If Shawnee isn’t at home with her ilk, at school, or with her boyfriend, you’ll find her at Panera Bread. She’s told that she’s a workaholic and owns up to it.
Shawnee “caught on quick” at Panera. The only thing she isn’t certified to do is catering. Her favorite jobs are making sandwiches and on weekends, doing the dishes. She and her co-workers have share inside jokes such as their own sign language and talking about pancakes in a deep voice. She seems to have no inhibitions at work.
As much as Shawnee loves the job, she doesn’t deny the not-so-fun parts. “We get some nasty people,” Shawnee says, adding on how it’s annoying when people are snappy and how rude they are about asking the same question twice. There’s also the “incompetent person,” as Shawnee calls her. “She’s dumb” -- she’s incoherent when working the cash register, but is good with customers. “When I’m a manager, she’s my first target.”
Overall, Shawnee gets a deep satisfaction from the job. Her remuneration is her sense of pride. She intends to pay for her own college education and her job at Panera is an essential part.
Shawnee wants to be an English teacher. She makes it clear that she isn’t looking for anything prestigious when she says, “I don’t want to be rich and famous or anything.” She loves teaching people new things, and with English as her best subject, it makes perfect sense.