AT WORK
Peddling ice cream treats
When I was 14, I got a summer job selling frozen treats via bicycle cart in Madison. I sold ice cream bars, Popsicles and Fudgesicles, all stored in dry ice. Each treat cost 10 cents, and I got 2 cents for each one I sold. To make it worthwhile, I really had to sell a lot. I made about $5 a day.
I learned that if I pedaled that bike from the east side of Madison to the University of Wisconsin campus, I would sell out every day. It was a long way to go, and the bike was hard to pedal. Turning corners was especially hard because the bike would tip if I turned too sharply.
One day I was going along Johnson Street on Madison’s isthmus, and I had to cross a big intersection with several railroad tracks. To my surprise, a passing train stopped right in the middle of the intersection, blocking the road.
No cars could go in either direction.
The train engineer climbed out and walked toward me. I didn’t know what was going on until he said he would like two ice cream bars.
Meanwhile, the drivers in the cars who were waiting for the train to get moving started honking and yelling at the engineer. He said to me, “You didn’t think I would do that, did you?” Then he gave me a nice tip and got back in the train and got it moving again.
I was always very tired when I got home. At the end of each day, I handed my ice cream earnings over to my mom. We didn’t have much money, and my summer job helped buy a lot of groceries for our family.
All in all, it was a good job, but I was glad when the summer was over. •
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