Kylee has worked at Dairy Queen in Angola for about 15 years, and she still enjoys it. There’s just one problem with her work at DQ: There’s not enough of it.
“She likes to stay busy,” said Beth Griggs, the Easterseals Northeast Indiana staff member who works with her in her home twice a week.
“I like the money!” Kylee, 39, added.
Extra money is particularly helpful now, because she’s settling into a new home. She’s recently used some of her earnings to buy things she needed for her new place, including sheets and a bedspread.
Ayreal Lanman, the Easterseals employment specialist who works with Kylee, has known her since they were both kids.
“We were on the swim team together when we were young girls, then also worked together in high school when I assisted in the functional skills classroom,” Lanman remembered. “Kylee was always my buddy!”
Lanman could see that it would be hard for Kylee to get more hours at Dairy Queen in the off-season when tourism is down and cooler weather diminishes appetites for ice cream.
She turned to the Steuben County school district as an alternative.
“Kylee loves working, and her hours at DQ had been reduced significantly through the off-season. So, we thought the school would be a perfect fit since it would cover those hours in the off-season,” Lanman said. “Then she could work those additional hours at DQ in the summer.”
In recent years, Easterseals employment specialists have helped two other people land jobs in the kitchens of the district’s schools. Their successes made a good impression on Amber Parshall, the director of food service for the schools.
“They do a great job in the kitchen. They have a positive attitude,” Parshall said of those earlier hires.
Kylee’s 15 years of experience at Dairy Queen helped make her a good candidate for working at the school, too.
“She really understands the importance of cleanliness,” said Kristy Clouse, who runs the kitchen at Angola Middle School.
Kylee started her job at the school in November. Now she works there Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. In those hours, she’s responsible for several tasks, including loading the dishwasher with dirty trays, prepping packaged food for lunch and making sure every item on the day’s menu is available in the lunch line.
Work in the kitchen is fast paced. There are times when she can get impatient, such as the moments after everything is ready but before the first students arrive to fill their trays.
During a recent shift, it got to Kylee. She craned her neck to peek through the doors of the lunchroom, saw no students moving toward the kitchen, and said, “Come on, kids!”
Another aspect of her job Kylee enjoys is her mother, Aimee Simons, dropping in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On those days, her mother gives private lessons in flute and piano to students at the school.
“When I’m in the dish room (loading the dishwasher), she pops in. She’ll say, ‘Get busy!’ ” Kylee said.
“She expects me to peek in on her, and a hug is always exchanged,” Simons said.
Meanwhile, she continues working each Saturday at the Dairy Queen on the north side of Angola. Fifteen years haven’t diminished her dedication and attention to the work.
“She’s a hard worker,” District Manager Robert Snyder said.
General Manager Nicole Dunafin said Kylee knows the tasks in her job so well that she usually gets busy as soon as she arrives. She is friendly, yet not so friendly that socializing interferes with her attending to her work.
When Kylee does socialize, “it’s to talk with a customer, and we’re all for that here,” Snyder said.
The heart of her job is keeping the lobby clean and tidy and stocking napkins, straws, utensils and condiments. During her 4 to 9 p.m. shift, she moves through an oval pattern in the lobby, attending to things that need done. She checks to see that seats and tabletops are clean and floors are swept.
When she’s caught up on keeping the public areas of the restaurant clean, she steps behind the counter to help serve food. She picks up completed orders and delivers them to customers.
At both Angola Middle School and the Dairy Queen, she says the most important benefit from her job is the same: “I like to meet people and make new friends!”