Robert Maglione, a junior at Community High School, walked into Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt on Ann Arbor-Saline Road. With a strong will and, more importantly, an aching, burning desire for money, he got to work.

Like most high school students, Maglione isn’t exactly financially sound, so working and potentially saving up the money he’s earned is something that he truly values and that gives him a sense of achievement.  

Not only is it something that makes him feel accomplished, but it’s something that gives him a sense of inspiration.

“Working kind of inspires me because I’m like ‘Hey, I have cash’, and I feel like I’m succeeding,” Maglione said.

However, this new aspect of his life hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. Working three days a week has put some serious time constraints on Maglione’s academic life, which he feels he wasn’t putting enough time into in the first place.

“It doesn’t really impede me academically other than the time factor, you know,” Maglione said. “I just have less time to do stuff. But it’s not like I use that time wisely anyways, so at least it’s something to fill the void.”

On the more optimistic side, working in an environment like Menchie’s has given Maglione newfound respect for retail workers, one that he never really had or thought about as a kid in elementary school.

“When I was younger, I used to look at people who worked retail and I’d be like ‘that’s not a real person, that’s just a person that’s always there,’ subconsciously,” Maglione said. “Obviously I knew they were real people, but I didn’t really look at them beyond what they were for there job. Now I really respect retail workers. I feel like I tip a lot more now just from realizing how much it means to me just to get a tip from somebody.”