Gloria Johnson is a cycle-ridin' grandma who raps like Fat Joe and is a video game wizard. She's also the unofficial face of Putnam's and one of the most popular employees in the Student Union food spot.
At Putnam's she prepares food and cashiers, but her favorite part of the job is preparing members of the UB community for the day ahead.
"If someone comes through my line and I sense they aren't having a great day, I'll tell them a joke," she said. "What do you call orange juice in a hurry? O.J. on the run, of course."
On her breaks, Johnson likes to sit and chat with students that she has befriended. As students pass through the Union on their way to class, inhaling a bagel and coffee during their break, she tries to make everyone smile and inject a bit of intimacy into everyone's day.
"Some of them call me Gloria, but a lot of them like to call me 'Mommy,' " she said.
For some students, Johnson provides a sense of understanding during a hectic day.
"Some of the other people who work at Putnam's seem so miserable, but she always has a smile on her face and she looks out for people," said Barrington Gordon, senior marketing major.
Although her remarkably friendly personality and kind treatment of students is nothing to sneeze at, Johnson has accomplished much more in her life than meets the eye.
Johnson has lived in Buffalo most of her life. Originally from Wetumpka, Ala., she is the third of 19 children, and has two grown children of her own. She currently lives with her husband of 34 years and her granddaughter.
She graduated from Erie Community College with a 4.0 grade point average and a degree in accounting and computing. She was also valedictorian of her class.
School wasn't the only place that she was determined to succeed. She served in the United States Army for 16 years and she was a medic stationed in Korea during the Gulf War. However, Johnson is anything but the military type. Her soft voice and relaxed personality make her the easiest person to approach and start a conversation with.
"It was a woman's dream (being in the army), there were so many men," Johnson said. "It didn't matter for me (though), I was married and very much in love with my husband."
Some people's lives may end when they go home from work, but Johnson never stops.
"I belong to the New York State Falcons (motorcycle club), and I have a Ninja 1100," she said.
Always daring and willing to take a risk, Johnson is forcing herself to learn how to swim with a boogie board and floaties, despite her fear of water.
Johnson's interests are eclectic: she loves to play video games and watch action movies and sports, especially basketball. In other spare moments, she enjoys dabbling in Shakespeare's plays and sonnets.
She favors the idea of being a stay-at-home mom and is self-proclaimed "old-fashioned" when it comes to taking care of her husband and the house. She rises at 4:30 a.m. and makes breakfast for her husband. Before work at 6:30 a.m. she sits in her car listening to Fat Joe, and other hip-hop, Latino and reggae music as she gets pumped up for her day.
Johnson also composes her own rap songs. "New-Age Grandma" is the title of one of her most recent pieces.
Since childhood, Johnson has spent her time focusing on others, working myriad jobs to help her parents support their large family. When she was 9 she ironed clothes and when she was 12 she worked at Wings and Things. She made $20 a week and gave $15 to her mother, keeping only $5 for herself.
Coming from such a large family, Johnson learned to always put others before herself. If she ever won the lottery she already has dreams for how to use the money, she said.
"I want to build an apartment building for the homeless. They can work and save money while living rent-free for up to a year," she said.
Some students recall their memories of Gloria as freshmen, which helped form a friendly bond between them and Gloria for as long as they made their stops at Putnam's.
"I remember when I was a freshman, we got into a small argument about whether it is soda or pop. So for a week after that, every time I came up to the register, I would call it soda and she would call it pop," said Smita Bhattacharya, senior international business and marketing major. "One day, I told her to see how it gets rung up on the register. She said soda and I won the argument, but every time we see each other we joke about soda and pop."
The special bonds that Johnson forms with the students are bittersweet when most leave after four years. Talking about it made Johnson frown. She keeps in touch by e-mail, though, and is always meeting new students that come through her line.
