When we take the time to walk around campus and look at the people all around us, we often skip over the work being done by so many of those who work in customer service. It is not necessarily a fault of our own, as we are just naturally preoccupied with whatever stresses and thoughts are staying with us all day, but it is important to remember to take the time and acknowledge the work done by so many of the people around us on a daily basis. One of the people who fit this description very well is Taylor, who works in the coffee shop on campus. Taking the time to interview her and learn about her life was a very rewarding experience because I was able to gain insight into the inner life of someone who everyone sees on a daily basis, but almost no one really knows.
Taylor is currently a student at OSU but is taking the semester off in order to put herself through college by work, working at the SNU Coffee Shop for the last seven months, five days a week, in order to make ends meet. She had heard of the job by proximity, as she actually lives very close to campus, citing the free food and the location by her home as large
selling points for taking the job. One thing that she mentioned in the interview was that it is actually remarkably difficult to fully memorize people’s orders. People who ask to get “the same thing as last time,” thinking nothing of it, do not realize how many orders of coffee are being made on campus, and they assume that they can remember an individual’s order. In addition to working at the coffee shop, she also makes time for hobbies and other activities she likes to do, such as rock climbing and playing instruments such as the guitar and the cello, which can allow for some form of outside creativity and a reprieve from the stresses of work.
While I began this article by talking about how students do not often notice these “behind-the-scenes” people, Taylor did relay one story where this was not the case. One student had a flair for creativity in using 3D printers to make things, and one of his creations, a rainbow-colored dragon, he gave to her. It was not necessarily some grand gesture, but it was something that stuck with her–another human taking the time out of their day to make something for her while she was having a long day at work.
Through this interview, I hope you not only take the time to learn about Taylor and interact with her but also practice this with the other SNU workers on campus, as they are remarkably valuable in everything they bring to the university.
Photo by Jacob Mash