Terryl Porter works at the checkout counter in the DeCafe. She sat down to speak to us this week about working life, students and occasional nudity at Oberlin’s favorite student hang-out.

How long have you worked at Oberlin?
About ten years now.

How did you come to work here?
My mother worked here before me and my sister started.

Has it always been in the DeCafe?
Well, it used to just be called “the Snack Bar,” but yeah, I always worked here.

Have things changed a lot in the time you’ve worked here?
Not really. The managers change a lot but the place stays the same. The store’s a little bigger now and we have more organic goods.

What about the students who work here?
They definitely change. But every year you’ve got your good group and your bad group. You don’t know which one they’re going to be until you start talking to them.

What kind of students are in each group?
The bad group are usually freshmen. They get here, they’re away from home for the first time, they’re scared and they don’t know if they can do a job like this. By the junior year, after they’ve made a few friends, it’s easier talking to them.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen in the DeCafe?
Drag Ball is pretty strange. Though there was this one time that a man came in completely naked and ordered a cup of coffee. The manager, who was new at that point, came back to where I was sitting and said, “There’s something really strange going on outside.” I asked him, “Is it a naked student?” and he said “Yeah.” “That’s nothing strange,” I said.

What would you change here if you could?
Definitely the operating hours. We should be open at least an hour later, especially on weekends. There are a lot of people who would come in between one and two. That way maybe I could come in later as well.

What are you expecting from the union contract renegotiations this summer?
I don’t expect anything in particular from it. I just hope we get what we want out of it.

What’s it like to work with your sister?
A lot of people have trouble telling us apart but it’s fine. Sometimes we get mad at each other but we always just get back to work. I just try to go with the flow.

Interview conducted by Josh Keating and Sara Ris