Perhaps the reason for her quitting the placement was related more to her own personal conflicts. In the few weeks that she was at the placement, she had demonstrated enough capability to be offered a job, yet turned down what Carrie thought would be the ideal situation for her. She was offered a part–time job at a high school cafeteria within a short walk of her home. The job would have enabled her to work and retain her social assistance benefits. Carrie was frustrated and confused when Maritza turned down the offer then left the placement.

Although she left her placement early, Maritza said she did learn while there. She explained how she learned different methods of food preparation in a large cafeteria and realized that her way of preparing food was very different from food preparation in the cafeteria. "What I think, they say is different. Everything they have is different, like make the sandwich, make the salad…" She knew she was doing well when other employees called her "the new chef". She said, "They looked at me as if I had been there ten years." Maritza may have showed her strengths when the kitchen was short staffed one morning and she was asked to prepare soup. Maritza explained the situation:

The boss told me, 'You have experience for soup?' I say yes, in my home. I say what soup you like? 'You do any like Maritza, any like you want.' Okay, so I make the tomato. After another lady told me, 'you very good for soup. Do you have a lot of experience?' 'No,' [I say], 'everyday I do in my home.'

In addition, Maritza also learned to use recipes to prepare food. One of her first jobs was to prepare a salad for 20 people. She was simply told to "use the books" to do this. She was glad that she had learned to use recipes in the coffee shop and was able to understand the directions to make a salad. She thought that she was told to depend on the recipe books rather than have someone teach her because the other employees were busy. Maritza's placement had many elements that would enable participation in a community of practice but her own conflicts and decision to leave the placement were barriers to full participation.