Best and Worst Work Stories and NYC to LA Bagel Testing: Inspired by Thomas Beller’s “Portrait of the Bagel as a Young Man”

What’s the craziest stuff that’s ever happened to you at work? Any weird interview stories?

Anne and I use Thomas Beller’s piece about working at H&H Bagels at 80th and Broadway in NYC to spark our own work-themed conversation. He also inspired us to go out an have local bagels: mine in Boone, NC at the Boone Bagelry and Anne’s at The Bagel Broker in Los Angeles.

🛒 My novel Love on the Big Screen tells the story of a college freshman whose understanding of love is shaped by late-80s romantic comedies.

📚 Read Beller’s essay in the anthology The Contemporary American Essay on Amazon.

🥯 Click here to read “Portrait of the Bagel as a Young Man” on Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood website.

What makes “Portrait of the Bagel as a Young Man” worth reading? How does it work?

1. Organized from interview to last day on the job. 
2. Main parts: who works there; what he does with the inventory, the ledger, and the counting; some harder days; being trusted with the money, a big mistake; getting out
3. Rewards: 

• It tells the story of an evolving artist (Beller) in a way that the title alludes to about James Joyce. 
• glimpse into a world I don’t know about
• the visit to NYC which takes me back kind of like the people who order bagels from all over
• insights on being alive like being loved on own terms
• Thinking about my own jobs
• Inspired me to go get a local bagel 

Podcast Episode Summary from Zoom software:

• On this episode of the Torg Stories Podcast, Anne and Torg discussed work stories using Thomas Beller’s essay “Portrait of the Bagel as a Young Man” as their framework. Anne shared her experience visiting bagel shops in Los Angeles, including The Bagel Broker and Sam’s Bagels, while Torg discussed his visit to Boone Bagelry in North Carolina. They analyzed Beller’s narrative about working at H&H Bagels in New York City, discussing themes of job routine, physical labor, and the challenges of working in a factory environment. The conversation included personal work stories from both participants, with Torg sharing numerous past employment experiences ranging from lifeguarding to teaching, while Anne discussed her career path from factory work to tech writing to her current role in architectural design. They explored how work stories can provide insight into different cultures and work environments, and discussed the potential for Anne to share more work-related experiences in future episodes.

A List of Jobs I Remember Having

1. Lifeguard at Winamac Town Pool 
2. Stockboy at Russell’s Old Trading Post
3. Indiana Beach ride operator 
4. Summer Residence Hall Staff at Olivet Nazarene University 
5. Numerous men’s and women’s basketball camps including Purdue, Butler, Indiana and the Bloomington YMCA
6. TIS Book Company in Bloomington
7. Tree Trimming Assistant in Bloomington
8. Substitute Teacher in Kankakee IL including parking lot security 
9. Gap 
10. North Miami HS in Denver, Indiana
11. Carroll HS in Fort Wayne, Indiana
12. Vance HS in Charlotte, NC
13. Weddington MS in NC
14. Queens Golf Course 
15. St. John’s University 
16. Greenwood HS in IN
17. Appalachian State University 

What work stories do we have?

1. I have two (kind of three) published: Ye Olde Trading Post based on working at Russell’s, A Golf Course Story based on working in Queens (the cash register, the Twilight rate, and racial tensions) and the novel The Coach’s Wife 

2. Indiana Beach lying to the insurance adjusters 
3. Tank not going back to TIS book warehouse after lunch 
4. Tree trimmer set his chest hair on fire in the tree in Bloomington
5. R-rated faculty meetings at SJU 

Here’s a bit about the author and the piece: 

• Looks like Thomas Beller has a website called Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood: New York City Stories. Click here. 
• This story was first published on the Beller Neighborhood website on March 29, 2004. 
• I came across it in an anthology titled The Contemporary American Essay published in 2021. Click here to access that anthology on Amazon. 

Seems like Beller is a big basketball fan. He wrote a book called Lost in the Game: A Book About Basketball. Click here to read more about the book. He has an MFA from Columbia. He teaches at Tulane.

Thanks for stopping by the website!