This tweet has gone viral. Chipotle wants the black guys to pay before their food is made. The white guy gets to have his food made before paying. Clear and convincing racism, right? Mob them, right?

Can a group of young well established African American get a bite to eat after a long workout session. @ChipotleTweets ?? pic.twitter.com/Sj8RaeINj6

— Masud Ali 🍑 (@Masudaliii) November 16, 2018

The company has done what companies do in this situation: cave to the viral mob and fire the offending employee:

A manager at a St. Paul Chipotle was fired this week after a video went viral of employees refusing to serve five black men and asking them to prove they could pay before taking their order.

Masud Ali, 21, said he and friends were told they couldn’t be served Thursday night at the eatery on Grand Avenue and were accused of being customers from an earlier night who weren’t able to pay for their meal.

“It sounded really racist — the way she said it was racist,” Ali said Friday. “She asked for proof of income as if I’m getting a loan.”

In a statement, Chipotle said it conducted a “thorough investigation,” and talked with police officers who were called to the restaurant, as well as employees.

“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. Regardless, this is not how we treat our customers and as a result, the manager has been terminated and the restaurant [staff] has been retrained to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again,” the statement said.

The video, which includes language some may find objectionable, was posted to Twitter, and has been retweeted more than 20,000 times.

On Saturday, Chipotle clarified its policy and explained why it fired the manager: “We don’t ask customers to pay for their meals prior to making them in our restaurants. The manager should have made their food and withheld giving it to them until they paid for it.”

Just one problem: the manager was almost certainly right. The fella is a convicted thief with a history of boasting on Twitter about “dining and dashing”:

Hours after the video went viral, Twitter users began to scour Masud’s Twitter page, and posted photos of some of his previous tweets.

“Dine and dash is forever interesting,” Masud posted in 2015. He has since deleted the posts.

Another post read: “Guys we’re borrowing food… that’s it. And if the lady tries to stop you at the door don’t hesitate to truck the sh– out of that bi—.”

Masud, who records show is on probation for theft, declined to comment to the Miami Herald on Sunday.

I don’t know enough about employment law to know if the fired manager has a case, but if so, I hope the manager sues Chipotle and recovers big. I hope Ali is prosecuted. And I hope people reading this story consider other establishments besides Chipotle, and let Chipotle know why.

So, @ChipotleTweets, until you reinstate the manager you fired for refusing to serve a food thief, why should law-abiding people who pay for their food patronize your establishment? https://t.co/cCpy0kTiZc

— Patterico (@Patterico) November 18, 2018

It is the twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost. The title of today’s Bach cantata is “Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig” (Ah, how fleeting, ah how insignificant).

Today’s Gospel reading is Mark 13:1-8:

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times

As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”

“Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”

Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

The text of today’s piece is available here. It contains these words, echoing Jesus’s words about how the temples with all be thrown down:

To hang one’s heart on earthly treasures
is a deception of the foolish world.
How easily searing lusts appear,
how the towering floods rush and rend,
until everything crashes into heaps destroyed.

. . . .

The highest glory and magnificence
is enveloped at last by the night of death.
Who enthrones himself just like a god
eludes neither dust or ashes;
and when his last hour strikes,
when he is borne to earth
and the foundation of his loftiness crumbles,
he will be completely forgotten.

Ah, how fleeting, ah how insignificant
are the doings of mankind!
Everything, everything that we see
must fall and pass away.
Whoever fears God will stand forever.

Happy listening! Soli Deo gloria.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]