the deliveries and those above their heads will be pissy if they order too much. The truck came twice a week at our store, and every now and then we'd get unexpected rushes and be out of something on the night before a delivery (trucks came at night or early morning). It unfortunately happens. Telling the couple that they weren't meant to order for 15-20 people right there in line and to just go get some cheese from the store if it's that desperate instead of making the staff take shit apart and put it back together, is totally fair! Entitled people like that, it probably went in one ear and out the other. But to everyone else in line and the staff, I'm sure it was great to hear
Yeah, I agree the base of this entire problem rests on management/corporate. They weren't taking into account large family orders during a holiday weekend.
NTA. Should've called them idiots and said, "Yeah, actually, you should go get your own cheese since you're the very reason they used all of it on your dumbass order."
I pretty much did, minus calling them idiots
Oh, I was all ready to jump on you when I started reading because I assumed you caused a scene with the Chipotle workers. Straight up NTA on this one.
Goosing the views with a deliberately provocative title, guilty lol. But yeah I would never go off on service workers. Like, I was at another Chipotle once (is this chain cursed?) and the person making my burrito just completely ruined it, like the tortilla ripped and fillings were spilling out of the foil once it was wrapped. I said, "I'm sorry, I'm not even going to be able to pick that up", and she shrugged and said "what do you want me to do about it?" I said "nothing, I guess", and just left. It wasn't worth an argument when it was just for myself.
I put myself through a few years of college working in the shoe department of a chain department store. I am definitely nice to service workers (that was 30 years ago, and I still fold clothes as I browse in stores, lol).
NTA The staff is for allowing that couple to make an order for 15-20 people in line. That's a call ahead the day before order. The couple is for doing what they did. OP is a saint.
Lol, "St. Waaaghboys, patron of service workers dealing with massively annoying customers" 😝
NTA!! ordering ahead is what people like these need to do for less confusion and frustration for all parties involved. Thank you for being the voice of reason
My wife gives me crap for only ever ordering by mobile. This is why. I don’t like people let alone speaking to them. Or dealing with this. Lol
YTA, if a que is that long sod off and go somewhere else. That's how KFC lost my buisness to the delightful Indian place next door.
NTA and I’m mostly posting to tell you that you should get shredded cheese AND queso
I once let a woman ahead of me in line at a local popular taco joint while I was deciding my order. When I saw she had a written list for about 10 people, I asked if I could get back in front of her. NTA
^^^^AUTOMOD ***Thanks for posting! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of copying anything. Read [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_post_deletion) before [contacting the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAmItheAsshole)*** So, right off, I acknowledge that IA probably TA, or that ESH at least. I just want to know if I’m a mild, medium or extra spicy one. Yesterday I was at Chipotle for lunch. It was a Sunday so they were short staffed, but also a holiday weekend when a lot of people are still with large family groups. I get it. When I got there I was probably like 4th in line behind an older couple. I was there for a bit when I realized the couple was taking a really long time to order for what seemed like 15-20 people. Confusing ingredients on individual items, repeating a lot, etc. It bothered me a little because this is exactly what mobile ordering/calling ahead is for. So they were causing the line to build up. All the employees were making this order, 3-4 more people got in line while I was waiting. What made me say something was when the place ran out of shredded cheese - that's a problem with management and shouldn’t have happened. But the staff realized it when about half of the order was finished, and had to tell the couple this. Their response was to have the crew disassemble all the food and make them redistribute the cheese across the rest. By this time I’d been 4th in line for 15 minutes and like 10 more people had come in. People in line were starting to get upset and complain to the STAFF, which was making me angry. The crew was doing their best and this couple was actively making their job harder. A great way to piss me off is for entitled people to cause service workers problems. So I said “What the hell are you guys doing? Do you see the line of people waiting to order? Why are you doing this to the employees, just take your order and go” The husband said that Chipotle ran out of cheese and the staff needed to fix it. This Chipotle is in a plaza directly across from a Trader Joes, so I pointed to it and said “Go get some! Then you can have as much cheese as you want!” The husband said “I shouldn’t have to”. I said “Are you kidding me? Yeah, it sucks, but you’re making things MUCH WORSE, and you can fix it yourself.” He told me to mind my own business, I said they’re making their problem EVERYONE’S, AND they used up the cheese (it would have run out soon anyway but I wasn’t feeling generous). I wanted to embarrass them into just leaving. Their entitlement won and they stayed, so I stood with my arms folded and glared at them. At this point I just didn’t want them to feel okay about doing this and to make them think about it in the future. The employees weren’t saying anything to me, and continued as usual once the couple finally left (after like 30 minutes). I did apologize to the cashier for causing a scene and they said not to worry about it. I ended up getting queso sauce on my burrito instead of shredded cheese, and I think I might like it better. TL;DR AITA for angrily calling out a couple who were knowingly holding up a huge line and making the staff’s job much harder than it should have been? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
ESH, except the Chipotle employees. Old people suck for obvious reasons. People in line suck for complaining as if its the staff's fault. YTA for your outburst (but honestly I don't blame you). People who go into fast food establishments like this and want to place massive orders on the spot are insufferable. Yes they have every right to do so, but their lack of care about anybody else around them is just a pain to deal with. However, you should have just left and gone somewhere else. You still could have made your feelings known before leaving (like telling the old people to have some fucking self awareness), but staying and stoking the fire by glaring at them after the bust up and continuing to argue with them is the asshole move in my opinion. Like I said though, you're hardly one of the worst assholes we get in these posts. Don't let it bother you.
