By: Nicole Bilby
How many years have you worked on Missouri Western campus?
12 years in the Library’s Java City, but 17 years in total.
What’s your favorite drink to make?
Javalanches, I really like to make them all and I want to make them perfect.
What’s your favorite drink?
Regular brewed coffee with milk.
What’s a pet peeve of yours?
When people order a drink that they’ve had somewhere else, but they don’t really know what it is. They come up with these freak-ichiniannos (Pam-ism).
What’s your favorite tv show?
Game of Thrones, The Big Bang Theory, or The British Baking Show.
What values are most important to you?
Work ethic, my family and taking care of them.
What’s an unknown fact about you, that you’re willing to share?
That I have really long hair. I haven’t cut my hair since I got married and that was 30 years ago.
How do you feel about working Blum compared to the Library?
I miss the library, but this is really nice. The view is nice and I can make more noise than usual.
What has been the most noteworthy experience for you at Western?
A lot of the time kids will ask me to get involved and they’ll ask me to do something like judge a contest or do interviews.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
I wouldn’t mind being a fly on the wall sometimes or to be invisible. That would be good.
What’s your favorite decade that you’ve lived through?
Right now is great. I mean with my kids it was fun in the’ 80s and ‘90s when they were little, but it’s a new kind of a fun now.
What topic are you most knowledgeable on?
I’m really good at British history from about the 1400s to the 1500s. It’s just my favorite time in history and I’ll read anything I can get my hands on. During the time period with Queen Elizabeth and Henry VIII, I’ll read anything about it so I’m pretty knowledgeable on it.
What was your first job?
My very first job I was 14 and I worked in a nursing home in the kitchen. It was run by German nuns and they had this dumbwaiter. We could get inside of the dumbwaiter and go up the floors. We weren’t supposed to, but it was so much fun. It was cooking in a nursing home. I made .86 cents an hour.
If you weren’t an all-star barista, what would you be?
If I could turn back time, I would probably love to go into a nursing profession or something like that.
If you drop a hot cup of coffee what would be the first word to come out of your mouth?
A curse word you know, but I really try to say sugar.
What’s your favorite aspect of this job?
I love seeing the kids I know day-to-day and then year-to-year and seeing how some of them change and grow up so much. It’s pretty amazing. And then they leave and I wonder about them.
What’s your favorite thing about Western or St. Joe?
I love Missouri Western. The campus is beautiful and every year there’s something new. The people are great.
What’s the bravest or stupidest thing you’ve ever done?
Well, I jumped off of a rock cliff in a park down in south Missouri that was about 20 feet tall. That’s probably the craziest thing I ever did.
What’s the most daring thing that you’ve done that you’re willing to share?
When I was much younger, I drove very fast. That’s about the most daring thing. I would ride motorcycles and drive fast. But that’s a long time ago.
How would you describe Western students using only three words?
Lots of fun.
How would you describe coffee using only three words?
Gift from the Gods. I don’t know, I’ve always loved it. It’s a little more than three words.
What advice do you have for the students that you serve?
Don’t give up. The wheel will turn. Things will change. Just stick it out.
