“To my younger self: ‘Why do you like boba so much?'”

Stephanie Swee

“You know how at those Vietnamese restaurants, they have smoothies and stuff? My dad introduced those to me; everytime I go to a Vietnamese restaurant, I would order those. When my brother started having T4, [I asked him,] ‘Hey, can I get some of those? Because they look so good!’ I got the smoothies at first, then when T4 opened in San Ramon [near Safeway], I was like ‘Oh, it’s a good deal! Let me just try everything on the menu.’ The first tea drink I drank was the panda milk tea, aka snow globe and pearl tea … so I decided to try every flavor and I love boba and I can’t stop getting boba with all my drinks now … [What’s funny is] I didn’t know that tapioca was another name for boba because my mom made this dessert with boba in it, so I enjoyed those boba balls and it was my favorite part … I started working at T4 over the summer, probably at the beginning of July. The only reason why I started working at T4 was because my parents wanted me to get a job and I didn’t have a lot of interests [as far as] what job/career I wanted to be in, so my mom took me to T4 at Dublin to apply. The best thing about working at T4 is probably free drinks every shift, including free toppings, and free unlimited refills when you work. If you work more than six hours a day, you get a free snack from the kitchen … and when your not working, you get this 20 percent off discount for pretty much everything … [This has shaped me as a person] because every time I talk to a customer, it helps me talk to completely random strangers better. It boosts my self confidence and social skills, also teamwork with people who can probably speak Chinese better than I can … [To the boba haters,] there are many other options besides boba; you can always try other toppings … I would ask my younger self, ‘Why do you like boba so much?'”