You see it, right? You know what I’m talking about: the black circles under your eyes, the sluggish movements of everyone around you, the mass exodus from class right to the library. Some may think zombie apocalypse, others may think rapid illness, but we college students know better. It is the hectic, sporadic time of the semester when testing is always on the mind.
Midterm season is well underway, and it is through these stressful, trying times that comfort food is a vital necessity. Believe it or not, the dining halls do not serve that homey comfort food that so many of us crave. On campus, Einstein Bros. Bagels is one of the closest food options to attaining that cozy feeling.
After studying all weekend, I was relieved to get my first collegiate midterm over with on Tuesday. On Monday, a few of my friends in the class and I were studying. We wound up missing lunch hour in the dining halls, so we went to Einstein’s. That was the biggest mistake of my entire day, I had the worst dining experience I have ever had on campus.
“Einstein Bros. Bagels is your neighborhood bagel shop. We’re proud to provide our guests with freshly baked bagels, breakfast sandwiches, lunch sandwiches, coffee, catering and so much more. Stop on in. We’ll have a fresh bagel and cup of coffee ready for you.” This is Einstein’s mission statement.
Is there anything about this statement that seems a little foreign to Brandeis’ Einstein’s? Fresh has never been part of my Einstein’s experience.
I had a coffee and muffin the first time I went to Einstein’s. The muffin was hard, and the coffee tasted burnt. I usually get a bagel two to three times a week, and every time I go, the bagels are relatively hard and taste to be at least a day old. Now, you may be wondering why I would continue eating there if I do not like the food. If I am on lower campus, it is convenient and fast; in addition to being a change from the dining hall options. Upper Usdan does have options, yet to go from one side of campus to the other is counter-productive.
When my friend and I went to Einstein’s before heading back to North Quad after studying, I was infuriated by what I experienced. Firstly, aside from another student, my friend and I were the only people in line, and it was baffling how long the entire process took. The cashier and cooks were standing behind the counter chatting, and after making eye contact with us, they continued to talk. I had to actually ask one of them to take our order.
If this was an actual restaurant or if I had the time to go elsewhere, I would have never given this establishment my business. If they do not care to assist the customer, why would I give them my money? After ordering a bagel with cream cheese, an easy order, I had to wait eight minutes for it to be ready. Mind you, the other orders were not anything increasingly complicated. My friend ordered an egg and cheese sandwich and a smoothie, and the other student ordered some sort of sandwich.
As I was waiting for my bagel, their conversation picked right back up where it left off. While the workers were chatting about their social lives, they were not paying attention to their jobs and wound up burning the other student’s sandwich to a crisp.
When the worker eventually took the poor sandwich out of the fiery inferno, she shrugged at the lifeless food, threw it in the trash and proceeded to start remaking the sandwich. My ears began to turn red; I was growing more and more frustrated. The mere shrug she gave it seemed like this is a norm behind that counter, second nature if you will. If this is a practice of the cashiers and cooks in Einstein’s, it is vital to touch upon the economic effects. If food is being thrown away, that is a loss of resources, such as time, efficiency and money.
Unsurprisingly, they messed up my friend’s order. She did not receive her smoothie, but after waiting 12 minutes for her meal, she was rightfully fed up and wanted to leave. This is not the first complaint regarding the timeliness of Einstein’s service.
Sammi Cohen ’22 goes to Einstein’s before she goes to class in the mornings. “Sometimes I’m waiting for my order for so long, it makes me late to class.” Cohen allocates 15 minutes in the morning for her breakfast order and travels from the SCC to Schwartz Hall, a mere five minute walk where she does not stop until she reaches her class.
This is not a one-time occurence; Cohen has been late or barely made it to her class on time on many different accounts due to Einstein’s inability to fulfill orders in a timely fashion. When it is at the expense of the students, it is an obvious red flashing sign that this system is broken and needs to be amended.
Now, for the quality of our orders. When my friend and I finally sank our teeth into our food, we really hoped it would be worth the wait. It was not; my bagel was dry and had barely any cream cheese on it. Yet, after taking another bite, my friend started to spit out her food. After removing the top of the bagel, we discovered blue, fuzzy dots squished into the egg.
Was it mold? Was it ink? Was it chalk? Whatever it was, it should not have been in her food. It is clear that the staff’s negligence is doing more than just making students late; they are now putting students’ health at risk. These dots were vibrantly blue and very obvious, how could they have missed this? How distracted did they have to be to not even notice this obvious problem?
Enough is enough. There needs to be a change in the way Einstein’s is operated. From throwing away food, causing customers to be late and potentially putting customers’ health at risk, it is more than evident that this establishment needs to be internally inspected and altered for the better.
