The Classic and Delicious First Job
Just as Benji describes working at Jonni Waffle, working at an ice cream shop for a first time job seems
to be the dream. My first job was far less magical; 14 years old Annika working in a stinky gymnastics
facility coaching ‘kids’ that were only a few years younger than me. I never got the free ice cream ecstasy
or the meeting famous people experiences, but what I did have was a will to work for pocket money just
as Benji did.
Benji’s experience at Jonni Waffle was classic, living in the wake of his coworkers and downing all the chocolate related ice cream, surely covering all the necessary food groups for the day. I happen to know a local that took part in the first ice cream job ritual: Ella Ylagan. I took the liberty upon myself to interview her, and in said interview she concurred that the perfect break snack was “a small cup of chocolate custard with a dollop of cold fudge and sprinkles of crushed brownies,”. Naturally, the free ice cream rules applied, why else would one want to work at the busiest ice cream joint in town? Custard Cup, our equivalent of Jonni Waffle, carries the same lore. Famous people hear about the ethereal custard and stop by while they are in town for one reason or another. A 15 year olds dream, both Ella and Benji, fulfilled by the surplus of ice cream surrounding them.
When asked about the core parts of her experience at Custard Cup, Ella presented three points:
Coworkers (no Nick and Clive, but other interactions with people you once knew around town and have heard about in long glorious stories).
Custard-flecked Air Force 1’s (no Jonni Waffle, unwashed shirt, but of course a smothered uniform).
Waffle Cone Whiffs (no Benji profession level waffle rolling skills, but how could one forget about the famous smell* of the most delicious cones on Earth).
*Smell Nostalgia: this runs rampant in the mind of ex-ice cream workers. Just like Benji reminisces on how he no longer craves ice cream and will always have those smell related flash-backs, Ella described herself similarly traumatized whenever she smells the aroma of freshly made cones.
Half of me grieves a summer of missed heaps of ice-cream, but man do I still love my ice cream and I would be distraught if that was ruined, even for a bit of pocket money to spend on cheap beer and BB guns.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Annika, this was a great blog! I thought it was so interesting how you were able to draw connections between Benji's "Coming of Age" job and Ella's. It seems that experiences like getting dirtied with ice cream and having fun with coworkers is a common occurrence. The part where you mention "smell nostalgia" is interesting, because when people are nostalgic they usually think of their memories in a more positive light and not a traumatic one. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHi, I think that this is a really interesting way to do a blog post. Writing about you and Ella's real life experiences and connecting them to the book. Although to make Benji's situation worse, he is also working for grocery money, so he can eat on weekdays he doesn't work on.
ReplyDeleteHi Annika! Ice cream shops definitely seem like a great place to work part-time. It's interesting how the part-time experience then with Benji is so similar to the experience now with Ella. Great blog post!
ReplyDeleteHi Annika, just reading your blog title reminded me about how many of my peers worked at Jarlings as one of their first jobs and it looks like Ella did as well. I really like the comparison between Ella and Benji by giving Ella's verison of what Benji experienced. Overall, super cool blog, congrats of graduating.
ReplyDeleteHi Annika! I love this post! It's nice that you included a personal story and connected it to the novel! Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Annika! This was a really cool blog! I like how you found the comparison between Benji and Ella's job. I think the best part was that after Benji's job he couldn't eat ice cream at all because just the thought of it made him sick. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Annika! As someone who has listened to your interviewee discuss the highlights and drawbacks of her first summer job (Jarlings), I really enjoyed this post. While it is seemingly a classic job, the notion of overindulgence ruining the delicacy that is delicious ice cream also breaks my heart. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI had a friend who worked at an ice-cream place in my Jersey Shore hometown, but he was working during the winter--and for some reason this place was open through the winter, even though hours would go by without a single customer. Me and my sixteen-year-old friends were undaunted by the prospect of eating ice cream and sipping shakes in the middle of February, and we used to drop in on this guy at work and he'd give us free rein behind the counter--we were like Benji at work, filling cups with every kind of topping and mixing ice cream and different syrups into truly horrific and anti-nutritious concoctions. It didn't quite put me off ice cream forever, but I did learn something about how such a meal can affect one's digestion. The place was called "Circle Freeze," because it was located on one of the Shore's classic traffic circles. We all called it "Circle Free" because we had the hookup! That whole winter we didn't pay a dime at that place, and we consumed all manner of frozen treats to the point of nausea.
ReplyDeleteHi Annika!! I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I think that this is such a creative topic because people's experiences can definitely be the same and be different from Benji's experience working at Jonni Waffle. I really liked all the different points that you made in your post. Good Job!!
ReplyDelete