Working at Chipotle at 17

This was my first job. I started working at a fairly popular store when I was 17 years old (about $10,000 daily throughout). My second day of the job, I got cussed out by a customer for asking him if he wanted a drink. That pretty much set the tone for the next 2 years of my life. Honestly, I almost quit but it got way more fun after 18. Started learning grill, and I was good at it… actually, I was too good at it. Basically, after a couple of months, I was grinding my ass on the grill for almost the entire shift, leaving them with enough meat so I could clean the grill and close right at 10 or even before 10 sometimes. This stopped when my GM threatened to fire me. And no I wasn’t fired lmao, I quit and got a retail job at 19 which turned out okay.

I saw pretty much everything you could imagine. Smoked weed with all the KMs after closing, still 17 here. Every once in a while, my favorite KM would send me on break with a $100 bill to meet a car outside. Let’s call him Mel. My favorite memory of Mel was when he stood up for me while I was getting yelled at by a customer through the N95 mask. He was really mad his pickup order wasn’t ready, I guess he had been waiting a long time and was fed up. I kind of quietly and nervously told him it’ll be out soon, but he kept going and going. At some point, we got into it and he threatened to call corporate on me in front of the whole store. Mel popped up out of nowhere, told him to calm down, and it pretty much became a 2v1 while the guy was in disbelief. Even through the mask, this guy’s face was boiling red, and he was just a couple feet away from screaming this in our faces

Him: ”IS THIS HOW YOU TRAIN YOUR EMPLOYEES?? IS THIS HOW YOU TRAIN YOUR EMPLOYEES????”

Me: “Yes.”

We gave him the business card for corporate.

My second favorite KM, the 40 year old with anger management issues, and on our very first conversation, told me how his ex-wife is in prison for attempted murder against him. Unfortunately, he quickly became my least favorite when he started banging the 19-year old cashier. I suppose he never learned the saying “Don’t shit where you eat.”

Our GM was just a hardass. Looking back on it now, I’m not sure why we all hated her so much. Maybe it was the youth and inexperience, or maybe it was her cutting every minor’s hours when COVID-19 started, or her constant nitpicking of minor mistakes, or her always being the last one to help during a brutal rush, even when we were shortstaffed and it was necessary. But honestly, she wasn’t really that bad.

Anyways, the point is I don’t miss any of that at all. I just miss the free food. God, I miss the free food every day. I miss making loaded nachos and putting that shit in the heater for 30 minutes before break. The best secret menu item that you’ll never get to try. I love Chipotle when it’s free. I guess it’s alright at $10 for chicken these days.