HOW I MET THE PRESIDENT

BY ANDREA (BYL) BAIRD

I remember getting to Zingerman’s for work in the morning on April 2nd, 2014, knowing that Barack Obama was visiting Ann Arbor that day to discuss raising minimum wage. My coworker and I joked about how cool it would be if he came to visit the deli, thinking that it would never actually happen. But we were wrong! A couple hours into my shift, my manager pulled me aside and told me had a “unique request” for me. He said they were notified that a “special guest” was coming to Zingerman’s, and he and the other supervisors had decided they would ask me to take his order. I remember having this insanely huge grin on my face and excitedly agreeing, feeling like I was in a dream.

Soon after, I met with a woman from the White House staff. She seemed to be the main organizer, making sure the deli was clearing out and figuring out where the camera people would stand. She set up my iPad for taking the order right in the middle, scrunched up by the salad case so there was enough room for the cameras. I had to wait there for what seemed like forever. They blocked off all the streets around the deli with police cars and started placing Secret Service men throughout the deli. I just stood there by my iPad waiting, starting to feel extremely nervous. Camera men were setting up right in front of me and the Secret Service men stood nearby. 

Finally, he arrived. He walked up to me and shook my hand, acting like we were old friends. His calm, caring demeanor immediately helped ease my nerves - plus, we were about the same height, which was cool! He ordered the classic, most famous sandwich - the #2 Zingerman’s reuben. I explained the pickle choice, and he joked that while he would prefer the garlicky one (what is referred to as the “old” pickle), he would “show restraint” and go with the new pickle. He also went with a side salad that I recommended called the “Che che spin.”

After he ordered, he starting asking me about school and what I was majoring in. When I told him that I had just graduated a semester early and double majored in French and Linguistics, he asked the obvious question: “What are you going to do with that?” The funny thing was, I had just found out the night before that I had been accepted into the TAPIF program, which stands for Teaching Assistantship Program in France. I had only told my then boyfriend (now husband) Carl Baird- no one else knew. So the President of the United States, Barack Obama, was the second person in the world to find out that I had been accepted to this teaching program in France. I told him I had just found out so I hadn’t committed yet, to which he responded with holding a “vote”; he told me that he thought of course I should do it, and who else thinks Andrea should go off to France? Let’s vote… he raised his hand, and all of the camera people laughed and raised their hands too. 

I did end up accepting the offer to join the program and had a wonderful year teaching middle school students in northern France. And I will never forget that day in the deli with Barack Obama, or the phone call I made to my parents as I left work. I got to tell them that I was accepted to the teaching program, and the small detail that the President of the United States found out before they did. There’s no doubt that my experience was a once in a lifetime, and I will cherish the memory forever. 

6/30/19

Andrea Baird is a fifth grade teacher in Rockford, MI, where she and her husband Carl just became new homeowners. She loves to share her passion for music, reading, and Harry Potter with her young students.