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Bagel Narrative

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Anybody who knows me knows that I love bagels. My dad used to own a bagel store for 12 years in Baldwin, New York. For the last four years, I have worked with my dad at his store during summers and weekends. My bagel career began in September 2012, a few days after Hurricane Sandy. Baldwin is a coastal town and was ravaged by the storm. Many homes and businesses were destroyed, but we were fortunate that the store lost power for only a few days and there was no water damage. Schools were closed for weeks because most of Long Island had no power. Two of my father’s full time employees lost their homes and moved away. My brothers and I had to help my father run the store. The next few weeks were extremely busy. The lines were out the door since people lost their …show more content…

When I arrived to the store around 4 AM I would pull the bagel dough out of the refrigerator to allow it to rise. The bagel oven was set to 450 degrees, which made the kitchen extremely hot. While the oven was preheating, we were setting up the front of the store, which included making coffee, turning on the grill, and setting up the baskets for the bagels. When the oven reached the proper temperature, we would kettle the bagels in preparation for baking. I assisted my father by seeding the bagels and placing them on wooden boards. My father cooked the bagels in a large rotary oven with stone covered shelves similar to a pizza oven. When the bagels were fully cooked, I removed them from the oven, placed them in baskets, and brought them to the front of the store to be sold. Once the baking was done, the day became more enjoyable. I was able to interact with some of the customers, while taking their orders. We had many regular customers and I became friends with many of them. However, not all the customers were so easy to please, in fact some were downright nasty. I had to have patience and self confidence to deal with the demanding

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