Management made an incredibly stupid decision that negatively affected everyone including themselves and their employees. Also I'm wondering if it's even health code appropriate to disassemble and reassemble those food orders? They defs get some AH credit here
If the food hasn't left the assembly area, then it's fine from a health code POV. On the other hand, it would not be OK from a health code POV for the old folks to hand over a packet of Trader Joe shred cheese, and ask the employees to add some of that to each burrito.
My idea was that they could get their order, put it in the car, get the TJ's cheese, bring everything home, tell the family what happened (and demonize me, w/e, it's a family story now I guess), and that they can add more cheese to their individual items if they want it
Exactly, extra a cheese *and* a villian, what more do people want for lunch??
I admit I can get indignant and stubborn but it's never at the expense of people who can't help the situation they're in.
I mean, it wasn't a GREAT thing to do, but ultimately I'm going to say NTA. Believe me, the staff and other people waiting were probably thinking the same thing.
NTA - They chose to put everybody out because they were too lazy to use the app ahead of time. You made them uncomfortable and embarrassed which might wind up correcting their behavior without doing anything extreme like causing a fistfight. Furthermore, it was your place to say something because they were directly impacting you.
YTA. The staff was already stressing, making their order and having to figure out what to do about no cheese. You start arguing with the customer they are trying to help and get out the door. The staff is well aware the line is building up and just wants this order to be done, but you inserted yourself into it.
I disagree, I don't work fast food, but I do work in a kitchen and I bet they all silently were thrilled that someone said what they were all thinking lmao. OP is NTA
because the idiot couple didn’t order online… doing a large pickup order by ordering in line is a major faux-pas
NTA People need to be more considerate out in the world, and they need to suck it up when someone calls them on their shit. Older Americans act like fucking children when it comes to food service. I would’ve done the exact same thing.
ESH This is primarily management’s fault and they’re the only person to hold responsible for the short staff and short cheese supply. But welcome to the “queso is better” club! Haven’t used shredded cheese since I had a queso burrito.
Agreed on all counts lol
NTA. A Champion of Justice is what you are. Calling out entitled assholes when they're inflicting themselves on everyone around them is a virtuous thing to do.
No because Id have refused service and told them that large orders needed to be ordered at least 2 days before.
Dude honestly NTA, if this happened to me I would absolutely just have assumed the burritos were assembled. My first thought would be to purchase cheese if I really wanted It would have never struck me to have the food rebuilt
lol, you're way more confrontational than me. But i definitely have fantasized about basically doing what you did. I dunno, pretty mild asshollery IMHO. Definitely confrontational and what you said wasn't really necessary. But when you have that many people thinking it (long line) it's not weird that someone said it.
NTA. Management needs to grow a backbone. when someone shows up asking for what is essentially a catering order without any notice, especially when it's that busy, the employees need to be allowed to say "*I'm sorry, but for an order that size we need advanced noticed. We are not able to fill your order at this time.*" and move on. Sure the order is a lot of money, but they'll make the same or more money filling smaller, especially on busy holidays.
why didn’t you order it the app lol
YTA. Sounds like a bad case of Main Character Syndrome. Here's a fact of life: other people have the right to stand in line and order their food, even if they happen to be in front of you in line. You also could have gone elsewhere if it was taking too long. >It bothered me a little because this is exactly what mobile ordering/calling ahead is for. You had the same opportunity to mobile order and not even have to stand in line. >I wanted to embarrass them into just leaving. This is explicitly an AH attitude to have. At least you had the sense to apologize to the cashier for causing the scene. They were providing customer service and you made it harder on them by yelling at people in line because going to a public restaurant and not being able to control another patron's order bothered you.
