Einstein Bros.
You are about to be so elucidated on my bagel-buying routine. It's gonna be amazing.
The transformation of the coffee shop in my building into an Einstein Bros. Bagels over winter break filled me with joy. I imagined better coffee, my favorite bagels in Chicago, and the convenience of not stopping on the way to work.
Couple problems with that premise...
First, the training period. The employees of the new shop are the same as of the old coffee shop. And still as incompetent as they were before, despite training in the new brand. They also fail to recognize the Einstein terminology. For example, at my home Einstein you are shunned by the cashiers if you mention "plain bagel with onion and chive cream cheese". They expect you to say "shmear. chive on plain". That phrase gave me some trouble this morning: "you want a what?" (this despite the menu board's typical Einstein declarations of shmears). Furthermore, they haven't got the whole process thing down to a science, though I'm sure this will come in time. At my home location I can walk in, have Jazene say "hey honey, want your usual?" nod, and watch as she calls "chive on plain!" down to the next person, who expertly grabs a bagel, puts it down the chopping chute, catches it, puts it in the toaster, and soon thereafter grabs it, smothers it with cream cheese, drops it in a bag, and hands it to me as I'm finishing paying. Foolproof. My $1.87 well spent (add $1.70 if I get a drink).
This morning at the new location it went something like this: "May I help you?" "yes, shmear. chive on plain please." "you wanna what?" "plain bagel, toasted, onion and chive cream cheese, please" "ok" (pause while he writes this on an order card) "may I have your initials please?" "HT" "okay, step on over". I pay, once the woman at the register has finally located the correct button (this I have sympathy for. It's their 2nd day open, though they have been training for three weeks). I then wait. And wait. Finally the bagel woman says "you wanted what?" I repeat my order, and show her my copy of the useless order form. "oh, here, in the toaster!" She removes a burnt bagel, which I reject (by burnt I mean REALLY burnt. Totally black). We start over. Except, now they are out of plain bagels. "Asiago cheese?" I inquire, in an attempt to imitate Margo. "say what?" turns out they don't have asiago cheese. or any of the "top shelf" bagels. Sigh. I settle on honey wheat (sesame is also sold out). It is toasted properly and then-sacrilege-cream cheese is lumped on one half in a ball, the bagel is squeezed together, rotated in few vicious twists (is that an attempt to spread the cream cheese?) and given to me. I understand why it isn't called a shmear...
I sincerely hope that we work through these growing pains, but at this rate I may say screw the time savings and go back to Jazene.
I'm such a snob.
- posted by Heidi @ 9:52 AM