Bruegger's Bagels — Restaurant in Rochester Hills

I am writing regarding the long-standing unwelcoming, hostile, and at times downright contemptuous behavior we have endured as customers at the Rochester Hills location, particularly from the older, dark-haired rude woman who is often mentioned in the negative Google reviews. I will leave her real name off this public review and simply refer to her by her first initial: "M."

For years, my elderly mother and I have occasionally visited this location. While we truly enjoy bagels, the staff’s conduct has been persistently problematic and, frankly, unacceptable.

From the moment we walk in, the atmosphere is cold and unfriendly. No one greets customers, and if you dare to ask a question, the response is brusque, dismissive, and delivered with open irritation.

Beyond this unwelcoming demeanor, the order accuracy is shockingly poor. I can state without exaggeration that roughly 90% of our online pickup orders are prepared incorrectly. A simple instruction, such as toasting some bagels and leaving others untoasted, is routinely ignored. On multiple occasions, paid-for items like cream cheese have been entirely left out.

Mistakes happen, and we understand that. But what is astonishing - and indefensible - is the staff’s reaction when their errors are brought to light. Instead of apologizing, they frequently act inconvenienced and even hostile, as if correcting their own mistake is an imposition. "M" in particular is consistently discourteous, cold, and openly scornful toward customers.

Until recently, we reluctantly tolerated this unprofessional conduct because the bagels were good. That changed this week when the treatment crossed a line into outright cruelty.

On Wednesday morning, we placed our usual order - 4 bagels untoasted, 2 toasted. When my elderly mother arrived to pick up the order, she saw that once again, the plain bagels had not been toasted. Frustrated but polite, she approached the counter, pointed out the error and mentioned it had happened again, and attempted to hand the bagels to "M" to have them toasted.

Instead of handling the situation with professionalism or apologizing, "M" snapped: “We can’t take them back once you’ve handled them!”

My mother calmly replied that was fine, as she could always feed them to the birds she cares for as an avid birdwatcher.

At that, "M" retorted, “Give me the bagels. I have something I can do with them.” She then yanked the bag aggressively from my mother’s hands and slammed the bagels into the trash can. My mother was stunned and upset, as she genuinely intended to use the bagels for bird feed.

To make matters worse, when the younger worker hesitated to toast new bagels, explaining they had just come out of the oven and would burn, "M" barked: “I don’t care. Let them burn.”

When I later returned to ask "M"s name and informed her I would be reporting her behavior, she showed no remorse. Instead, she lashed out at me personally, claiming my “attitude” was the problem and sneering, “Take your complaints to your church.” Such an anti-religious remark is deeply offensive and wholly inappropriate in a professional setting.

A quick review of Google reviews confirms that we are not alone. There are numerous complaints citing staff and "M" in particular (usually referred to as the "tired, old lady) for her antagonistic treatment of customers. The fact that this has been allowed to continue is baffling. Why has nothing been done to stop this abuse of customers?

After years of patronage, I can say with certainty this was the final straw. My family will not return to this location solely because of "M’s hostility.

This is not simply poor customer service. It is systemic, hostile treatment of paying customers, and it should never be tolerated in any business.

And to the Owner: Please don't respond with a generic "We're looking into this"... comment. I already submitted feedback on the Contact Us form on your website, and I included "M"s real name in the feedback form so you can address her directly. How about you actually DO something about...

Edit: It shocks me to think 9 months ago I thought so highly of this place that i gave it a 5 star glowing review, today i would drop that to zero stars if it let me. Recently I've had Thursday morning meetings again and definitely wanted to bring bagels for everyone, here's how it's went so far:

Week 1 - I need 2 dozen assorted bagels, thank you. At the meeting it's noticed they put in at least a dozen plain ones. Strange, but not a disaster.

Week 2 - I need 2 dozen bagels, no plain ones please. Figured this is easier than explaining not to fill the bags with plain ones. And of course watching her put bagels in the bags she starts trying to empty the plain bin in my bags. I catch her and she says "Oh that's right no plain ones.

Week 3 - I need two dozen bage... wait. There are only 2 flavors of bagels on the shelves, plain and everything. She explains someone slept in and blah blah whatever. Give me something to take to he meeting, sigh.

Week 4- I walk in first to see if they even have any bagels before ordering and they have 4 flavors of bagels on the shelves, and of those I don't think enough to even make two dozen. The kid behind the couner says if I want to wait they should have more coming out soon. I walk out before he has a chance to offer me bags of plain ones.

If you like a very limited selection of bagels and lots and lots of disappointments this is probably your place, Myself this place managed to go from being my favorite bagel place to the least liked all in a...

Long story short, the employees here are super unprofessional and rude. I’m not a public name and shame person, but I submitted a comment via Bruegger’s website and no one has reached out to me. My husband and I stopped by a week/week and a half ago to get breakfast. Husband went in and got 2 bagels, 2 bags of chips. He verbally stated to cashier “and two bags of chips”. Of course no receipt provided. He sat inside waiting about 10 minutes for the food to be made, 2 bags of chips in hand. He brought the food out to the car where we were going to eat. A few minutes later an employee is standing outside our window making noises at us (not even a knock) and accused my husband of stealing 1 of the chip bags! When he refuted he paid she stood there arguing with him. We were dumbfounded. To get her out of our face I just handed her back my bag of chips. I have many questions, but my #1 is why didn’t they address this while he was sitting in the restaurant waiting for the food to be made instead of making an incredibly awkward situation of following us to our car? Why was this addressed as if he was a thief and not potentially a misunderstanding? Is Brueggers really that down bad over a single...