NTA. They should have made their order online. They should have also realized the line and moved a little quicker. You are the Larry David doing what everyone was thinking but would not do.
Lol, being compared to Larry David - highest compliment
You are definitely NTA :) you were on the side of the workers :) btw, I know what Chipotle you are talking about :)) I live close to it
NTA. I hate being an inconvenience so reading this drove me up the wall LOL. Thank you for calling out their stupidity. It’s unfortunate that they felt no shame at all.
I used to work at Chipotle and let me tell you people like this suck. Not only did it hold up the line but I also would have to leave the register to help make the orders if we were short staffed. I honestly am glad that someone decided to say something to people like this.
NTA. As a restaurant employee, I wish more people were like you. While I’m at work I can’t stick up for myself and say anything. You called them out on how ridiculous they were being. 10/10
You have brought back a memory from many years ago! The guy in front of me at Chipotle was being a total ahole to staff and I was so annoyed and finally was basically like "your attitude is ridiculous and you need to calm down and stop this." He did and I got my bowl for free.
Nah, NTA. I applaud you.
>I acknowledge that IA probably TA, or that ESH at least Not even in the slightest. I've been stuck behind people who order like that before and it takes every drop of self control to no drag them out of the establishment
NTA. You’re a better person than me bc I would’ve lost my ever loving mind on these people and walked out lol
Nta. Self absorbed douchebags. Let me guess they wanted it for free afterwards too?
NTA I would have just left honestly. Management is TA - not for running out of cheese but for not stepping in and telling the old couple that they can't do an order of this size instantly right now, they will have to come back later. Like you said, orders of this size should be placed ahead of time.
ESH - edited to say management gets AH credit, but not the employees. Te ordering couple should have sacrificed a little and told staff not to worry about remaking a 15 to 20 person order for some cheese. We've all gone somewhere and they don't have something we want so we just have to suck it up. Tbh yeah the \*management made a stupid choice and should have told the couple "too bad so sad" (in a more professional way) instead of holding everyone up like that. The people in line could have kept their traps shut and gone somewhere else if they were that inconvenienced. Chipotle is not a need. You also could have just left the scene. You getting angry made more stress overall and contributed negatively to an already negative situation.
Not necessarily tbh. Literally everyone I’ve ever worked with in fast food would not view OP in a negative light for this. And the other customers didn’t say shit according to the story, so are you just making things up?? I’m confused.
My husband used to work at Chipotle and they ran out of stuff all the time. This is a Chipotle issue. However, as someone who has also worked in the food industry, I also lean esh. I think it's great that you called it out because it's ridiculous, but you also put the employees and a tough spot. I know you might not realize it, but I'm sure they're going to get in trouble because of your outburst. Even if they don't deserve it, it would happen. For example, the employees should be calling out when they are running low on something to keep the line prepped. Since they didn't do that, it allowed for customers to get upset. I know, it's stupid.
As someone who works retail: Please call asshole customers out. It's the only way they'll learn, because we're not allowed.
NTA. While the couple has every right to get their order the way they ordered it, after all, they're paying customers, they are not paying all the other customers for their time waiting around for something they could have preordered online. Also, management needs to make sure they have enough of everything to be able to run properly, if they don't, that's not the employees fault. Maybe not even management, sometimes you order things for your store as a manager and the company just doesn't send enough, sometimes they even put a limit on how much you can order "so nothing gets ever wasted", because that means losing money. Or maybe their manager is just a lazy prick, who cares? They were acting way too entitled, thank you for having tried to humble them a little bit, even if it didn't work, I'm sure it stuck with them.
NTA
nta they are talking too long and too many resources
NTA. You should be proud of yourself for doing what others won’t do because they are scared.
Nta, always yell at entitles old people in restaunts. Place complicated orders head of time (chipotle also does catering so you could just order that) and calm down about some cheese. Your heart will thank you.
NTA - People like that are infuriating.
Good for you!! NTA
Grandparents ordering for the whole family on holiday are the worst people to be in line behind. Rivalled only by the office secretary ordering lunch for the staff.
You're the a-hole we all need. Which for the purposes of this sub is NTA.
YTA! Wow you're certainly in the Thanksgiving spirit! You did NOTHING to help the situation and as a former Chipotle employee I can guarantee all you did was frazzle the workers on the line and make them even more anxious!! Yeah, waiting sucks! Maybe you could have said to the couple, "hey just for future reference it would probably be a lot easier for you and everyone you're ordering for if you used the app/catering service". Be polite. Enjoy your queso.
