Behind the Pastry Case

If you’re a college student, you probably know the pressure to land the perfect summer internship. By junior or senior year—the downward slope of college—it feels ingrained that you should already be setting yourself up for post-grad success. Internships, so I’ve gathered, are where you learn the art of the 9-to-5. Where you try on business casual and a business lifestyle at the same time.

Maybe your friends, too, have started tossing around terms like return offer and intern summit. Suddenly, it’s like we’ve picked up a new corporate dialect, and you’re still stuck translating. As summer approaches, your LinkedIn feed floods with posts from friends thanking hiring teams at companies you’d never even heard of—companies you now feel you should’ve applied to… if only you’d known to apply six months earlier. If you’re like me (currently “internship-less”), it’s easy to feel like you’re missing out on some essential crash course in adulthood.

That’s what I believed—until I stumbled upon a job at a local bakery near me. In a strange twist of fate, this seasonal gig as a barista has taught me 3 lessons I think I’ll carry with me, perhaps longer than any corporate internship ever could.

So no, it’s not the Big Apple, but the lessons? Still worth writing down.

1. Meet new people and ask “good” questions.

In the age of algorithms, we live in digital echo chambers. And if we’re not careful, our friendships can become echo chambers too. We naturally gravitate toward people who think like us, which isn’t inherently bad—but it can lead to stasis.

At the bakery, I’ve met people I’d never have crossed paths with otherwise. Some are college students like me. They tell me about their studies in environmental engineering up in Canada or describe the San Francisco garage where their band practices. Others are full-time bakers who helped me stretch my high-school-level Spanish, or the business owner herself, an immigrant from China who expects nothing short of excellence, even from the cashier.

Now, one coworker sends me book recommendations. Another has shifted from coworker to friend. A regular even once handed me the novel he’d just finished after hearing I study English.

My mom always said people love to talk about themselves—and she’s right. The trick is knowing how to ask “good” questions. I put “good” in quotes because we tend to overthink, worrying about asking the wrong thing, when in reality the art of questioning is more generous than we imagine. Most people aren’t analyzing your phrasing; they’re just glad to be asked. And the more I asked, the more I learned—not only about others, but about what makes a conversation feel meaningful.

2. When you can, play Robin Hood.

My two semesters of high school Econ can’t help me explain the economy these days, but I do know one thing: things are expensive. So when the bakery raised prices due to ingredient costs, customers noticed.

That’s why, when I can, I give a little extra. Three scones for the price of one. A free loaf of bread at closing. I’ve learned my friends’ pastry preferences and now save a lemon poppy muffin for my friend Sydney, and remember what kind of bread her little brother likes.

Of course, don’t break any company policies or laws. But when it’s within your power to make someone’s day better and it costs you nothing, why not do it?

Small gestures add up.

3. Exercise your imagination.

When I was a kid, I drew constantly. Characters for made-up stories. Dresses for imaginary runways. Printer paper scattered across the floor.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped. Maybe you did too.

Now, during quiet hours at the bakery, I doodle again. I sketch faces using the proportions my fifth-grade art teacher once taught me. There’s no pressure, no end goal—just me, letting my mind wander again.

Maybe art wasn’t your thing, but ask yourself: before your phone filled every free second, what was? Then, consider re-visiting.

These days, creativity feels rare. But imagination is a muscle, and it feels good to stretch it.

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So, no, I didn’t have a shiny internship this summer. No LinkedIn announcement. No new email signature. No impressive post-summer talking point.

But I did have a summer of slowing down. Of listening. Of reading. Of connecting. Of remembering that soft skills matter too.

Life lessons aren’t only found in an office. Sometimes, you find them behind a pastry case.