Along with being labeled as a friend, a family member, and a student, junior Emmy Norton also takes on the title of “coach” and “barista” at her two jobs. To be more specific, the papers at the Toastn’ Tea boba shop where she’s employed have documented her as a “Boba-rista.”
Although she’s fairly new at both of her workplaces—having started coaching at the Michigan Volleyball Academy (MVA) in March and Toastn’ Tea in July—Emmy has already formed some connections with her coworkers, especially her boss at the boba shop after enduring a particularly tough closing shift together.
“It was a Tuesday night that was super slow, no customers the entire time,” Emmy said. “Normally it’s three people that are closing, but this time it was just me and my boss, so we started closing and cleaning early because we weren’t very busy. At 7:50 p.m. this lady comes in, and she decides to ask all the questions about every single boba we have and every single drink. We close at 8, and at 8:01 p.m. this entire family [also] comes in because we were handling the other lady, and we didn’t have time to go and lock the door.”
Besides the fact that they were cleaned and ready to lock up, the family ordered five drinks and meals. The part that Emmy couldn’t stand, however, was that the parents made the kids order, and the kids could barely read. Even though it was a shift she never wants to relive, the whole experience made her and her boss a lot closer due to the fact that they “were very annoyed together.”
That night, along with countless others, has taught her how important good customer service is, even if it is mentally exhausting. Both coaching and barista work include a certain social aspect, so if her day at school seems particularly long, she can choose a job she prefers.
“[My favorite job] depends on the day,” Emmy said. “The coaching one is definitely more social, so if I’m drained, I’m like, ‘I don’t want to go.’ A big part of [the job] is being around little kids who are super cute. Surprisingly, none of them have done anything [really bad], but I’m also definitely of the lower level of coaching. I’m just kind of there to supervise.”
Balancing her school, work, and social life has been a learning experience for Emmy; trying to figure out what works best for her took time. Her extracurricular involvement at the high school—along with the tough AP classes she’s taking on—in the American Sign Language (ASL) club and winter-to-spring club volleyball with frequent practices and tournaments have compelled her to apply some preferred organizational habits into her life.
“This year has been more chaotic for me because last year I did AP U.S History (APUSH),” Emmy said, “which was way more [work] than all my other classes this year, but that was only one class to keep track of. I do have a planner because I’m a very organized person. If I showed it to someone, I have like everything crossed out, all the lines are filled in, so I have everything I need to do, but I do have people ask me why my calendar isn’t on my phone. I just think that physically crossing out stuff keeps me organized.”
Emmy admits to enjoying all the events in her schedule, but looking into the workload she has in future days causes large amounts of stress. Her social life does take the short end of the stick simply because balancing her two jobs and homework takes priority, but she tries to stay on top of things the best she can, even if it means postponing plans with friends.
However, on the days when she does find enough time to catch up with her peers, Emmy owes those free periods to her perfectionism which is the main driving force behind the organizational habits she’s so keen on continuing.
“I think being a perfectionist keeps me organized and helps me know all future events,” Emmy said. “I think that, especially having two jobs, I really need to be organized in order to have a social life or hang out with people.”
Time management is a crucial aspect of her life, and with the AP courses in her schedule this year, she’s become used to walking through her daily routine in the morning so she can get everything done in a timely manner—one of the key lessons the immense workload in APUSH taught her.
“I feel like I’m still worn out from APUSH because that was so much,” Emmy said. “This year, I was like, ‘Okay, I know all these classes [I’m taking] are easier than that,’ but I’m now realizing that combined, these classes are basically that workload but managing a little bit more. [However], I’m definitely more locked in now than I was before.”
Although she’s still trying to figure out what path she wants to take as a future career, it’s already been decided that she’ll work best in an environment where everything is arranged in a clear, understandable fashion.
With the way her management skills have already helped her immensely in balancing an extreme workload, going into college might not be as daunting as other people see it because she knows how to administer her time with different responsibilities so well.
“I definitely would want a job based off of [organization] because I am so organized,” Emmy said. “I think I’ve had these habits for so long that I’ll continue to have them throughout a job and throughout future careers. It will help me in the future, especially in college with organizing assignments and stuff like that because there’s more added responsibility. It will also help my time management if I stop procrastinating”
