what is really sad to me is that for 5 years i truly believed in everything the Chipotle brand stood for....
here is my story.
i originally started at a franchise chipotle (yes there actually were some at one point) my cousin helped me get a job there and i truly loved working there (most days) i ended up meeting my husband through chipotle (it was all legit, we were in different stores the entire time we both worked for the company) i was crew for almost a year when the offer to be promoted was presented to me and i found out i was pregnant at the time and i chose to take them up on the offer. i worked my ass off for my promotion and since it was franchise they didnt typically pay as well as corporate did for service managers but i was expecting and my boss was really great throughout the whole pregnancy!

shortly after our baby was born, my husband and i decided that we had to move back to my hometown because between the two of us we were not able to afford being on our own with a new baby (my hubby was no longer working for the company due to the crap his GM put him through) so we moved back to northeastern ohio, and i was able to transfer as a service manager into the cleveland market, but lost all of my tenure(2 years) i had with my old store. i later found out by the end of the month that the franchises had been bought out and whoever was still working got to keep their tenure, that was the first time i got shafted.

i started a week into a brand new store (i wanted to be a part of S.W.A.T. , but was not informed in time to participate.) so i walked into a new staff full of male co workers and very few females. i also got to deal with lots of machoism from most of the hispanic male crew and even a little bit from my new GM. if i was not being hit on i was being ignored by the male crew, because i was a woman in charge of the shifts. eventually my male GM and male apprentice were transferred and a new female GM and Appentice were brought in. together we cleaned up the store and started to turn it around (mind you this was a new store that was already falling apart after 6 months)

we finally started promoting people who seemed to deserve it, but eventually all SM's and KM's started to get shit on so a few quit or were transferred because they were not behaving as a manager should. again it was down to 1 GM, 1 Appentice, and 1 SM (me) and a rude and pervy KM. i ended up sacrificing my family life for this store because my GM, never worked the hours she should have, eventually the apprentice was let go and the km was let go and they brought in another SM to help run the store. she and i worked and stayed over our shifts almost every shift we worked just to make sure that things were getting done properly. i was making crazy overtime and sometimes i even stayed after i was off the clock just to halp out the other sm. eventually, i realized that our GM was adjusting our hours, without asking or talling us it was going on. i called HR. she was investigated and then let go. i was proud of myself, because she was not a person of integrity and that is just not right to do to both of your SM's who are covering your ass!

i was moved from that store after the weekend she was let go, because my husband(who had started working for chipotle again and was quickly promoted because he was that badass at running a store) was an apprentice who they needed to take over that store and we could not work together. i was moved for a few weeks until the newest store that was being built closer to my home was completed and i would be transferred there and help open the new store. i had a great time and a fun time at my temporary store, it was effortless and the GM saw potential in me and told our new Area Manager. i thought i had a good chance at working toward a promotion finally after working for the company for 4 years plus!

that march, i was brought into my new store and helped clean it up set it up and participate in S.W.A.T. and train our new crew. it really went down from there. my area manager constantly flirted with a couple of girls who came in to help train crew, and they flirted right back, more of that was going on than the actual training itself. once SWAT was over one of those girls was asked by the AM to transfer to the new store because we didnt have a 3rd manager. she said yes, and we opened with 3 managers 1GM and 2 SM's. all females. i worked hard, i guess a little too hard because i was pulled onto the patio one day by my GM and AM and was told that i was being too hard on the crew, i had GREAT customer service but that wasnt going to save me unless i changed my ways. i honestly didnt know that i was acting this way toward crew. i am not typically that manager, so i knew i screwed up and quickly made the adjustment, right away my GM was getting feedback from crew saying that i was changing and all for the better! i was relieved, i really wanted to prove myself and wanted that promotion to apprentice since i've worked toward it for 4 years (yeah usually they promote very quickly, too quickly) and i still hadnt even been given the chance. i asked questions, because at first the GM said i didnt ask enough. so i did start asking but was never taught anything, i was expected to know it, but the GM turned all of her attention to the other SM and left me to fend for myself.

basically, once i started working at this brand new store shit was fucked up. everyone partied with everyone, im not saying that i was oh so perfect, but i wasnt going out with crew. if i went out it was with management, usually service management or those who were in training for management. i also didnt frequently do this because i was the only one with a child at home. later in the year end of summer i had a nervous breakdown, i had work stress and lots of it, on top of stress at home and i also suffer from clinical depression. i came in on my shift and i couldnt function, i was crying uncontrollably and just couldnt get it together. my GM sent me home (thank god) after that i went home and got worse and worse, the next day i was dropping off my child at my mother's house and broke down in front of her. she had to call me off of work until i could seek some help. that weekend i ended up in the behavioral ward in the hospital. scared i was going to lose my job and scared of everything else that was going on around me. i went back to work on tuesday, because i didnt want to risk my job, since i had a family to help support.( if there is one thing that you should know is that once on meds for depression you are not "healed" immediately, it takes weeks and weeks until those meds are pumping throughout your system, this is important to know)

i went back to work i was still not myself, about a week and a half into being back i got secret shopped. it was a rough night, at the time of the shop apparently i was helping in the kitchen and not on the front line, im not sure why i was back there but i dont just wonder around aimlessly during my shift like other SM's i know(knew) anyway my front line crew sucked that night. they were never the cream of the crop anyway but my GM just let them stay and never did anything but make empty threats of termination. anyway it was a bad shop. i was the one held accountable for it. so even though i usually get great compliments on my customer service i was let go for that reason. (i didnt say hi from the kitchen, since i was busy)

i later found out that i was let go because i did not tell my GM that i was on meds, which i wasnt until after the whole incident, and i did explain to her once i was back everything that had happened to me and that i didnt want the apprenticeship anymore. i had to focus on my wellbeing, but that i was still going to be the best SM i could be for her.so the entire time i was working and still trying my hardest to be the best i could be she was looking for any excuse to fire me, and i didnt know. i had thought she had understood where i was coming from. i was completely honest with her about everything since i had kind of gone off the map for a week. i wanted to work, i felt guilty for not being there instead of focusing on getting better. i nkow look back and wish that i had stayed in that behavioral ward longer if i had known what was to come, because believe me i didnt now take it well at all.

i now wish that i had never left my original chipotle, although i am sure that one went down hill as well since corporate bought them out.

there are a great number of many things that have happened in the cleveland market i still need to tell about but they are for a different post, because they dont always directly involve me, but i assure you i am linked to a few of them! i will be posting soon! and i am urging those who do know what i am talking about to post as well. the mother f'ers that are running it now, need a wake up call because what has happened in this market is not right in any way shape or form!!