THE MAYOR OF EINSTEINS!

Today I am beginning a four part essay on the place I hang out nearly everyday in Minnesota, Einsteins Bagel Shop. It is a great spot to observe and visit daily with special friends. I am presenting it in four parts because of short attention spans.

Part One

The Mayor of Einsteins

It’s good to be the mayor.

At the intersection of the Crosstown Highway and Shady Oak Road stands Einsteins Bagel Shop. It looks pretty much like an ordinary fast food bagel shop both outside and in; polished gray floors, a combination of booths and tables, service counter and coffee station, but it is the warmth of the people, both customers and workers, that make it a special place - a gathering place.

I had always envied my parents. They had such a place. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, but my brothers and I called it the Cholesterol Café, because the food was strictly greasy Midwestern breakfast fare. The folks gathered with their friends and just enjoyed each other’s company. Much of the male conversation was year around discussion of the Marion Giants. I don’t know what the women talked about, but I imagine it was grandkids and how difficult it is to live with a retired male.

Einstein is a type of place that I had hoped to find someday, a place to read the paper, have some coffee and meet my friends. A place where virtually no subject is off limits to good friends; politics, sports, old times, good times, bad times, kids, grandkids, wives, mothers, dads, weather, maladies, medications or whatever. If question comes up that we don’t know the answer we assign someone to look it up and report back. Example: Origin of the phrase “eating crow” was assigned just recently. Really important stuff. At Einsteins you can learn really important stuff.

I have met so many people that have become really good friends. Husbands and wives, newborns to preschoolers and their mothers, and the regular working stiffs that have a coffee and conversation before they head off to work. Einsteins has become a place to meet for job interviews and business meetings. Salesmen hide out there with their computers and cell phones. Their computers hook up to the WiFi and business is done in cyber space. Einsteins doesn’t have its own WiFi, we steal it from the Caribou Coffee place next door.

The influence of Einstein’s people stretches to all parts of the country and the world. While making a stop in Roswell, New Mexico on my trip across the country, I saw a young woman in the breakfast room that had an Ecolab logo on her shirt. I told her I knew Ecolab because I lived in Minneapolis and was in the foodservice industry. I casually asked if she by chance knew one of my friends from Einsteins who worked for Ecolab. She not only knew him and his wife, but she had worked with him. The world of Einsteins is everywhere. You must be careful, there may been an Einstonion lurking and observing at any time anywhere.

It is truly a place where everyone knows your name. “SAM!”

To Be Continued