In high school many people choose to branch out into the world by getting their first job. With limited places to work, many end up working with friends or with people they know. 

A couple of these people are sophomores Ella Foley and Kennedy Urbanek, who work together at Tallgrass Creek Senior Living Community. They began working together when Urbanek told Foley about the job after working there herself. 

“Especially where we’re at, we’re not just employees and servers — it’s really more people,” Foley said. “It’s a very tight-knit community. It’s like talking to adults and having conversations while also having a little more.”

While the two don’t work in the same divisions, their shifts often line up allowing them to interact a little between working. 

“​​Every time she walks into the kitchen and I’m there, I always yell at her to get out of there as a joke,” Urbanek said. “[The] first time she thought I wasn’t joking.”

Fun little interactions like these can of course decrease productivity and are often seen as a downside of working with friends. 

“OK, I swear we get work done, but there is a lot of sidetrack,” Foley said. “We’ll see each other and we talk too much, so we do take a little longer.” 

A common stereotype of either being roommates or working with friends is the so-called curse that you’ll inevitably stop getting along. But both Foley and Urbanek feel this experience has made them closer now and said that if they could go back in time they wouldn’t change a thing. 

The truth is working can be tiring, boring and even infuriating with the wrong people, with the right ones however, it may still feel like work sometimes but you’ll have people with you who make it just that much better. 

“I 100% recommend working with a friend — it’ll make it go by way faster,” Foley said. “I don’t know if I’d make it without someone to talk to.”