Sandy Hughes, Brenda Donar and Tonya “Tweet” Leibfried are the three women that can be found cashiering during the lunch rush every weekday at the Pioneer Crossing.
Sandy is the cashier at the left register. She was born in Cuba City but has lived in Dickeyville for the last 46 years. She has three children: a 46-year-old son and two daughters who are 43 and 36. Sandy also has five grandchildren, the oldest being 16 and the youngest is four years old.
In her free time, Sandy enjoys going on walks, spending time with her grandchildren and going to their sporting events.
Sandy has been working at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville for over 13 years. During her time on campus she has worked across campus: a coffee shop, the Pioneer Crossing Grill and as a custodian over summer break.
“I really enjoy the kids and I really like how respectful all of them are,” Sandy said. “I appreciate the fact that they are never rude, even if there is a long line.”
Interaction with the students is her favorite part of the job. She also has several relatives on campus who visit her at work, which makes her days even more enjoyable.
“The hardest part of the job is when a cash register goes down,” Sandy said. “There may be over 100 students waiting in line and a malfunctioning cash register makes that wait longer.”
Sandy feels that she has been very fortunate in her 13 years at UW-Platteville, and has had great co-workers and bosses.
Tweet, the cashier who uses the middle register, was born in Dubuque but lived in Potosi for all of her life.
“There are a lot of people who don’t even know my real name is Tonya,” Tweet said.
Everyone at the Pioneer Crossing knows her as Tweet and she explained that she got the nickname when she was six or seven.
“I used to go up the alley to the meat locker plant and hide under the table. I would sing ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’ and stick my hand out from under the table. The two men running the locker plant would then give me a dime or nickel which I would use to go buy a bunch of candy,” Tweet said. “I would then go running back to the meat locker and talk to the same two men who then gave me the nickname. They said once someone fed me, I would start ‘tweeting’ nonstop like a bird.”
The nickname has stuck with her to this day.
Tweet has three children; two boys and one girl. The oldest is 31 years old and her youngest is 19.
Outside of work, Tweet loves to spend her time with her family and enjoys going on walks for exercise.
In her 11 years on campus, she has also worked at several other places including University Information and Communications and the textbook center.
“The kids are what makes my job enjoyable,” Tweet said.
She said one of her favorite experiences was having decorations set up for her fiftieth birthday. Both the textbook center and the Markee Pioneer Student Center set up decorations, which she really appreciated.
Tweet said that equipment malfunctions are one of the hardest parts of the job. She explained that it is hard on everyone when it happens, and is an even bigger struggle if it is busy.
“It can also be very stressful when our menus change everyday and change throughout the day as well,” Tweet said.
Brenda, the register cashier on the right, was born in Dubuque and has lived in Cuba City for the past 20 years. Brenda has seven children, 18 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Her oldest grandchild is 21 years old and the youngest is two years old. Brenda’s great grandchild is only 4 months old.
Brenda has been working as a cashier at UW-Platteville for four years, but also worked here for seven years in the past. She had stopped working on campus to pursue a career as a Certified Nursing Assistant. She worked as a CNA for about nine years before coming back to work at UW-Platteville.
Brenda stopped working full-time as a CNA because work was becoming too physically demanding. She explained that she wanted more time to spend with her grandchildren and coming back to work as a cashier allowed her to do that, however, she still works part time as a CNA.
Two personal experiences that happened while working as a cashier stand out to Brenda.
The first experience was when she saw someone she used to coach in softball when they were in fifth and sixth grade.
“When the young girl came back up to me after going through the line, she pointed out that she remembered who I was and that really put a smile on my face,” Brenda said.
The other experience brought tears to Brenda’s eyes. Brenda was able to help a woman who was in a dark place and reached out to her.  She sat down with the woman and had a long talk with her, encouraging her to stay positive. About a year later, the woman came back up to her and thanked her for helping turn her life around.
The biggest cashiering struggle for Brenda is dealing with cards that do not work very well. She said that students use their cards so much now that they wear out faster than in the past. It is very frustrating when cards take several tries and still do not work.
“All three ladies are extremely friendly and are willing to help if you need anything,” Pioneer Crossing Student Manager James King said.
Dave Ernst, food service administrator at the crossing, spoke about how much he likes the three women.
“They are always a joy to have around, and they really bring a positive spirit to the workplace every day that they are here,” Ernst said. “The Crossing is very fortunate to have three great ladies working here.”