Tags

bad people, bad work, bosses, death, family, food, horrible bosses, humor, ice cream, kids, life, Nana, restaurants, work

 

CLOSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Today is a good day!

I am no Grinch; I don’t love to see family owned establishments driven into the ground, but this family owned and operated establishment couldn’t have closed fast enough.

 

I worked for this company for six months in 2004, if I could go back in time to the day I got hired I would tell them to take their shitty job and shove it up their asses.

 

Nicole and I were chastised for applying to work in MSC (or Satan’s Asshole whatever you feel more comfortable with) together, but they called us in to interview at the same time.  We were hired and working that same day.  The training process consisted of the manager (Lynne or Lynette or something like that) walking us around the business, pointing to ice creams and their flavors, then the register and leaving.  Nicole and I were left completely alone with droves of people clambering in for the tasty treats we served.

A couple came in so stoned I got a contact high.  They bought the largest tub of ice cream we offered and added every mix-in we had, except Raspberries because the sight of them made the guy gag.  Before Lynette left she informed us that mix-ins were free with large tubs of ice cream, but what she failed to get across was that it wasn’t as many mix-ins as possible, but two.  So when I did discover it was only two we offered, I laughed my ass off because I had given away about $20 worth of $0.55 mix-ins.

 

Nic making cake

We made ice cream in house, as well as cones; both were extremely easy if you knew how to read a recipe and Nicole did not.  When I went in for my shift a few hours after Nicole, Lynette told me I had to dump all the ice cream Nicole had made and start over, because her strawberry ice cream tasted like sour cream  and frozen strawberries.  Sometime later Nicole burnt her hand on the waffle cone maker, our boss – owner dude told her it was “part of the gig” that we get burnt.  That was enough for her to begin searching for a new job.

Around the same time my Nana got really sick.  Within two weeks she went from having an allergy attack, to catching pneumonia, to being comatose.  Her living will dictated that she be taken off life support, my Mom came to town and we planned to go together to be with Nana until we said our last goodbyes.  I called my boss and told her I would not be able to come in.  She told me she would call me back, and within twenty minutes she did explaining “No one can cover for you.  I would do it but I have family in town that I only get to see once every six months, so you will have to come in for your shift.”

Stupid, young, naive me should have said fuck you right then and there, but I had such deep loyalties to anywhere I worked.  I was broken and never been in that situation before, but I learned from it.  I never got to say my goodbye, not the way I wanted to, my Nana was dead by morning.  I will never forgive those bosses for that; never.

Sadder still I stayed in that shit hole, but not for long, my anger grew to the point where I had lost all respect for the staff and owners, one evening I made about forty lopsided waffle cones and smashed every one of them against the wall (if you get the chance you should really try it, it’s liberating).

 

My last day of work while I helped a customer, the owner’s son slammed a metal broom handle repeatedly into my leg.  The owner did nothing as I repeated “Ow, ouch, enough…” so on and so forth.  The boy laughed.

The next day as I sat up in Wolf’s bed trying to force myself to go into work he said to me “Don’t go.”

“What?”

“Just don’t go; they treat you like shit.  You missed your Nana’s passing because of them, just don’t go.”

I had never considered it before, never thought about being completely MIA.  It was as if he gave me permission and I really needed it.  I left them high and dry, Lynette and the owner lady were working that morning, they called and called but I wouldn’t pick up.  It didn’t help mend my heart, but it helped a lot.

 

There comes a time in one’s life when they need to assess what is important to them, and act accordingly… it took losing someone I loved dearly and think of almost daily for me to realize that.