Today, I decided to treat myself.
That’s right—I like to treat myself sometimes.
So, I got an ice-cream cone. None of that “put it in a cup” crap. I like my ice-cream in an edible receptacle. A sugar cone. A Belgium waffle cone.
After I sat down on a shady bench to enjoy my cone without being rushed into rapid licks from the sun melting my ice-cream prematurely, I noticed something quite unnerving.
Sitting on a public bench in the city, I wasn’t surprised at the fact that lots of people were walking by me as I savored each (almost sacred) lick of ice-cream. Unfortunately, many of these pedestrians were actually children walking with their parents, none of whom had purchased ice-cream cones for their children.
As I enjoyed my ice-cream cone, I was obliterated by dozens of envious glances from under-10 year olds, as well as expressions of urgency from their parents, who were obviously resenting me for alerting their children that an ice-cream store was in the area.
These kids, I swear, were like ice-cream perverts. They were STARING at my ice-cream cone as they walked by, intermittently throwing glances of bitterness directed specifically towards me for even having the ice-cream cone in the first place. I liken this behavior to many of the characters in Tolkien’s famous story, The Lord of the Rings. Many of them, though enamored with the One Ring on the surface, ultimately despised its existence.
In the end, I alone finished the cone, which was followed by a return to normalcy. Kids stopped staring at me (thankfully—you have no idea how uncomfortable this made me).
I’m not going to go buying every kid on the block ice-cream—that’s their parents’ job.
Get your kids ice-cream cones so they can stop badgering me with their eye contact.
Until next time,
Michael J. Erickson, CEO & Co-Founder
