Strangers No More: Meet the familiar faces around the TCU community

By Sara Honda

In a community, many cross paths with the same individuals on a regular basis without knowing who they are.

Perhaps they are the friendly clerk at your local grocery store you always seem to end up in line for. Or the barista at your favorite coffee shop who has your order memorized.

These interactions, though pleasant, seldom go beyond a greeting or small talk at most. The kind strangers of the community remain unknown to one another, despite the mutual, unspoken knowledge that they meet frequently.

They are dismissed as exactly that -- strangers.

But the repetitive interactions may eventually raise a strange feeling. You feel as though you know them considering how often you meet, only to realize -- what is their name?

Here are some of those familiar faces of the TCU community that may be unnamed to most.

A Mother to All TCU Students: The Bartender

On the corner of Cockrell Avenue and South University Drive, a popular TCU dinner spot comes to life in the evening. Rows of warm lights dance above the outdoor seating area and a tall, colorful sign gleams an invitation to grab a bite.

During the late afternoon hours and nights, a female bartender paces behind the counter and rushes around the restaurant, her blonde ponytail a pendulum swinging behind her.

A smile replaces her focused expression when she pauses to interact with the customers seated at the bar. She reaches a colorfully inked arm across the counter to place a drink in front of them.

Kandice Rankin, 41, is the outgoing bartender at Fuzzy’s Taco. Her busy pacing through the restaurant is a regular occurrence from 5:30 p.m. until closing.

“My favorite thing about working here is, gosh, just everything,” she said. “I mean, honestly, that's why I’m not just a bartender. I’m a cashier and I cook, even when it's slow.”

Kandice Rankin, Fuzzy's Taco Shop bartender. (Sara Honda/Staff Writer)

Born in Weatherford, Texas, Rankin spent her early years moving around Millsap, Brock and Lake Whitney before she landed in Westpoint, where she lives now with her family.

“About 21 years ago I moved up here to Fort Worth, fell in love with my prince and we’ve been married ever since,” she said.

Rankin met her husband, Donald, while working at T.G.I. Fridays with his brother in 2001.

“He came up there to eat one day and said, '’I'm gonna marry that girl,’ and we went on a date about a week later and just never separated,” she said.

Rankin serving customers at the bar. (Sara Honda/Staff Writer)

Rankin’s husband and two kids are the main subject of her tattoos that students commonly use as a descriptor. Her inked collection is an expression of what she defines as her number one passion in life -- family.

“I have my husband’s name tattooed on me six times, I don’t ever believe after 20 years you can have the same person's name too many times on you,” she said. “ I got my kids on my muscles because they are what carries me.”

The TCU community is Rankin’s second family that extends her passion. She said she feels like a mother figure to the students that regularly come into the restaurant and follows their growth throughout the years.

“Oh, watching the kids grow up, that's my favorite part,” she added. “I watch them all the way through graduation.”

Students can expect to be greeted by Rankin’s familiar presence behind the register for a long time. She said a departure from her favorite workplace and community is not in her plans.

“You are all so sweet, each and every one of you in your own little ways,” she said, addressing TCU students. “Just come back, and keep coming back.”

Rankin's tattoos of her children's names, (inner side of arms) and her 'spirit animal' (right). (Sara Honda/Staff Writer)

Rankin working at the bar. (Sara Honda/Staff Writer)

A Daily Grind: The barista

Just across TCU’s campus, a small coffee shop sits tucked in amongst the line of stores and restaurants along South University drive. Several mornings a week, a TCU student arrives around 6:40 to an unopened shop, the dimness and vacancy unfamiliar to its usual liveliness.

With the reillumination of the ceiling and calibration of the espresso machine, the barista opens Ampersand’s doors, ready for its transformation back into the crowded, coffee-scented atmosphere.

Maddie Droguett, Ampersand barista. (Sara Honda/Staff Writer)

Drougett and her family. (Courtesy of Maddie Drougett)

Maddie Droguett, a junior business major from Trophy Club, Texas, is the friendly smile behind the counter familiar to many coffee lovers of the TCU community. She began working at Ampersand in July 2022, fulfilling her desire to be a barista which she attributes to growing up around her parents’ love for coffee and herbal teas.

