The Ice Cream Parlor

When it came to making plans for the summer, there were the family vacations, summer parties with friends, and for high school and college students, the daunting task of finding summer employment. But there were two sisters who already had their summer job planned. 
Sara and Penny worked in their parents' ice cream parlor during the summer. It was a swanky little shop on the boardwalk that people visited when they were craving a frosty treat. The shop was very colorful, with a sort of 1950's style to it. The colors red and silver filled the swivel stools, floors, booths, and the ceiling. Confections of ice cream and candies scattered across the menu. The countertops were made of marble, and the employees wore white outfits with colorful lining. Sara and Penny helped their parents run the ice cream parlor as a way to earn money during the summer. Together, they worked with some of the best co-workers possible while dealing with ice cream demanding customers. Sara worked as the cashier and Penny scooped ice cream from the large buckets. The shop itself was very popular. The customers often lined up waiting to get a treat. There were so many colorful and delicious flavors that everyone wanted to try. Sara and Penny always worked together to make sure they left their customers satisfied. But despite their hard work and efforts to make their customers happy, the sisters encountered a few mishaps from time to time. For the sisters, working in an ice cream parlor run by their parents was like being kids in a candy store. Not only it was fun and a good way for them to earn money, but it surprisingly taught them some valuable lessons about real life and adulting. 
On a warm Saturday afternoon, the shop was extremely crowded. The line of customers was even longer than usual, and everyone was waiting to place their ice cream orders. The sisters were working as hard as they could, hoping to please their customers. They wanted to make sure that every order was perfect and that no mistakes were made. 
Of course, with a huge, bustling line of impatient customers, the sisters were bound to make a few mistakes. They didn't know it, but their day wasn't going to go as they had planned. At first, things started easy. Penny scooped the ice cream, Sara worked at the cash register, and the customers were satisfied once they got their order filled. But as the shift continued, things got a bit harder. Nevertheless, the sisters tried their best to keep the customers satisfied. 
Since it was so busy, Penny and a few other workers were twisting ice cream cones nonstop and there was still a line of customers at the door. Sometimes, things got a little hectic and Penny messed up a few orders. As long as this wasn't happening with every other order, it was fine. Penny stashed the mistake in the freezer and remade the treat. At the end of the shift, she and Sara counted their tips and take home some of the messed-up treats to eat.
Behind the counter, Penny had quite a few struggles while working. 
She spent most of her shift with her head in the ice cream freezer, trying not to fall into any of the large vats. When she got orders right, she got a nice thick ball of ice cream into her scoop. Then she carefully edged her way out of the freezer and put the ball into a cup, a cone, a sugar cone, a waffle cone, a milkshake, a frozen drink, or even a sundae. And she did it without breaking a sweat. 
The hardest thing to make on the menu was a large cone with chocolate dip. It was ten swirls of ice cream, which Penny then had to turn upside down and dunk into a vat of hot liquid chocolate. The goal was to coat all of the ice cream with chocolate and get the whole thing right side up again before the ice cream melted out of its cone, and it was more than just a little impossible. She was able to do the smaller-sized twists easily with no trouble at all, but she simply wasn't able to do the large-sized ones. She tried many times, only to end up with a mess of melting ice cream floating in the vat of hot chocolate sauce. This not only held up the order she was supposed to fill, but it held up her coworkers, as they couldn't dip their cones until she was finished. 
Every time someone ordered sprinkles as a topping for their ice cream, all Penny could think of was scrubbing the left behind sprinkles that fell off the scoops and onto the floor. It was hard for her to sweep them because they often got stepped on by the other workers at the ice cream counter. 
After scooping for a few hours, Penny was able to notice that her scooping arm had gotten stronger than her other arm, which made it easier to lift very heavy objects. During the last hour of her shift, she felt like her scooping arm was weak and shaky while her other arm functioned normally. After so much scooping, her hands felt numb and a little sore. 
As their shift went on, Sara and Penny had some unusual conversations with the customers.
A woman in a green sweater ordered a root beer float, which Penny covered with a domed lid, a straw, and a spoon. But when Penny served the root beer float, the woman began to complain.
"That spoon is too big to fit through the hole of the lid," said the woman. "Do you have any smaller spoons?"
"Actually, ma'am, that hole in the cup is meant for the straw," said Penny. "If you want your spoon to fit in there, just take the lid off."
A girl with blonde hair in pigtails came in and ordered ice cream for herself and her little brother.
"I have this funny story," said the girl as Sara was ringing her up. "The last time I ordered a cone, the ice cream had dripped all the way to the bottom of the cone. If I run into the same problem again with this cone, can I come back in here and get another scoop?"
"Well, I don't think you should worry about that," said Sara. "We don't give any refills. We only do one scoop per cone."
A man who had ordered sprinkles as a topping came over to Penny to complain. 
"These sprinkles are stale!" said the man. 
"Actually, sir, the sprinkles we serve here are crunchy, not soft," said Penny. "Some people mistake them for being stale, but I assure you, they're fresh."
"Well, I don't care!" said the man. "The customer service here is awful, and I demand a refund!" 
And with that, he walked out of the shop, throwing his order in the trash. 
Penny sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I swear I'll never understand picky customers," she muttered to herself. 
When the shift was almost over, Sara and Penny were taking a 15-minute rest break in the back room.
"I tell you, Sara, it's pretty tough filling the orders of all those customers," said Penny. "I sometimes make quite a few mistakes, and the customers complain about such small details." 
"Well, I think I know what the problem is," said Sara. "You've been trying to fill the orders of customers by yourself. What you need are a few co-workers who can help you get things done quicker." 
"I guess you're right," said Penny, after thinking for a moment. "Maybe I should ask some of my co-workers for help."
"That's a good idea," said Sara. "How about we take turns during the next few hours of our shift? I can handle scooping the ice cream, and you can ring the customers up."
"It's a deal," said Penny. "Besides, taking turns is what real sisters do." 
So, during the rest of their shift, Sara and Penny took turns scooping the ice cream and collecting cash. 
When there was something that Penny wasn't able to do, she decided to just practice. Someone ordered a large cone with chocolate dip, which was very difficult to make, so Penny decided to practice making it and get some help from her coworkers. She practiced, and practiced, and practiced a little more. Before she knew it, she was able to make the chocolate dip cone with no problem at all, and she could do it better than any of her coworkers. 
As Sara collected cash, she learned that the nicer she was, the more likely her customers would pay her. Of course, she knew it was important to be nice to people, and she knew that most of the workers didn't always get money in exchange for being nice. But it was helpful to her to see the direct correlation, because the customers liked it when she and the other workers were nice to them.
Eventually, their shift was over, and the sisters got ready to wrap things up for the day. 
"We did a pretty good job today," said Sara. "We sure made a lot of money."
"Yeah, and a lot of the customers were satisfied, too," said Penny. "I think all that hard work really paid off." 
"It sure did," said Sara. "And I think we learned a few things during our shift today."
The sisters were satisfied that their shift went well. Despite some of the mistakes they made, the sisters were glad that their shift went well. Not only they earned money, but they learned quite a few lessons that they would never forget. No matter how easy or hard it could be, Sara and Penny kept working until they got the job done.
Category:Shorts
Category:Short Story
Category:Original Stories
Category:Stories