Where Gino Knows Your Name

Einstein Bros Bagels in Speedway, Indiana: go there most mornings from around 7am until maybe 9am, and you might just meet a new friend. I started going to Einstein's (I'm a Hoosier; I can do that to a place name) a few years ago when my son had a tendency to get up in the morning way too early. I tried for a while to fight it, but putting him back to bed just made the other kids and my wife wake up, too. I had the idea to just take him into the car at 6am, still in his pajamas, and drive over to the bagel store.

Little did I know that this diversion trip would start a tradition. I have since taken all three of the kids there, though now we usually dress more appropriately. I'm not sure what the age limit is on looking cute in pajamas in public, but no one minds when it is a baby or toddler. My son loved it from the first visit onward. He would just sit calmly and watch the people. They would smile at him, sometimes coming over to talk, while I read the paper and drank coffee. I would get him a bagel or a pumpkin muffin, his favorite. Folks often commented on how calm and quiet he was, and wondered if it was always that way. I assured them it was not.

On one of these early trips I started talking with one of the shop regulars who had taken an interest in my boy. His name is Gino. Gino seems to be everyone's friend. He loves watching my son eat. Gino and I have had many conversations over the last two or three years, and he always asks about my family. He is sincerely interested in all of the news I tell him. Gino usually tells me once or twice in the conversation, in case I might forget, "Man, you're rich. You're rich and you don't know it." I tell him that I do know, and I drive away to work or back home feeling better about everything. I am rich.

I loved the idea from Cheers of Norm walking into the bar and everyone shouting his name. When I go to the bagel shop, with or without my kids, if Gino is there he will always call out my name. "Hey, Andy. How's that family?" I don't know if anyone else knows my name in there. If they do, they choose not to use it. But that's OK. Gino knows me, my family, and the magnitude of my wealth that has nothing to do with money. It's good to be reminded of that.

In an anonymous, busy life, Gino is a dose of civility and friendliness worth slowing down for. Einstein's Darn Good Coffee is actually pretty darn good, too.