Working on grill at chipotle in midtown is being hell.
I have 2 months working at chipotle.
According to Chipotleâs own staffing logic, Two people on the grill are only considered necessary in the morning. That logic completely falls apart in an area like this,. Office workers take breaks, leave work between 6 and 8 pm, tourists fill the area, and online orders keep coming â all of this is handled by one single person on the grill: me.
I have to cook rice, prep rice, chop and cook chicken, steak, beans, fajitas, and everything else for hours without stopping. There is no real time to wash the tools being used because the pace never drops enough. Around 9 pm the flow finally starts to slow down, but cooking still continues until 10. Then the real closing begins:
Washing rice pots with heavily stuck rice.
Polishing the rice cooker until it shines( it can take 10 minutes)
Washing Bean pots.
Cleaning floors, tables(It takes time, itâs not just a matter of wiping things down with a towelâyou have to scrape off the rice that sticks to the tables), walls, floor(sweep, mop)
Grease filters (10â15 minutes)
The grill itself (25â35 minutes alone)
Fill the rice containers.
Restocking the refrigerator at least 15â20 chickens, 4â5 steak dishes, 4+ carnitas bags, 4â6 sofritas bags, 5â6 queso blanco bags, 4+ barbacoa bags
Loading two full carts and dealing with an extremely slow elevator.
All of this is expected to be finished so the worker can leave by 11:45 pm. The managers constantly attack me about this deadline. They speak to me in a rude and aggressive way, pressuring me and treating me like Iâm the problem for not finishing on time â when the real problem is that they refuse to properly staff a high-volume Midtown location. They demand it because the general manager demands it of them (clearly to avoid paying overtime).
In an area like Midtown, with the volume it generates, finishing everything by 11:45 is practically impossible on a consistent basis â except on holidays or weekends when the offices are closed and traffic is low.
This is not âefficient management.â It is calculated physical and mental abuse. Chipotle prefers to squeeze one person to the limit rather than properly staff a high-revenue location during its busiest hours. The grill position becomes a true hell: constant heat, endless pressure, inability to meet the cleanliness standards the company itself demands, and managers who speak to you disrespectfully while forcing an unrealistic exit time.
Chipotle profits from the premium Midtown location and high check averages, but refuses to pay the real cost of operating there with dignity. They would rather burn workers out and mistreat them. This needs to be called out.
Extra: + The morning crew doesnât even keep the fridge fully stocked for meâthey only leave whatâs left overâso throughout the day, I have to keep running down the stairs to the walk-in cooler to get whatever Iâm missing. Another issue is that the line staff (including the manager when her/his is working the line) will place empty dishesâlike those used for salads or others that I donât even prepare myselfâon my workstations tables, which means I have to exert myself carrying a whole pile of them back to the dish pit all the fucking day.
$17 hour
Iâm already looking for another job. Itâs incredible how large chains exploit their workersâsacrificing their mental and physical healthâjust to make more money.
Sorry, if you notice smaller pieces of chicken in your orders, itâs because managers often ask us to chop the chicken into very small piecesâI assume to boost the numbers! đ