LR
Lacey Shoe Repair
Sep 18, 2026
I go here occasionally because Lacey Shoe Repair is close, and like Taco Bell it is fast food with a good option to avoid factory meat farming. Plus the queso.
Now, I know that restaurants get their food delivery early in the week, so I didn't expect the freshest Chipotle experience in the first place. But on top of that already depreciated expectation, the service today left me myself feeling like a factory farmed customer.
I arrived before they opened and decided to complete an online training course in my car required by WA to purchase a .22 wmr for my farm. It was full of weirdly irrelevant propaganda, lots of pictures of women with guns, and promises to make your dreams come true (not unlike the dream of houris in heaven, vibe wise). So, admittedly, I was already in a daze of not-exactly-consensual American masculinity before I entered Chipotle at 11:15am.
There was one person in front of me, and no one else in the restaurant. She was in a casual mood, but the worker was certainly not. I had never seen someone at Chipotle rush through the making of a burrito bowl like this. Was the training new and faster paced? Was he worried the place would fill quickly at 11:15am and trying to stay ahead of the game? Whatever it was, the customer was cool as a cucumber and maybe a poker player I don't know, because he couldn't fluster her, and she got what she wanted and sauntered to a table.
I had been saying small prayers that another employee would step in before he was done with customer A, and I would have a different server. Prayers were answered when another employee stepped in, but she only got as far as steaming the tortilla before the guy was back on it taking over for her like a shark to blood. He loves his job? He is nervous about his job. Hard to say.
I managed to tell him yes rice, but not too much. More beans (he had given only two careless tablespoons), sofritos, and before I could take my eyes off the sofritos, he had moved on to something else. I was trying to control things, but the analog FPS of the situation was not enough and I didn't really catch all his movements. We were on salsa. My god. Ok, I said pico, he did something. I said green sauce, he slopped on some wet green stuff that I did not want, but obviously had no time to stop him. I said no I mean the other green sauce, which he quickly said "that is what we call GREEN sauce, and this is what we call CILANTRO LIME SAUCE." I said ok, and he already had the ladle up with the Cilantro Lime Sauce, when he thought to pause and say "It's $1." I said no. I was now caught up in his urgency and had lost control. I said bell peppers!, and I didn't see them go in. I said shredded cheese!, and he sprinkled a homeopathic amount. I didn't have time to complain. Even though he said "ok?" it didn't feel normal to slow things down at this point.
Then came the wrapping of the burrito. Due to my inability to control the portions he was throwing in, and his application of both pico and Green Sauce, the burrito was too big and pouring out liquid. He was fighting this thing with gusto, and I could tell this was damaging his numbers. He compromised on one point, and that was to get a whole new piece of foil. I thought, this is a total disaster and I don't know how I'm going to eat this thing as god intended. I'm going to need a fork and a bigger plate than I have at work.
I will say that I was wrong about that. He was, after all, a professional, and the burrito held up just fine.
I still recommend this Chiptole.