[NYPOST] Mexican restaurant chain Chipotle fired one of its managers after an online video surfaced showing the employee refusing to serve a group of black men unless they pay up front ‐ but now the eatery is rethinking its decision.
The unidentified manager of a Chipotle restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota, can be seen in a viral clip posted to Twitter smiling and saying, "You gotta pay because you never have money when you come in here," to the group of customers.
The group of five men were noticeably offended by the comments, telling other workers that they were being "stereotyped," as they filmed themselves in the eatery, according to the clip, which has been viewed more than 6.4 million times since it was posted Friday by one of the customers.
Another worker in the video later tells the group, "We’re not gonna make food unless you guys actually have money."
Masud Ali, the customer who posted a series of videos of the incident to his Twitter account, accused the female manager who refused to serve him and his friends of racism.
"It sounded really racist ‐ the way she said it was racist," Ali, 21, told The Star Tribune. "She asked for proof of income as if I’m getting a loan."
Chipotle was quick to terminate the manager.
"Regarding what happened at the St. Paul restaurant, the manager thought these gentlemen were the same customers from Tuesday night who weren’t able to pay for their meal," the chain said in a statement. "Regardless, this is not how we treat our customers and as a result, the manager has been terminated and the restaurant has been retrained to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again."
Following the termination, other Twitter users came to the defense of the manager, pointing out tweets posted to Ali’s Twitter account boasting about "dining and dashing" or ordering food at a restaurant and leaving before paying.
The revelation apparently prompted Chipotle to reconsider its hasty firing of the manager.
"Our actions were based on the facts known to us immediately after the incident, including video footage, social media posts and conversations with the customer, manager and our employees," Chipotle chief communications officer Laurie Schalow told Fox News on Sunday. "We want to do the right thing, so after further investigation we will re-train and re-hire if the facts warrant it." |