Life as a Malley's Chocolate Chocolaterie

Throughout one’s high school career, students eventually apply for their first job. Some classic first jobs include working at McDonalds, WaterWay Carwash, or Marcs. However, there are a few students at AHS who have unconventional jobs such as a Malley’s Chocolaterie.

Senior Anna Polasky started working at Malley’s Chocolate in the summer of 2014 after her older sister left for college. At first, Polasky had to learn how to manage the store and memorize all the merchandise by heart. The seasons determine Polasky’s work schedule- who knew there is a supply and demand for chocolate!

“My hours fluctuate depending on the season! January is really quiet because everyone spent all their money on christmas; also, customers make their New Year’s resolution to become fitter, and thus chocolate sales reach an all time low. February to April is very busy because we have two holidays during that time, Valentine’s Day and Easter. Over summer the store quiets down. Everyone is out and about enjoying the weather so we get tons of different people, usually customers that want a frozen treat while shopping at the outlets. September through November are quiet as well. When Christmas rolls around, my hours increase to about 25 hours per week. My job is to keep the customers satisfied. I fill shelves, work the register, make fudge, and socialize with people,” Polasky explains.

Recently, Polasky finally got the okay to start making the chocolate herself. With all her coworkers over the age of forty, she had a hard time finding her own footing within the company to show her own mature responsibility.

Despite the difficulties that come with the job, there are some definite perks that come with the job. Polasky states, “ I LOVE the chocolate. Our chocolate is made very, very well and is pretty expensive. I can’t eat hershey's chocolate anymore because it tastes acidic to me. I’m pretty spoiled at work. We can eat anything we want, open up any box, no matter the price and enjoy however much we want. The only requirement is that we need to purchase anything we take out of the store (I have a 20% discount). I’ve opened up a 100 dollar box of chocolates just to try a truffle I never had before.”

When Polasky isn’t stocking shelves or eating chocolate covered orange peels, she often has to deal with unpleasant customers. “There is a ton of shoplifting and you have to be sneaky how you deal with that. You can't call someone out on it, you have to be discrete. Or just call security,” Polasky explains.

Polasky has the unique situation to have a job in both the retail and food industry in one, and has learned plenty of life lessons. As Polasky says, “Chocolate is the key to heart and the sanity for the soul- most of the time.”