"Must be a full moon tonight."

Okay, so I have to do another post about my job because, well, it's just so darn entertaining sometimes. Sure, it can be annoying trying to deal with people who have no idea what they want or how they want it, but most of the time we find ways to laugh about it.

Now, at my work, there are several things that I've learned and that are always a guarantee.

-People will say something about how strong your forearm must be from scooping ice cream.

-Someone will try to order food from the ice cream counter.

-That sugar cone you're scooping will break on you at least once. They are the worst cone EVER.

-"Can you scoop AROUND the bubble gum pieces?"

-You will have to explain to someone that, NO, strawberry lemonade and chocolate dipped cheesecake are NOT ice cream flavors.

-People will ask for a scoop of Merlot Raspberry Truffle ice cream and then come back and complain that it tastes like wine. Um, helloooo, what did you not understand about the name, MERLOT Raspberry Truffle...

-When you're getting ready to close for the night, you'll get a family of ten who all demand ice cream.

-Two hot chocolates never means only two.
"Did you make those two hot chocolates yet? Oh you did? Well could you make five more?"

-"Cup or cone?" will be ingrained and forever in your vocabulary. It may even come out on accident.

-Along with asking which one, a cup or a cone, people will be looking at the cones and say cone but not specify. Ummm, there are three and I am NOT a mind reader.

-Someone will mistake Motor Oil with a coffee flavored ice cream because it says it has Kahlua in it.

-People will comment on how huuuuge that ice cream scoop you just gave them is (when it really isn't).

-You will have to describe multiple times what the difference is between the Tiny Scoop and the Regular Scoop (also known as the golf ball/baseball comparison).

-Someone will ask "are these real dog bones?"

-You can tell what time it is by the afternoon regulars (aka my favorites); Large Chi Tea Latte, extra foam, extra hot, cinnamon on top. Small Americano, room for cream. And L-Dog. :)

-Someone will ask for a Medium drink. Even though our menu only says small or large.

-The full moon will always bring out the crazy people. (or more so than usual).

Now this last one about the full moon you may think to be ridiculous. Well I thought the same thing until this week. I couldn't believe how many weird people came into work. The following scenarios all occurred Saturday afternoon at my place of work.

-Someone asked me for a small sample of ice cream today. A small sample. What do you think a sample is? No, we decided today, our sample is a whole scoop if ice cream. I thought it was hilarious.

-I was digging through the freezer in the back looking for an ice cream flavor we had run out of and this lady sneaks up on me with her half eaten waffle cone and starts complaining.
"I didn't get any cups in my peanut butter cup ice cream."
I just stared at her for a minute, then was like, "Oh, I'm really sorry about that." When I was really thinking, What do you want me to DO about it.

I then asked her who scooped her ice cream and she said that I had scooped it. And then I remembered her. There had been a line, and I had scooped the first scoop of her waffle cone and my boss had scooped the offending peanut butter cup scoop. It had been the bottom of the barrel. I said, Ohhh yeah, I remember, sorry about that. Now eat your ice cream and stop complaining. I ran back behind the counter after that. Now, I don't mind helping people with their problems, but she wasn't asking me to solve it, she was complaining.

-Along those same lines, I can't stand it when people think that they don't have to wait in line to get help from us. You are not better then everyone else, nor is your issue more pressing then those of the people waiting patiently in line. You will not make me, or the person you just cut, very happy if you bypass the five people waiting in line to ask me for a water refill/fresh straw/ketchup/etc. Going around the back to the cooks station or shouting across the counter don't work either. I don't mind helping people, that's what I'm there for but all I ask is you wait your turn. Please.

-A group of three kids came in, probably around the ages of 16-19 (for blogging purposes, their names will be Hat, Black Pants and Mute). I was up front at the fudge and Hat asked me if we would have any fudge left over that we were going to wrap up and throw away that night because he wanted to have it. Ummm, we don't throw away fudge. It's not like it gets old. Tomorrow it'll just be a day older but it'll still be damn good fudge. It was after this that I realized all three of them were on some type of drug. Black Pant's eyes were more red than white and it looked like thinking was extremely painful for him. Mute didn't say anything the entire time. So I tell them, no, no fudge sorry. Hat asks for some water, I give them water. They ask for another one (typical). I give them another one. Then Hat says, do you want a penny. I do my stare again, "A penny?" I ask. He nods, dead serious and holds up a penny. "Yeah, some lady gave it to me today and said it could give me good luck, do you want it?"

I was skeptical. "What do you mean 'could' give you good luck?" Hat shrugs. I say, "Have you had good luck today?" Hat nods and says, "Well I've been taken care of all day so I think it's a good luck penny." He hands it to me and it was my turn to shrug. I took the penny and then Hat says, "But you have to keep it on you for it to work, and then eventually you have to pass it on to someone." I laughed but nodded and agreed because I had nothing better to do but humor him and he was entertaining me for sure. They leave after that, but because of the full moon we hadn't seen the last of them.

Later that night as my coworker was bringing in the tables from outside he comes in with a piece of clothing.

"Someone left their jacket outside. Wait..." he pauses as he looks at the clothing more closely. "These are pants!"

I start laughing and my coworker pulls out a cellphone from the pants. "And a cellphone...who would forget their pants?!" We both laugh and he puts them down below the counter as we both wonder if anyone will come to claim them. But we should have known someone would. Sure enough, those same three boys come back, looking more messed up if thats even possible. Hat asks me the same question about the fudge again, I give him the same answer but then I'm struck with a suspicion and I ask, "Are any of you missing a pair of pants and a cellphone by any chance?" Hat's face lights up and he goes "Yeah! Wait...what color pants and what kind of cellphone?"

I shake my head, no way was it going to go down like that, "No, no, You tell me," I said. Hat looks over at his friend Black Pants (hmm, I wonder where he got his name from lol) and says, "They were black pants annnnnd, hey, what kind of cell phone do you have?" Black Pants frowned and did some "ummmm, ahhhh....mmmm" for what seemed liked days. It looked quite painful to be honest but he finally came up with the right model of cellphone and his Black pants and phone were restored to their rightful owner at last.

Mute's story isn't as eventful but I called him Mute because he came in as we were closing and bought a bag of chips without ever saying a word. I never heard him speak. He paid his money left and then came back and bought three more bags of chips without me ever hearing him say a word.

-Another small story was someone ordered their ice cream on a plate, while pointing to a bowl. I was severely confused, especially when I pointed to the bowl and said bowl and they nodded and repeated plate.

-I had another regular sneak up on me that night too. I was buried in the ice cream bin, scooping for a customer when I came up and there she was, staring me in the face. I was a little frightened because last time I had to help her she kept me talking for about fifteen minutes. Scratch that, I wasn't the one doing the talking, she was. I don't even think I needed to be present in the conversation it was so one sided. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind talking to customers, in fact it makes my job waaaay more enjoyable if I do have interesting conversations but she is not one of those people. She always gets the same thing and says the same things, "I had 40 dollars when I left my house and now I don't know where it went, I just don't know where it went"......"Stores sometimes offer discounts, you don't offer a discount..." I think she is a more you had to be there type person but it fit in nicely with our night of full moon crazy people.

I can't think of anymore weird stories that would be funny enough to tell. Most of them are you had to be there type stories but all in all these last few days of work have been very entertaining. There are some weird people out there for sure.

But again, don't get me wrong, I like my job and I like talking to people because besides all the crazy ones there are some very fun and interesting people out there that have a lot of cool things to say. And I don't mind helping people out or helping them solve a problem but please, do it the right way and ask me nicely. It never hurts to be polite. I will always greet you with a smile, all I ask is you give me one back. :)