September 17, 2025 • 36 mins
In this episode, Kristen shares how her first job at an ice cream shop became the foundation for the way she leads today. Earning just $5.25 an hour, she learned lessons far more valuable than her paycheck about accountability, empowering others, building trust, and the importance of consistency. Alongside the leadership insights are moments of nostalgia, a few ice cream secrets (like why vanilla is the ultimate test flavor), and stories that prove wisdom often shows up in unexpected places. Kristen shows how the simplest jobs can teach us the most lasting truths about work, people, and leading with integrity.
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Episode Transcript
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Kristen (00:02):
Welcome to season two of Talk with Kristen with an E.
This season, we're digging alittle deeper into leadership,
personal growth, and the courageit takes to follow your passion.
Real conversations, honestreflections, because life isn't
perfect and neither are we.
(00:27):
Hey everybody.
Welcome back.
Today's episode, I really amexcited about this one and I am
happy to say I'm excited becauseI have kind of been at this
like.
I dunno, it's not quite writer'sblock'cause I'm not writing
maybe speaker's block.
Tried several topics forupcoming episodes and they've
just fallen like, I'm like, no,that's not the one.
(00:49):
That's not the one that, Nope,nope.
So today I was literally in theshower and was like, this is it.
Like I have got to go to mystudio now and record this
because this is the topic, thisis what I need to share.
This is where, this is whatwe're gonna do.
So before we get into that, Iprobably need to provide a
little bit of, well, no, notpro.
(01:10):
We're just gonna get into it andI'm gonna set the stage give you
why this became the topic today.
So I recently got a new job,same company, same organization,
actually kind of a little bit.
Sort of like what I was doingbefore.
I'm not gonna spoil it becausethat's going to be a whole
episode in itself because ofeverything I learned from that
(01:32):
whole process.
I've been in the new job for afew weeks now, it wasn't
supposed to be effective untilOctober, but we've had this slow
transition and I'm kind of in itnow.
So I was sitting in the parkinglot waiting for my son to be
done with dance, and I was like,you know what?
I'm just gonna update myLinkedIn status now.
What the heck?
So I did, I put the new job, andthen of course, you know, you
(01:52):
get the typical people likingyou.
Congratulations, all that.
It's great.
My first boss from my first jobin high school, commented I knew
you back when.
Great to see all your successes.
It got me thinking about thatjob and everything I learned
from it.
As I started ticking off thelessons from that job in high
(02:13):
school and how I'm applying itto my life today, I was like.
Oh my goodness.
This is gold.
Because while he was looking atmy new job and my LinkedIn
update as, wow, look at all thatKristen's done.
I was looking back and thinkinglike, I've done a lot of this
because of you, when I startedmaking the connections, that's
(02:35):
where it was.
We're gonna talk about my firsthigh school job.
I'm gonna go through a list of15, 16, 17 items of lessons.
I learned then and how I stillapply them today.
And they may be ones that youare already familiar with.
Maybe it's ones that you haveheard.
Your past or can apply to yourlife also.
(02:56):
So I thought it would be good togo over those and while I'm
focusing the first part ofseason two on personal
development growth, andleadership.
I think this flows into bothperfectly.
So my first job not my firstjob, but my first real job in
high school was at an ice creamplace.
The best job I could have had.
(03:17):
But it's funny, when I startedkind of outlining all the things
I wanted to talk about, I waslike, oh my gosh, I remember.
So much and so much of thespecifics of the beginning of my
ice cream career to the point Iremember specifically when I
dropped my application off, forany of you younger people back
in the day, we had to go to theplace of business ask for a
(03:40):
paper application fill it outand turn it in funny because
after I'd been working there,people would ask for
applications we were taught tosay, we're always willing to
take applications we weren'tnecessarily hiring, but if
somebody was let go or left, wewould have this repository of
applications.
So we would always take theapplications and put them in a
folder.
(04:00):
I was there for a lot of peoplecoming and going, but this
specific night, it was aWednesday, after youth group, I
was coming home from church andstopped at the ice cream place
to drop off my application.
I got a single scoop of cinnamonbun on a sugar cone.
Oh my gosh.
Cinnamon bun was so good.
Cinnamon ice cream with acaramel cinnamon swirl it was
(04:23):
gooey sweet and amazing.
All of their ice creams werephenomenal.
Everything was made on site.
I actually became an ice creammaker The ice cream was so good.
I dropped my application off gota call for an interview and I
went if I close my eyes, I canpicture myself walking from the
parking lot to the side door andknocking on the door and him
opening the door.
And I remember who was in theback during my interview it's a
(04:47):
vivid memory, and I don't knowwhy it stands out, it wasn't
traumatic.
They always say something reallygreat or really terrible
happens.
It's cemented in your memoryforever.
Maybe this was my superwonderful thing.
At my interview I was wearingkhaki pants and a pinky purple
shirt.
