This morning I had to go to work. That is very unusual for me on a Friday, but they were unusual circumstances. After I finished what I had to do, I had a softball game (we won!!) scheduled for 9:30 am in The Baptist Village (outside of Petach Tikva).
Being that I had some time to spare, and I had to drive on the outskirts of Bnei Brak anyway to get to the game, I decided to drive into Bnei Brak to look for rogelach and bourekas to eat before the game.
It was 8:00 am and not much was happening in Bnei Brak. The streets were quiet. Most of the people out were people going to and from shul. Some stores, mostly makolets and bakeries, were just beginning to open. I drove around a bit looking for an open bakery not too far from a parking spot. Eventually I found one.

I parked and went in to this little hole in the wall bakery in the middle of Rabbi Akiva street (THE main thouroughfare in Bnei Brak). As I am picking out my rogelach and bourekas, I began to over hear conversations. The fellow running the store was obviously a former yeshiva/kollel student. As people come through the store and pay, I notice that he knew all his customers (except me) by name. He greeted everybody who walked in and made suggestions based on what he knew they liked (today the chocolate ones came out really good, etc..). As people paid, he had brief conversations with them. He knew where each yeshiva guy learned, and where each working guy worked. He asked how they were doing.

Everybody who bought products there, left happy, not just with their purchases, but with having been noticed and not ignored.