Plymouth State has its very own dream team. They come to work every day ready to feed the university with everybody’s favorite quick and delicious breakfast: bagels and coffee.
“I just love the bagel shop,” said senior James Dube, “Margie is wonderful, so isn’t Betty, and so isn’t Amanda.”
He is speaking of the wonderful ladies that staff the Sidewalk Café every weekday from 7:30am to 2pm.
From the moment you enter the glass-encased café, smiling faces greet you, ready to fill you up with any bagel-cream cheese combination you want, with nice hot coffee to wash it down.
The first face you see is Betty Shanks. The one-woman bagel wonder has been working at PSU for six years, starting in the cafeteria and transferring over to the Sidewalk Café after only a month. “I heard Margie had an opening and I begged for it,” said Shanks.
It turned out to be a great choice, Shanks, mother of two and grandmother of four, is famous around campus for her quick hands whether she is taking multiple orders during rush hours or spreading out the favored flavors of cream cheese every student requests.
“Everything with veggie or everything with garlic, those are the most popular,” said Shanks.
With projects, papers and classes to stayawake for, college is nearly impossible for some without coffee, and thanks to Amanda Bickford, the coffee dispensers lined along the counter of the café are full and ready to serve.
Bickford has worked at PSU for seven years, “I started over at the cafeteria, then went to the snack bar. This is my first year over here.”
Smiling, Marge Spead added, “And she loves it here.”
Marge “Margie” Spead, the woman behind the cash register with a smile and hug for anyone and everyone, has been employed at PSU for 16 years, “I started at the cafeteria, and five years ago I was moved, and I’ve been here ever since.”
“Margie is very motherly with them,” said Shanks. Spead is not only a grandmother of two, but acts as a maternal figure for many students at PSU while they’re far away from family, “I’m everybody’s aunt, grandmother, and mother,” said Spead.
Her love for the students she serves every day goes beyond the HUB walls, “She cries at graduation,” said Shanks. Watching the seniors move on from the coffee and bagels she served them for four years really tugs at her heart, “I just hate it,” said Spead.
These three ladies have made a name for themselves as an extremely important aspect of many students’ lives on campus, and the soothing sight for a stressed out college student.
“No matter what mood I’m in, I can always get a smile on my face when I go in there,” said sophomore, Jesse Anser.
You would think that when the line for bagels is out the door, the team would get flustered and overwhelmed, but experience has made them professionals.
“They’re really nice. They know what they’re doing. There’s never a wrong bagel,” said Dube.
The rushes were overwhelming in the beginning, “it was when we started”, explained Bickford, but unanimously and happily they agreed, “not anymore.”
Even on the busiest day of the week, which they all decided was Wednesday morning, the bagel ladies show up ready to work. Shanks’ experience had made her a mind reader when returning students come to order, “They usually already know what you want, ” said Anser.
“They’re always nice when you walk in. They’re always busy and even when they’re busy they aren’t rude about it,” said junior, Jordana Mineo, “they’re really funny, too.”
The love for these ladies and what they do comes full circle in how they feel about the students they get to see every day, in or out of the Sidewalk Café, “We love the students, no matter where we see them we get hugs. In any of the stores or anywhere,” said Spead.
A cut in the budget at the beginning of this school year due to a drop in enrollment eradicated the ability for students to use meal exchange to get coffee and a bagel.
Luckily, students still come back to eat, and to see the pleasant faces of Shanks, Bickford, and Spead behind the counter. “That’s the only reason I go back,” said Mineo.
For being named the newest Plymouth Unsung Heroes, the ladies are honored, and glad to know that the jobs they love are having a positive impact on the Plymouth State community, “It’s nice to know that they think we are popular,” said Shanks.
Bickford agreed and added, “I have to say this is my favorite job that I’ve had.”
The experiences Spead has had with the students and faculty over the past 16 years have resonated in her heart, “I love my job, I love the students and the faculty, and the Green Mountain Coffee.”