Andy W on Warpcast

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when i graduated from school, my roommate and i ate here for breakfast every monday-friday morning before he went downtown, and i midtown, to our respective places of work. on the weekends we did the same but at a more leisurely pace, with our books and newspaper. one whole year, every day

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the thing about this place, and these places, is that we got to pay attention and watch customers and what they ordered. it astounded us how many ways people wanted their bagels or omelets: with jelly and hot sauce. or with a side of gravy. odd combos. and yet the owner who took the orders never blinked. in fact, I don’t recall he ever wrote down an order on a padwhat were all the odd orders about? you see, the reason joe junior would prepare whatever customers ordered, no matter whether it was on the menu or seemed ridiculous to others, had to do with control. nyc is a place where, day in and day out, so much is beyond the average person’s control: the noise, garbage on the sidewalks, crowds of people packing buses, subway cars and train platforms.

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food, however, is one area where people can exert some level of control. they can demand that their food be prepared in some way only they might want but which they could control. because if joe junior didn’t agree to prepare their breakfast in some seemingly bizarre way, the customer could simply walk a few blocks to another diner where they’d be accommodated. and as a result, joe junior might lose a customer who’d otherwise be in daily for decades. or for us, at least every day for a year.

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