I really like ice cream.
A lot.
I worked at Cold Stone for three years through high school, and I never got tired of ice cream. I’d bring some home almost every night and then have it for breakfast the next morning (I was the picture of good nutritional choices, clearly).
So, on Saturday, when Friendly’s (the east coast equivalent to Denny’s, in my mind) was giving out free ice cream all afternoon, I was not about to miss out.
After a delightful Thai lunch with friends, Bart and I drove to our local Friendly’s, parked a few blocks away, and stood in line for about fifteen minutes. We handed our tickets with our selected flavors to the girl at the counter; a minute or two later, the girl returned, handed me my cone, and I stepped back to wait for Bart to get his. Except, I realized just as I took my first lick that she’d handed me a cookies and cream cone, rather than the chocolate chip cookie dough cone I’d ordered.
In the name of free ice cream, I figured it wasn’t that big of a deal and that I’d just go on my merry way. Bart turned to the couple standing next to us and said, “Did either of you order cookies and cream?” The man said he had (did the girl think I looked like a MAN?! Why would she hand me a cone that was ordered by a guy?) and just then the girl appeared at the window with my chocolate chip cookie dough cone.
The man did NOT want my chocolate chip cookie dough cone and so the girl gave me my cone too and said I could just have both.
And so we walked away with me holding two ice cream cones, and Bart with his one.
Worse, Bart’s scoop was quite small – my scoops were each at LEAST three times the size of his (this is no exaggeration at all).
Let me assure you, you will feel like an idiot walking away from the line with two ice cream cones, when everyone else only has one. On the other hand, once you turn the corner and are out of view of the long line, you will feel quite awesome for accidentally scoring TWICE as much free ice cream as you were supposed to.
And as if that weren’t enough, we stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up some ice cream to accompany the rhubarb pie I’d made for dessert that night for a dinner we were going to. The grocery store I go to has a “100% Price Accuracy” policy, which means that if something rings up higher than the tag on the shelf, you get it for free.
The ice cream, which was listed at $2.29, rang up at $2.50 and so, naturally, I asked them to honor their policy. The guy was not very awesome about it, ambling over to the freezer section to double check the price, and when he returned and I was RIGHT about the price, he wouldn’t even acknowledge it, just silently ringing it up at zero.
This annoys the bajeebers out of both Bart and me; don’t post a policy at every single register and then have employees that act as if it is a great and annoying burden to actually HONOR that policy. Ahem.
Either way, it was a day that included MUCH free ice cream, and that’s always a positive in my book.
Life of a Doctor's Wife says
You must have some sort of super powers, to attract all that free ice cream! (I'm pretty sure that would be my husband's super power of choice – he looooooves ice cream!)
I would get annoyed with the checker, too. It's not like the money is coming out of his pocket, right? (Well… I guess it could. But it seems more like a computer error than anything.)
Lexilooo says
I LOVE Friendlys and wish they had them in DC!
Ahhh, New England…
Jess says
That IS a positive. The only thing is that my favorite part of Friendly's is their peanut butter sauce. SO GOOD! And you can't really have that on a cone.
Shelly says
Dude, free ice cream makes any day a great day!
Sherry says
Your checker should have been more polite about giving you free ice cream. I mean, it's not like HE is the one who had to pay for it!
But, in his defense, I will say it is necessary to check the prices. You would not BELIEVE how many people read the tags wrong or pick up the item NEXT to the sale item without making sure they got the right thing. Happened ALL THE TIME.
emandtrev says
I have a friend who lived in New Hampshire that was always talking about Friendly's. I say the more ice cream, the better! 🙂
Rachel says
AMAZING. I am totally impressed and jealous. Nice work.
Kimberly says
Other than the grump, that's pretty awesome!
Science Teacher Mommy says
I worked Aggie Ice Cream for six weeks in Logan during the summer of 1995. I didn't even realize I'd put on any weight and then when I quit and lost nearly ten pounds in the months following I realized just how dangerous that job had been.
Oreo fudge . . . chocolate almond . . . chocolate whopper . . . butter brickle . . . pralines and cream . . . I can feel the cellulite expanding at the thought.
Packrat says
Cool (no pun intended) about all the free ice cream. Just a thought, but I think a call to the store manager about the checker might be in order.
Chrissie says
Free ice cream is the best! My husband and I also went to get our free scoop from Friendly's on Saturday afternoon. Such a nice treat. 🙂
*LaUrA* says
Best Day Ever! haha…any day where you get something good for free…well that is a good day!
Rachel says
Call me unamerican, but I recently decided I DO NOT like ice cream. Gelato only thank you very much! (and frosty's at Wendy's…and McDOnald's sundaes & milk shakes, but we all know that they are totally artifical not really ice cream anyway 🙂
Monica says
I think you just experienced my dream come true.
I worked at Cold Stone as well and never got sick of ice cream. If it was "healthy" I'd eat it every single meal and in between.
Karina says
Wow, that's awesome! Albertson's in Utah had that policy, too, that if it rang up higher than what it was supposed to they'd give it to me. So every time that happens here, I kinda expect I'll get it free but I never do.
Jenny says
…may there be many more free cones in your future!…
And store clerks who don't get annoyed at honoring their store's policy. ahem.
Becca says
Haha, this is awesome. I was totally going to write a post about ice cream today. 🙂
Angela Noelle of Striking Keys says
I love days like these.
Bryan and Christy Clark says
do you think friendly's is a little overpriced for the cheap, greasy diner food that you get? i do. buuut…free ice cream was fun =)
Saskia says
Ice cream for breakfast? That really amazes me.
Brad says
Props to Bart for not backing down. Props to you for not backing down either. Have you ever been to a place with the policy that if the cashier doesn't ask you if you want your receipt, it's free? It's happened to me a few times but I feel bad calling them out on it so I just let it be.
No more, not after reading THIS post.
Brianna Soloski says
Ice cream is always welcomed in my life, but FREE ice cream is even better.
Lindzie says
Did you know that they closed the Cold Stone you used to work at? Weird huh? Glad you got some good ice cream though!