Working as a Barista

I honestly think working a retail job should be a requirement to graduate from high school. It gives you so many life lessons that school simply can't. I worked as a barista for over 2 years in high school and college, and something interesting about coffee shops is that they bring in people from many different walks of life. Getting to talk to all of those people gives you a perspective on life that a classroom can't. Even though most of those interactions lasted less than a minute, seeing a slice of people's lives was always interesting to me. I would highly recommend every high schooler to find a retail job, work there for a year, and talk to as many people as they can. All it takes is asking how someone's day is going. 90% of people will say "it's fine" and move on, but talking to the other 10% will give you a perspective that reading articles and writing papers will never.