Taming the Wild Bean

Lunchtime options are limited in our SoHell nabe, but across the street from our building is the BP/Wild Bean Café, a hybrid gas station–restaurant that’s become an almost daily culinary refuge. The place is renowned for virtually nonexistent, even resentful service. Yet the sandwiches are better and cheaper than Subway’s—and if you walk in with your manners as well as your wallet, you’ll even get Le Cirque–level treatment. Follow these tips to get better service wherever you go.

Tip No. 1: Be realistic in your expectations. At first the servers regarded us with suspicion. Our requests for basic toppings—say, more pickles—were considered burdensome and thus ignored. We learned the value of artistic license. (Would you have asked Picasso to change that blue to a red? Of course not.) It took weeks of relentlessly saying hello, please and thank you; finally, they made eye contact.

Tip No. 2: Be polite even in the face of rudeness. Next, they gave  us smiles. Okay, make that frownless glances, but we happily took what was offered. That evolved into brief conversations—initiated by us, and mostly about toppings.

Tip No. 3: Get the staffer’s expert input. We also bonded by praising the fine quality of the WB sandwiches, eliciting an appreciative giggle from the other side of the counter.

Tip No. 4: Don’t be stingy with the compliments. Eight months later, we’re on a first-name (and dare we say, chummy?) basis with first-class servers who don’t even wait for us to order: The minute we walk through the door, they know what we want and make our regular ’wiches with no prompting at all. They tell us to have a nice day—and they mean it. The manager even offered us the occasional complimentary meal, plus delivery service—though our favorite server balked at the idea. We’ll be back tomorrow.—Carmela Ciuraru and Katharine Rust

466 Tenth Ave between 36th and 37th Sts (212-279-0382)