Eva Yee’s unguided hands slide deftly over worn countertops, cleaning the surfaces with a ragged cloth. The tiny store is silent for a moment before the door chimes as a customer enters.
Yee greets the customer with a simple hello and slides her feet to the cash register. The customer opens the refrigerator door and grabs a soda. She walks to the counter and waits for a minute.
Then, she realizes she must tell Yee what she is purchasing. Even though her eyes are open, Yee is unable to see.
Yee — blind since birth — must rely on technology, her customers and her other senses to complete tasks at work.
“You learn to compensate, and you make [your other senses] better,” she said.
Outside of work, Yee said she lives with her fiance — who is also blind — and their two cats.
She said they do the majority of things that people with sight do, from going to the grocery store to watching television.
Blind people even have the ability to drive if a passenger with normal vision is giving verbal directions, according to Yee.
When it comes to hobbies, Yee said she enjoys taking pictures.
“Some of us water ski, some snow ski. I take pictures of the cats, most blind people criticize and say ‘Why do you want to take pictures if you can’t see them?'” she said.
Yee said people with normal eyesight can see her photographs, so she continues to take them.
Yee moved to North Carolina in the early 1980s from San Francisco. She began managing the snack bar in the 1911 Building in 1998. Before working at the University, she said she held a similar job in downtown Raleigh.
According to Yee, the Division of Services for the Blind funds the snack bar. It allows her to be self-employed, which Yee said is good for her.
“This place is really losing money, but the program supports it,” she said.
The extra equipment used to make running the store accessible to her include a barcode reader with voice display “so you know what you’ve got in your refrigerators,” a money scanner, and a voice recorder for notes, among other things.
Her everyday items include a manual Braille instrument with a stylus so she can write her own notes, as well as an electronic one so that she can type them.
Although shoplifting happens, it is not a major concern to Yee, she said the majority of the customers are honest with their purchases. But occasionally, someone will come in and their mannerisms will be different from a normal customer; they will seem nervous or will have a strange tone of voice, but Yee said she can’t accuse them of stealing even if she suspects it.
“You’re an easy mark, and they think they can take [things], and they do,” she said.
In one instance, a man who she suspected of stealing some sandwiches came in following the alleged crime. Yee said that after she told the man in passing that someone had taken some of her merchandise, she said he never came to the store again.
Since the Syme C-Store closed earlier this year, the 1911 snack bar is the only convenience store on North Campus.
In addition to a variety of candy bars, fountain drinks, pre-packaged sandwiches and bags of different kinds of chips, the store has something else to offer.
Here, unlike anywhere else on campus, you can purchase a Pepsi. Because the store is not funded by N. C. State, the University’s contract with Coca-Cola is not in conflict.
Yee said her supplies are not discriminatory towards any specific company, as she also stocks Coke products in her coolers.
Whether it’s for a Pepsi or to satisfy a hunger craving, Yee encourages anyone to stop in for snack.