It was a one piece, but lookedlike a twin set, so it looked
like it was like a shirt with amatching cardigan over it, like
(05:10):
three quarter sleeves.
I loved that shirt so much Iwore it in my senior pictures
too, with a pair of jeans.
Of course, my mud flared jeanswith the button fly.
That's what I wore for my seniorpictures.
But for my interview, I worekhaki pants because I was
dressing.
Nice.
I was dressing nice, likebusiness casual I was never
going to dress like that atwork, but I had to show that I
(05:33):
was professional.
I was a very professional17-year-old showing up to be
interviewed.
I think I was hired on the spot.
I feel like it was one of thosewhen can you start things?
I even had my workers' permit,because I was under 18.
That basically allowed me towork.
So anyway, I interview, get thejob.
I am beyond excited, this was mydream job, which is adorable.
(05:56):
I mentioned at my interview.
My dad was really into icecream.
He looked at franchises likeDairy Queen, I think might have
looked at Rita Zeiss for aminute, or TCBY when they were
big.
Like my dad was really big intothat, and he always talked
about.
How he wanted to have his ownice cream place someday, and he
is gonna name it Spanky Afterme.
So I use that as an interview.
One of the questions was why doyou wanna work here?
(06:17):
And I told that story my dadalways said he wanted an ice
cream place and name it afterme.
And since he doesn't have thatyet, I want to work an ice cream
place.
If my dad gets it, I know whatI'm doing or something.
I was making that familyconnection that this is what I'm
supposed to do.
At least the way I remember it Iwas confident.
I'd never applied for a jobbefore.
I, the jobs I'd had before I'dwork for a family or family
(06:40):
business or babysitting.
Like this was a real job to me.
Real paycheck, real taxes, allthe things, and I got it.
I started pretty much rightaway.
I think this was October,November of 2000.
Minimum wage at the time wasfive 15.
I remember this though.
I Googled it just to make suremy memory was right on that one.
(07:02):
But I made more than minimumwage.
He started me at 5 25.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, thatwas$5 and 25 cents an hour
thinking about that.
Now this sounds like soridiculous, but 17-year-old
Kristen was like, this isamazing.
I am making, making my ownmoney.
Keep in mind, also didn't havemy own bills, so I was making
(07:25):
money just to shop.
I did save some too but still,for me it was like, hmm, this
means I can go to Goodwill andget my$2 Abercrombie jeans.
This is gonna be great.
My life's gonna be amazing.
That was my job I started infall of 2000.
I stayed through college.
During college.
I actually was working not quitefull-time, but I would work on
(07:48):
Tuesdays and Thursdays I hadclasses Monday, Wednesday,
Friday, during the day, and anight class on Monday or Tuesday
or whatever.
But then my working schedule, Iwould work all day Tuesday and
Thursday all day being like 1030 to three 30 or 10 to three,
something like that.
Oh, actually I even been doing10 to five during the school
(08:09):
year.
I can't remember that part, butI would be there Tuesdays and
Thursdays, usually Fridaynights, because a lot of the
other workers, mostly highschool kids were in band
football or cheerleading.
I wasn't in high school orcollege.
So I could work Friday nightsand a Saturday or Sunday,
sometimes both.
I was also the person who wasalmost always willing to pick up
(08:29):
extra shifts, partly for themoney, more, because I loved
being there.
I loved the people.
And by college I was making morethan, I don't remember the exact
amount, and so stayed there allthrough high school my first two
years of college because I wasgoing to a local school and
living at home, so I keptworking that schedule and then I
went away for junior and senioryear.
(08:50):
Came back on breaks and summers,I still worked there.
And honestly, after I graduated,my parents had then moved away
from that, from that state.
And I had talked to the bossabout working full-time after
college and what he could offerme.
And, the money wasn't gonna beenough.
And I was gonna need insuranceand all of that.
(09:11):
And it was, it just wasn't gonnawork.
I was heartbroken because thatwas my plan.
I was gonna graduate, go backwork there and it was gonna be
amazing.
Funny enough, where my parentsmoved in Virginia, There was
another ice cream place thereand I went and applied.
I'd had all the experience and acollege degree and they're like,
yeah, we'll hire you.
And they were then paying me$12an hour.
(09:31):
This was 2005.
I was getting$12 an hour there.
Still no insurance.
As the assistant manager, whichwas a big deal for me ice cream
was really gonna be my life.
Ended up going a differentdirection.
But there are still times whereI'm like, my life would be so
fun if I still just worked in anice cream place.
(09:53):
Okay, so anyway, now that youhave all that background, let's
get into the lessons I learnedand how I am applying them
today.
So these aren't in any order.
I kind of just wrote them downas they came to me.
Some of them flow, but we'llsee.
Number one, never take the easyway out.
(10:13):
This was a big deal because wewere not allowed to use
calculators, we couldn't use thecash register to put the amounts
in.
We had to count the change backto people, and it was hard at
the beginning.
