A few weeks ago, after my daughter, Amanda, and I
were done working out at the Ocononomowoc, WI YMCA, we decided to grab some lunch before heading to a few stores in the Brookfield area. ..about 20 minutes away.
Amanda wanted her favorite
sandwich...a bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers, and red onions.
Now, granted, if we were in New York, this would be super-easy to get at any time of the day. But living in Wisconsin, not quite as simple.
There is a Bruegger's (bagel shop) very close to the YMCA, right in Oconomowoc, but since we were headed in the other direction, we decided to just go to Einstein's (another bagel shop) in Brookfield.
We arrived, walked up to the door, and the door would not open. It's supposed to be open for two more hours, but the staff member inside rudely shouted, "We're closed!"
No other explanation. Ugh.
So, Amanda looked at her phone and saw there was another Einstein's about a 5-minute drive away. It was open for another 20 minutes or so. We got back in the car and headed there.
We arrived, walked up to to the counter, and ordered.
The staff member there said, "We are not selling breakfast sandwiches any more because it's too close to closing time."
Amanda and I
looked at our watches. It was around 10 minutes before closing time. They were not busy, staff was standing around looking bored, the food was still out, and the register was still open. We said, "Well, the sandwich doesn't need to be cooked. We don't want the bagel toasted and all of the ingredients are cold."
She said, "Nope. It's listed under the breakfast sandwiches list and we're not making breakfast sandwiches this close to closing."
You gotta love the "customer service" these days.
I was
going to argue with her (it certainly wouldn't take her more than a minute or two to make the sandwich), but I didn't want to start a whole thing because a) who knows how doing that would turn out these days...AND b) I didn't want our entire day ruined over a sandwich.
So we left. At that point,
Amanda said, "Mom, we can just eat somewhere else."
In my mind, we were getting that bagel sandwich. We were too invested in the mission.
So, she looked on her phone and found a Bruegger's in Wauwatosa...10 minutes away...that was going to be open for at least another 40 minutes.
We drove there, parked, walked up to the door, and discovered a big sign on the door. It said "Cash Only
Today."
You can't make this up.
Cash? I never have cash. I had about $6 in my wallet. Not enough
to cover the sandwich. So, we walked in and I asked the cashier if we could order on the app.
Unfortunately, they could not. Their entire digital system was down. I asked if there was an ATM in the area and the cashier told me there was one at Pick N' Save a few blocks
away.
We got back into the car and drove to Pick N' Save. We saw the ATM and one of the staff members said, "Don't use the ATM. It's going to charge you $3.50 for the transaction."
Honestly, at that point, I didn't care. BUT, he then suggested, "Go buy a banana and use your debit card. Then get use the cash back option to get what you need. That will only be a 50-cents transaction fee."
That was a fantastic idea. Things were looking up. I did that, got $20 in cash, and thanked the staff member for caring AND making a good suggestion!"
We went back to Bruegger's and ordered.
I was thinking, "Oh my goodness...this is actually happening!! Success!"
Once we had the sandwich, we then told the staff members about our bagel sandwich treasure hunt and that we were SO happy to get that bagel sandwich. The owner was there, and he apologized for not
being able to accept cash that one day. He actually said that he lost more than half his typical Saturday business because they couldn't accept debit or credit cards that day. Sad.
Then, the cashier said, "Since we're closing soon, you get an entire bag of bagels...FREE." She packed up a whole
bunch for us. The photo in this post is the entire haul.
That was a nice surprise! (We later brought them home, sliced them, and put them in the freezer. Those will be nice treats some other time.")
We then brought our
sandwiches, and our bag of bagels, to StoneCreek Coffee, which is attached to Bruegger's and ordered two frosted coffees. I had enough points for one free one. Score!
The moral of this story...
Sometimes, a simple quest for a bagel sandwich can lead to unexpected challenges, surprising rewards, AND a story to share!