Drougett said her family not only influenced her choice to work at Ampersand, but does so for just about every aspect of her life because they are her top priority.

“Everything I do is for them and with them in mind,” she said. “I'm so close to home right now because I want to see them constantly and I want to be with them; they are my biggest driving force.”

Recently, Drougett made the leap of accepting an internship in Denver which will land her further than she has ever been from her best friend and younger brother, Aiden.

“I feel really fortunate to have a sibling that I know is there for me and that I can always count on,” she said. “He’s 15, so people tell me I need to stop calling him my little brother but he's always gonna be my little brother.”

Drougett’s loyalty and devotion is just as present with her work family, according to co-workers.

“She’s very hardworking,” said Juliana Zamora, general manager of Ampersand. “She’s very down to earth and great with her team members.”

Often the first one to arrive at work, Drougett said a typical day at the coffee shop is extremely demanding and a continuous cycle of rush hours until closing. During her shifts, she particularly enjoys working at the bar pulling espresso shots, so much so that she often gets too focused on the task and accidentally hogs the position, she said.

“It's crazy, it gets so busy there you would not believe,” she added. “ I open the store and then it's game on.”

Drougett during a shift at Ampersand. (Sara Honda/Staff writer)

Ironically, Drougett said her favorite beverage to serve is a non caffeinated drink, a simple hot chocolate, because of the satisfaction of pouring thick syrups.

She enjoys a cup of her own go-to drink from Ampersand, a Blondie latte with oat milk and cinnamon powder -- when she catches a break from working the register, restocking syrups and powders or pulling espresso shots.

Drougett during a shift at Ampersand. (Sara Honda/Staff writer)

Drougett during a shift at Ampersand. (Sara Honda/Staff writer)

A Bearer of Good News: The Flower Deliverer

Sitting right along South University Drive, perpendicular to the open road, is a symmetrical, townhouse-like building. Beyond the dim, tinted windows of the rather simple architecture are hundreds of colorful and vivid gifts that fill the cozy space inside. Every day, an assembly of delicate blooms are crafted inside of and delivered out of the building by their four deliverers. Those who have received a TCU Florist bouquet may have opened their front door to a cheerful greeting from Thomas Bridwell.

Thomas Bridwell, TCU Florist deliverer. (Sara Honda/Staff Writer)

Workspace in the back of the shop where bouquets are crafted. (Sara Honda/Staff Writer)

Bridwell, 62, has delivered TCU Florist flowers for 4 years now.

“It’s always a good thing to do because you see different people everyday doing this and most people are pleased to get these flowers,” he said. “Everybody loves getting flowers.”

Before working for TCU Florist, Bridwell had an extensive career as a printer in Dallas, where he had lived for 50 years. After 26 years of printing magazines and posters for Dallas sports teams and organizations, Bridwell realized his desire to take on a new occupation.

“Then I got into doing medical, I was an oxygen therapist and set up breathing machines and I done that for several years too,” he said.

However, another occupation change became necessary for Bridwell after a motorcycle accident 5 years ago that made the job physically demanding.

“I hit a steel fence and pretty much destroyed everything on one side of my body,” he said. “After that, the equipment is pretty heavy so I just couldn't pick it up anymore .”

He then came across an ad in the paper.

“Delivery appealed to me, getting out, meeting, and being around people,” he said.

Initially, when Bridwell saw the TCU Florist ad, he did not intend on sticking with the flower delivery job. He simply viewed it as a transitional filler between occupations.

“When I first started working here, I was thinking, eh i’m gonna do this until something else comes,” he said. “But then the more I started working here I noticed my stress level was going down and after a while I was like I think I'll stay.”

TCU Florist delivery van. (Sara Honda/Staff writer)

Bridwell accredits the decreased stress levels to the people that make his workplace enjoyable.

“I think we have a staff of about 20 people and everybody here loves to come to work,” he said. “With a lot of jobs people don't like going to work, but this one here i've found that everybody loves working here and gets along good with each other.”

Bridwell said this job is definitely no longer just a short-term filler.

“I enjoy seeing people's faces when bringing them flowers and stuff like that, it brightens up their day,” he said. “You want to be happy where you work, and you want to enjoy what you do.”