Jeni's and Working There

I have started work. It's taken me a while, but I finally have a full-time job. For now I have given up on the idea of continuing to mess about with maps and I'm fully concentrating on helping to make the best ice cream in Ohio, and according to a lot of people, the USA. When I was interviewed I knew I would be getting myself into working 3pm - 11.30pm Monday to Friday, but I've been not working for too long to be fussy about such things.

My training started on Monday and we learned a bit about the company and a lot about health and safety. We also learned about their many different flavors. These included a special limited edition selection for the royal wedding last year. One of the four flavors they created was Eton Mess. Our trainer Steve told us that someone had incorrectly labeled it as "Elton Mess", which has maybe a few unpleasant connotations if you think about it too hard. All new recruits start in the labeling department. It became pretty clear that I was in the minority of 30-something year old men. After reading the Employee Manuel I learned that: ...music is an important part of the kitchen.... for that reason the production manager will oversee music selections...  I had read about Miami rapper Rick Ross before, but I can now say that I know him and his (pretend) drug dealing tales of life very well. I'm also pretty familiar with a good deal of other rapping gangsters that I previously hadn't been introduced to. What I wasn't braced for, though, was our early 20's supervisor taking the day off and leaving the one 50+ lady of the kitchen in charge of the iPod. I like some country, but not 8 hours of bad country (songs about Chevy's and how great America is) interspersed with choice cuts of Nickleback, Korn and Metallica.

Even if the majority of my colleagues are at least ten years younger than me ("You're 32?, that's the same age as my step-dad.. though my mom is a bit of a cougar...") it's been a pretty fun first week, sweetened by the fact that we get to take home ice cream that didn't quite fill the whole pint (our now fully-stocked refrigerator, pictured above). My new fave is Whisky and Pecans; really very, very creamy indeed. Also, I can cycle home in about 20 minutes, which can't be bad.