Early birds see students during morning's wee hours

It's time to make the donuts ... no, actually, it's time to make the bagels. It's 5:30 a.m., campus is deserted and the sun is barely high enough to shed light on the desolate sidewalks of State Street. So who is up besides the birds at this outrageous hour? Einstein Bros. Bagels employees, to name a few.

"Normally I'm here by myself except for one girl who comes in and bakes with me at 5:30. It's better with someone else," said Einstein manager Dawn Vandepitte, as she rushed around brewing coffee, setting out juice and baking hundreds of bagels in the back of the store.

FILE PHOTO The friendly staff of Einstein provides students with their morning bagel fix.

"I bake about 450 bagels in the morning, which is about two and a half racks, but I should really be making three racks since it's Friday," Vandepitte said.

It's no secret that Einstein is a hot spot for the rush of hungry, sleepy-eyed students in the morning. Lines can be seen extending almost outside the door for that warm bagel, schmear and hot cup of joe.

Einstein opens its doors at 6:30 every morning, before many students even have their eyes open. Although quiet for a couple of hours before the pre-class rush, lines quickly form as the campus awakes.

"At 10 minutes after the hour the lines are ridiculous!" Vandepitte said.

But students aren't the only ones who benefit from employees' early morning efforts.

"In the morning it's all the same people. I know everyone who comes in, I know how many kids they have. It's nice - I've met a lot of really nice people," Vandepitte said.

Around 6:15, Vandepitte was still rushing around as a customer tried the door prematurely.

"Cream! I always forget one thing every morning," Vandepitte said.

By 7 a.m., Vandepitte was joined by student employees to face the rush of people.

Einstein on State Street employs 47 staff members from September to April, but the numbers drop to 15 during the summer when most students want to work full-time.

But whether students are full-time or part-time employees, being around bagels on a regular basis seems to yield the same results.

When asked how she feels about bagels since having worked at Einstein, Vandepitte said: "I don't eat bagels. I've worked here for two and half years - I order out a lot."

Sarah Lines, an SNRE sophomore and Einstein employee, said she has also switched her eating habits away from bagels.

"I used to like bagels, now I'm really sick of them," Lines said.

Other than losing an appreciation for this most popular breakfast food, Lines had very few negative things to say about working the 7 a.m.-noon shift.

"Sometimes it makes me sleep through classes because I'm tired," she said.

On the flip side, she said she saw many positive things about working so early in the morning. "I like working early when I don't go out the night before because it's not very busy this time of morning," Lines said.

She also said that this shift fits well with her schedule and that it forces her to do something with her Fridays. "I knew I wouldn't be going to the library."

Einstein also seems to provide motivation to get out from under the covers in the morning. Lines attributed her enthusiasm for working there to the atmosphere and the fact that people who work at Einstein have fun.

But if working at a fun place doesn't offer enough appeal to pull one out of bed in the morning, there is always the universal artificial waker-upper - coffee.

Lines said that she thinks one needs to either be a morning person or be downing coffee by the gallon to work early hours.

"No matter how much of a morning person you are, sometimes you need coffee to get going," Lines said.

Another perk, besides the coffee kind, is that employees get to eat whatever they want on the job. Lines said the "Veg-out" bagel is her favorite.

No matter how many perks and benefits working at Einstein's offers, getting up early in the morning still presents quite a challenge. "It's not that bad, but I wouldn't do it more than one day a week," Lines said. Luckily for customers, there are enough employees to share those early shifts and make those bagels morning in and morning out.

04-09-98