Young adult - Ice cream man

It's odd how you forget an event in your life completely and then suddenly out of the blue the memory of it comes flooding back for no apparent reason.

1995

Ice cream man.

I can't think of a single reason why I'd suddenly start to recall my days as an ice cream seller in Pine Town in South Africa. I can't have been more than 17 years old so more than 30 years ago. I was still at school and looking for summer work, oddly my father didn't have work for me that year like he had done since I was about 14. It only took about an hour for the manager to show me the ropes, how to use the till, make waffles, scoop ice cream and cash up at the end of the night. He was a bit worried I was a bit young but then I had the confidence of youth and had already achieved my full height of 6 foot. So there I was on my own in the ice cream bar crapping myself while waiting for my first customer, and wait I did! I was doing a Saturday night for about 6 hours but it was completely dead. No wonder he let me do it I just had to stand behind the ice cream bar and look good. Finally the last show of the night at the nearby cinema finished and I got 2 customers who both bought ice creams. The following weekend was the same. I complained to the only 2 people who came in that night that this was a very boring job and gave them super massive ice creams because I was so pleased to have some customers. So big were the ice cream scoops that they commented on my generosity. I explained that the ice cream was just sitting there going off I might as well serve up a bit extra. It was just going to land up in the bin otherwise. Needless to say the following Saturday night they returned with friends and I even had to make my first waffle. Several Saturday nights later and I'm slightly run off my feet with the number of customers, the number of waffles and scopes I have to make. It appears I've very quickly got a reputation for virtually giving ice cream away the scoops are so big. A number of customers comment that they have heard about me. After about six or seven weeks the manager is there to greet me when I arrive for work. He seems concerned as he has also got wind of my generosity with his ice cream, waffles and cream. He explains he has to let me go because of this. I remember being quiet upset about this and complaining that it was completely dead before with no customers and that now I was quiet busy and even selling waffles. I say to him that every body has paid for their ice cream and waffles I'm not giving stuff away I'm just being generous with the portion size. I say to him was'nt the ice cream and waffles getting wasted before as it must have been going off so little of it was selling!? He does admit this is true but I'm still fired. So I go home and my ice cream seller days are ended. Two weeks later he's on the phone. Uummm so would you like your job back? We've got no customers since you left. No thanks sir I said I start school again soon so I don't really have the time any more but thank you for the offer and good luck with your ice cream business. The only other thing I recall about the experience is that I did not help myself to a single mouth full of Ice cream or a waffle the whole time I worked there.