I’ve had a lot of summer jobs over the years, but I had always wanted to work at an ice cream shop. It seemed like the ideal summer gig. I’d get free ice cream and I’d get to make people smile when I handed them their cones.
I was so excited when one of my good friends recommended me to her boss at the ice cream shop she worked at. Within a week I had an interview and was hired to start training as soon as possible.
I found out that all my coworkers were also young females. We were called the “ice cream girls”, something that never bothered me until I was given a reason to care. I remember one day when a boy and his friends who were about my age came to get ice cream. The one boy took a liking to me and was clearly trying to win me over in hopes of possibly seeing me again. I was not interested, I was there to work and it had been a busy day. I was nice to this customer, but I did not reciprocate his flirting.
Afterward, I was told by my coworkers that “sex sells” and I shouldn’t have been so cold to that guy. I was nothing but nice, and I was still told I should have pretended to be interested to see what it got me.
The owner of the ice cream shop was even worse. He was an older man, probably in his 60s, who was very well-off. He would constantly ask the ice cream girls to do him favors and would give us $20 tips in our tip jar occasionally as a thank you. He started calling us “kitten” and once even asked if I had a boyfriend.
There were good times, don’t get me wrong. I loved getting to give dogs mini ice creams or watch little kids try to hold their massive waffle cones piled high with vanilla ice cream covered in rainbow sprinkles about to topple over. It was also fun to try all the new flavors and sneak bites of the M&M and peanut butter cup toppings.
The parts that really stuck with me, however, were when I was uncomfortable. It’s safe to say I’m not going back to that job, but the experience was definitely something that made me stronger. Plus, I’ll always be able to show off my ice cream scooping skills, which is definitely an added bonus.
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