Staffers at Upper Manhattan Chipotle restaurant admit to have been fighting a losing battle against hordes of hungry rats, as the massive rodents feast on avocados and biting four of the employees.
The rats have also chewed through the wiring of a computer system that handled orders late last month, prompting the fast-casual Mexican joint to close its doors to customers indefinitely.
Meanwhile, staffers continue to go to the store to clean up and keep the pests under control.
“It really started to take a toll on us,” said staffer Melvin Paulino, who had been working at the store for three years and one of those who had been bitten while cleaning.
“We’re all scared, it’s pretty common that some of my co-workers will just start screaming out of the blue and we don’t know what’s happening.”
“It’s pure chaos every time a rat appears,” he added.
The store is located at Broadway near West 169th Street in Washington Heights, just one block north of New York-Presbyterian Hospital – an area that is currently listed as having an “A” health rating from the city.
The Department of Health spokesperson said that the rodent complaint was submitted to them on November 30, while a written letter was issued the next day.
The agency also confirmed that a restaurant inspector and a pest control expert would conduct an in-person sweep on Tuesday.
The infestation began near the end of the summer, when employees noticed their avocados having small nibbles taken out of them, as well as finding holes in bags of rice.
Not long after, the found rat droppings in boxes of food and the store’s basement.
“All of the workers had horror stories about the rats, especially some of the women who would change before and after work in the back of the store,” store employee Luis Gustavo Paulino Ruiz said.