Saturday, August 25, 2007

ringing and singing

So my friend backed into my parked car tonight...sigh. The damage is pretty much the paint but yeah, can't wait to tell my parents that one in the morning. I feel like I did something wrong.

I went to Coldstone Creamery on a whim today to maintain my svelte figure (pshah) and I remembered that I loathe their "singing for tips" strategy. I tip but I refuse to ring the bell because for some reason, I am severely embarassed by their singing. It's like forced humiliation. What if a person just kept putting a dollar in the jar and ringing the bell? And is there a minimum tip for the required singing? What if someone is a wisebutt and threw a dime in and rang the bell? Although ethically lacking, is the singing still required for this meager tip? I think they need some standards. Needless to say, after I put the dollar in today, the girl said "you can ring the bell if you want to," I said "no, that's okay." I said it conspiratorily, as though I understood the daily humiliation she endured. She probably didn't give a rat's behind either way, given her monotone, lack of gusto performance with the previous bell-ringing. Now I would ring the bell if it was a real theatrical performance - or someone had an accordian and polka music. I really think that musical accompaniment would add to their performance and maybe up their take-home in tips.

4 comments:

S. said...

you don't know me but i saw your blog on peacecorpsjournals.com. I used to work at a coldstone in manhattan, KS (home of k-state) and we were required by corporate to sing for tips. although if we got a 10 cent tip we'd sing the crappiest, dumbest song ever and say really loudly at the end "thanks for the dime!" so everyone knew (s)he was a bad tipper. But usually, if the boss wasn't around, we wouldn't sing if you didn't want us to. And we didn't have a bell so sometimes people would just slip it in without us knowing. That was nice.

Well have fun! I'm sooo jealous. I don't get to leave until 2009.

-sara

Erin L said...

Hi Sara! You have opened my eyes to the underworld that is Coldstone Creamery. I love that you point out the jerks who tip poorly! They deserve to be publicly shamed. :)

Don't worry. 2009 will be here before you know it.

Ann said...

Hey Erin,
You don´t know me but I saw your blog on peacecorpsjournals.com. I am currently a PCV in Costa Rica, and I also attended UWEC from 2001 to 2005. Good luck with your upcoming PC experience in Mozambique!

Ann

Ann said...

Hi Erin,

You don´t know me, but I am a PCV in Costa Rica. I also attended UWEC. Hope everything is going well with your preparations for Mozambique!

Ann