Tom was also at the grocery store, although in a different department than Stacey. Similar to Stacey, he also seemed to have had an experience that had elements that could be described as participation. He learned to do various tasks in the produce department, such as helping to unload shipments, displaying fruits and vegetables, rotating old stock with new, learning to identify various kinds of apples and lettuces, cleaning, and trimming vegetables for display. "It was a good experience. I learned a lot," he said. Besides the practical tasks, he was also encouraged to ask questions when he was unsure of something. "They said don't be shy to ask, just ask questions. I did that." He felt that one of the keys to being a good employee was to ask a lot of questions. "Asking questions, I find, is really good. I learn about produce and stuff. I've never seen so many different kinds of apples. I knew Macintosh, but they were all different kinds of colours." It was interesting to note that Tom was the only student who stressed the importance of asking questions. Both Rouda and Nadine felt that asking questions in the workplace was a sign that you didn't know something, and may lead employees and supervisors to think that they were not ready to take on a specific job.

The only other placement setting that may have had elements of participation within a community of practice was the modified coffee shop setting. Hannah's placement in the coffee shop allowed her to experience full independence and mastery of the coffee shop, and she was able to achieve the status of oldtimer as she began to train other students without any instructors present. A placement in the coffee shop may have been second best compared to a placement in the community, but it provided the setting in which Hannah (and other students) evolved from a newcomer in the coffee shop with the instructors to an oldtimer in the coffee shop without instructors. Hannah emphasized that she learned to be independent and was particularly pleased with her new ability to operate the cash register without instructor support. She said the students learned to fix problems by themselves. In addition, they assumed responsibility for jobs that instructors did, such as making a phone call to the office to announce the day's menu. "Before, without teachers, we thought we couldn't do. But after, when we try everything, we became independent."

Without instructors to guide them, the students not only showed their independence with the jobs, but they also began to change a couple of the procedures in the coffee shop. Only the job of cashier was pre–assigned by the instructors, and it was up to the students to assign the other jobs. Instead of using a sign up sheet and assigning one job to each student, they decided to do all the preparation together. Hannah explained,

Everyone's more responsible. They help each other. For example, my job is the cashier but when I come in the morning, we clean together, [and] we cook together. Then when we prepare everything, I go to my place, and everyone goes to a different place for working.