A New Twist in the Chipotle Dine and Dash Case

[erpowers]

After a Chipotle manager was fired for refusing to give a group of Black customers their food before paying, the restaurant chain is walking back that decision after tweets surfaced showing one of the men had bragged about “dining and dashing.”

Masaud Ali, 21, and his friends recorded a video that went viral showing a smiling Chipotle employee in St Paul, Minnesota telling the group, “you never have money when you come in here.” That statement conjured up notions that it was a #EatingWhileBlack situation and the Black men were perhaps the subject of unlawful discrimination by a white person that’s become all too common against unsuspecting Black folks in recent months.

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“Aye man i think chopotle catchin up to us fam. should we change locations and yoooooo what should we do about the other thang,” read a post on Ali’s account from 2016, which has now been deleted.

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A post from March 2015 read: “if you a real ass n***a we [gonna go to] Applebees [sic] and eat as much a we can and tip the nice lady 20cents and walk the f**k out.”

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“Guys we’re borrowing food… that’s it. And if the lady tries to stop you at the door don’t hesitate to truck the sh*t out of that b***h.”

https://thegrio.com/2018/11/19/chipotle-manager-who-was-fired-for-asking-black-men-to-prepay-for-food-may-get-job-back-due-to-dine-and-dash-tweets/

[Thomas Hurt]

1. no sure how you dine and dash from a chipotle...you can rob a chipotle I suppose.

[hlthe2b]

2. That's what I don't get... Even if I ordered for several people, I still had to pay before picking

up the order...

Something doesn't make sense here.

[Thomas Hurt]

3. yeah, you can snatch the bags of food and run...

but that is not what you usually think of dine and dash.

[TheBlackAdder]

10. The food is sitting in a bag on the counter right by the register. Anyone can snatch and run!

[WillowTree]

5. If they start preparing the food and then it turns out the guys can't pay.......

.......then it's wasted food, which amounts to the same thing.

Simple solution, however, is not to turn the order in or start preparation until they've paid. Don't even have to make it an obvious thing. Just wait until they pay. I'm not a big fan of Chipotle and only eat there rarely, but I wouldn't even notice anything out of the ordinary if they did it that way.

[RockRaven]

7. First of all, that's not how Chipotle ordering works, because the food is prepped in stages

as you move down the line towards the cash register. There isn't an opportunity to make a full coherent order at the register before the food gets assembled. There is no way to do it subtly without obviously disrupting everything.

Secondly, a prior dine and dash at a restaurant (which on social media is as likely to be a jest as it is to be a confession) is really irrelevant to this case, because at a chipotle you don't get the food in hand until you pay. There's no incentive for the perpetrator to attempt the maneuver because there's no "dining" possible before the "dashing." While ordering food one could not pay for would be wastage akin to dine-and-dash theft, it is also a waste of the perpetrator's time -- for no benefit. On top of which, unless this manager was an avid follower of this guy's social media, it played no role in her decision that day, and is irrelevant to the question of whether or not she should be fired.

It seems to me Chipotle reacted precipitously in response to social media scrutiny both in the firing and in the un-firing.

[WillowTree]

9. It sounded to me like they've pulled this stunt before and she wasn't falling for it again.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. She didn't have to be an avid follower of this asshole's social media.

She previously received the in-person treatment by the thief. It’s obvious they had prior history with this punk. I guess he figured all he needed was a camera and an internet mob to back him up this time.

[Tiggeroshii]

12. She outta get her job back and these kids should be banned from that restaurant

It really looked like she was avting within reason and they were trying to take advantage.

[kskiska]

13. Also, there's not a fixed price for each dish

It depends on what items you choose as you go down the line. For instance, the prices for chicken and steak differ. Also, it's extra if you want queso. I've been asked at the register whether my bowl included chicken, because if it was steak or something else it would cost extra.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. Problem is the way chipotle does their preparation in front of you and behind glass.

While they ask you which ingredients you want.

It’s their “thing”

So much so a disabled person successfully sued chipotle for not having a low enough glass for a person in a wheelchair to have the “chipotle experience.” They reworked all their counters nationwide in response to the ADA lawsuit.

https://www.wendel.com/knowledge-center/publications/2010/the-chipotle-experience-a-substitute-experience-violates-the-ada

[superpatriotman]

4. Diner sounds like a real asshole

Bragging about committing crimes is as stupid as committing crimes.

[Tipperary]

6. He is not only a thief, but a complete dumbass.

Stealing and then bragging about it online. “Well established” young men, my ass.