Name: Sydney Maloney
Graduation Year: 2018
Major: Biopsychology & Economics
Hometown: San Diego, CA
Fun fact: For the first 2 years of my life, I pretended that I was a dog. Like, really committed to the role: lapped up my cereal, walked on all fours, licked people, etc.
Her Campus: What is your favorite part about working at the Starbucks in the Michigan Union?
Sydney Maloney: I find it to be a perk that my customers are also my fellow Wolverines. While making them their peppermint mochas, I get to engage in conversation about the struggles of Stats 250 or having to pay astronomical rent every month. It’s a win-win for both the customers and me.
HC: That’s amazing! Do you have any funny stories from the job?
SM: I want to preface this story by saying that in no way do I think allergies are a laughing matter, but this one incident always sticks out in my mind. So my coworkers and I were in quite a rush one day, and my coworker had put one of our lunch sandwiches into the oven for a custmoer. She was occupied at the reggie (register), so she asked me to take the sandwich out for the customer. So, I take it out of the oven, and I get a whiff of chicken, so I call out a Chicken Artichoke sandwich. The girl who ordered the sandwich literally takes a ginormous step away from the counter with wide eyes and says, “Oh. I am deathly allergic to artichokes.” I was so confused because she brought the sandwich to the reggie, but it turns out the sandwich was the Chicken Santa Fe. I had just assumed it was the artichoke, and this girl basically thought we were trying to send her to the hospital. We weren’t. We don’t ever try to do that, obviously.
HC: Well, on that note, is there anything you want to tell customers?
SM: My one request is that if you are spending a good amount of time waiting in line, it would be super, super great if you could possibly check out those handy dandy menu boards, so you can have some idea of what you’re going to get before you get to the register. One of my biggest pet peeves is the whole “Can I get a uhh, ummmmm…..maybe a hmmm let’s see, like the uh…” Everything would move a lot quicker for us, and you, if you had some idea of what you wanted before you get up to the cashier!
HC: And, just because it’s all over Facebook, what is your opinion about the apparently very controversial 2015 holiday cups?
SM: I think it’s important for a company to keep all the possible ideologies of people in mind, both with the design and the intention of all products. I think for people to find the lack of “Christmas decoration” on the cups problematic is a little self-indulgent, and it’s not really tolerant. There are many, many other customers that we cater to who really don’t mind what we put on our cups.
HC: What is your favorite place on campus?
SM: It has got to be the little table in the union quiet room right next to the window and plants, or the map room in the graduate library.
HC: What else are you involved with on campus?
SM: I am part of this club called Project Flavor. It’s a club where we get a group of students to come out to the Ronald McDonald House and cook food for the residents. It’s a great way to act like you’re on Masterchef, while also offering some company and good food to the people at RMH. I have always loved that saying about the way to a person’s heart is through their stomachs, and with Project Flavor, we get to really put that theory to the test.
HC: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
SM: I have two. The first is from an unknown source: “Wherever you go, there you are.” The second is something my mom has been telling me for years: “Don’t let another human being determine your attitude for the day.”