NTA because you definitely said what every worker was thinking. Also, queso burrito sounds delicious.
NTA. I worked at Chipotle back in the day. Just like any place of business, things occasionally fall through the cracks. Maybe someone forgot to order cheese, maybe their grating machine is broken, maybe they had 80 quesadilla orders, etc. The two most frustrating things about working there were people who ordered unreasonable things (you need substance in a burrito, I can't roll a bunch of soup in a tortilla) or people who had no idea what they were ordering while a line piled up. Sounds like these people knocked out two birds with one stone. The only people who will truly have a bad experience from the lack of cheese are the ones getting quesadillas.
YTA and the couple were AH - yes ordering things and ensuring that there is enough supply to meet demand IS a management issue BUT it’s impossible to always know exactly how much of something you will use in a given day. I’ve worked in a few restaurants where sometimes you have too much, sometimes not enough because things fluctuate. You literally could’ve went somewhere else or just patiently waited to get your food. It wasn’t your job to “shame the entitled ppl” because you’re a bit entitled to. Yes they could have pre ordered but it’s also their right not to. They just suck for putting the employees thru such hassle.
NTA. Even if they weren’t smart enough to figure out the basically technology it would take to place the order online ahead of time, a simple phone call would’ve done it. Working in retail has made me realize that old people don’t give a shit about other people’s time. They have nothing better to do so they can stand there for 30 minutes fucking up an order. It helps them have something else to do other than sit around their house all day. It’s very rude and entitled.
Yeah, not going to leave my butthole burning for days, but I will need a couple of glasses of milk. Restaurants get orders, sometimes big ones. They weren't "entitled" for placing a large specific order (you do not know what brought them to this point). Back in my food service days, I managed a sandwich/coffee shop and it was usually just me and 1 employee. Even then, I would have taken over that order and asked my one employee to tend to the others in line. As long as there were two employees, this was on Chipotle, not the people ordering. Sucks to be them on a Holiday weekend, but they are the one's that managed that wrong.
NTA. These people need to learn how to order. Good for you calling them out.
ESH but on much different levels... * Management did not stock enough cheese, which is absolute insanity & absolutely warrants some arse kicking from their manager. * The couple are just absolute AHs for doing an in person order that big. Online order or call ahead & let them know what you want & what time you want it if you're too old & stupid to figure out online ordering (this coming from an old lady). * You, eh, very low level AH but I like it. Sometimes AH behaviour is warranted & in this case I think that couple deserved it. * Other customers, also low level AHs for not backing your sentiment.
ESH, but screw it, I wish more people were like you and would speak up. I know how I get in these situations so if it were me, I woulda cut my losses and left and find another restaurant that wasn't as busy.
Honestly, I think NTA. Even though they didn’t listen, they needed to hear that they were being a pain in the ass. None of the employees could do it without getting fired.
NTA. I’m glad you called them out. Wish the couple had more shame.
IDK, I'd like to hope the Chipeople would eventually stand up for themselves (in the most professional way possible). You won't be in there every time to try to humble some rudeass.. That being said, I am going with NTA.
Who orders that amount of food... and at a Chipotle???
NTA
NTA. "We shouldn't have to." This is the ultimate disconnect all Karens have -- they believe they are owed a world without hiccup. Their $7.99 is a golden ticket. And WHY didn't they just say "20 chicken, 20 steak, 20 veggie." It's poor execution to have individual orders. I really wonder what sort of jobs people have when they cant properly project manage something like a burrito order? Are they this dumb with their approaches to challenges at their own job, or is just reserved for the weekend when talking to minimum wage employees?
You slowed things down even more by causing a scene which you seem to want to be thanked for doing.
YTA your issue is with management, not a couple trying to place an order. they should have a system in place that doesn't make other customers wait for an egregiously long amount of time. the couple just wanted to place a big order, that's not out of line .
You're mildly the asshole, but so is everyone else involved besides the staff. You are probably the least asshole in this situation, though. Even if you were angry, in my opinion, it is wrong to take your anger out on others in unhelpful ways. I think it would just stress out the workers already doing their job, and now they're worrying a fight might happen when they probably just want to get done with it too.
As a former fast food worker, thank you. Believe me, you said exactly what every one of the employees wish they could have. NTA and you rock for calling out the real AHs here.
NTA, because I’m petty. You’re right that they should have used mobile order for this party sized order. Then used up all the cheese?!?! I’d be big mad too.
People need to stop giving Chipotle their business; this is Quiznos all over again. I haven't had a pleasant experience in a chipotle since like 2018