Math is not my favorite.
I'm fine at it, it's just Idon't prefer it, but, so we had
a cash register.
So you would push the button,you know, put the order in.
(10:36):
Then MR would come up, and thenyou know, like, okay, your total
is 1351, and then they wouldgive you a$20 bill.
So you'd go to the cash registerand you'd start at the pennies
count out four pennies.
You're at 55, you'd get your twodimes.
That's 75.
You get your quarter.
Okay, so now you're up to$14.
So then get one that's 15 andthen five is 20.
And you would go back and youwould count the change back to
(10:57):
them.
Your change makes 14, one is 15,five is 20.
Thank you.
Have a great night.
Starting out you're like, thisis so hard.
I'm never gonna get this.
But then all of a sudden you do,and then like you'd start
memorizing prices.
Like I think at one point asingle cone was 2 76, so if
somebody gave you a three or afive, you knew what change to
get, but you were still supposedto always start the beginning.
(11:20):
Count it out.
And I don't know that Iunderstood or appreciated at the
time why that was such a bigdeal, but it's a big deal
because then you are making surethat they're getting their right
change.
You're not just reading it off ascreen and then just gathering
it.
And to this day, when I amshopping, which we all know is,
(11:40):
you know, I shop a good bit.
I pay attention to people whenthey gimme the change back.
And if they just hand it to meor count it back, I still
appreciate having my changecounted back I often do it in my
head although how often do I paycash anymore?
But I will pay attention andknow the change I should get
back we did not write ordersdown.
There were not.
We didn't have notepads.
(12:01):
There weren't pens.
You would go to the window, youwould take the order, and then
you would remember the order,and you would make the order and
come back.
Obviously, it was fine if youforgot, a big order, like they
have two milkshakes, a sundae, awaffle cone like you could ask,
but it was important to.
Take their order, repeat it backto them so that you knew exactly
(12:22):
what you were doing and then doit.
The first lesson, is never takethe easy way out.
How that's applied now shows upin my work ethic how I handle
myself at work and also kind ofhow I expect other people to
work, that I expect them to dothe work and not take the easy
way out.
The second one I wrote down isalways make a place better.
(12:44):
if you have time to lean, youhave time to clean.
'cause there would be some ofthese girls and they would just
hanging around, leaning againstcounters, waiting for customers
there's always something youcould be doing.
There are dishes you could bewashing, counters you could be
cleaning off.
Napkins.
You could be refilling or spoonsyou are not getting paid$5 25 to
just stand around, do something.
(13:08):
As I go to different jobs.
I, always look at where I canmake a difference, where I can
help look for things that needto be done and do it.
So it's not necessarily thephysical.
If you have time to lean, youhave time to clean what can I do
to make this place better?
How can I make me better?
Or somebody else better?
it's about not being idle.
That's different than relaxing.
We all need downtime, but whenyou're on the clock, you should
(13:31):
be doing something to make theplace better.
Number three, the secret ofcustomer service, apologize and
offer something for free.
And he was really big on this,is that, you know, mistakes
happen.
And if somebody gets the wrongorder or they're upset about
something, then you justapologize and you offer them
(13:52):
something else.
Always make it right I believethis, I still tell this to the
people, that the secret tocustomer service is apologizing
and offers something for freebecause that's all people want.
They just want to know youacknowledge what was done was
wrong, or not even wrong, butlike wasn't satisfying to what
they need.
And then people love free stuff.
(14:14):
So I pay attention when I'm outif something's done wrong, I see
how they handle it.
It could be as simple as like,you know, dairy Queen gives me a
coupon for like a free cone orblizzard because an order took
too long it's easy to just makeit right and you should always
be making it right because.
The customer is the one that'sgoing to keep coming back.
And if you give them a positiveexperience, you'll make more
(14:36):
money.
Like in the end, it all worksout for everybody.
Now there were some customers,like people are terrible.
And for any of you who haveworked in any kind of food
service or really any kind ofservice with people, you know,
there's terrible people outthere.
I probably had a handful ofcustomers every now and again
(14:58):
who are bad, but they wereusually not bad.
But I remember this one time itwas fall, it was apple dumpling
time.
It's when you should be happyabout life smelling the apple
dumplings pumpkin flavors areright around the corner, it's a
great time I do not remember whythese individuals were unhappy.
I don't think it was at me tobegin with.
(15:19):
There was a situation withanother employee and it had
escalated, and then as I was thecrew leader on shift, I'd gone
up to handle the situation.
I.
And it was so bad.
I think they were yelling at meit was terrible.
I remember going back into theback of the, so front, like the
front of the house was where,you know, all of the ice cream,
(15:39):
freezers, milkshake makers, likeeverything was out front and the
back was, you know, stockingstuff.
The.
Ice cream machines, sinks, frontback, same thing I remember
going to the back getting anotebook writing out the entire
situation as it happened so thatwhen he came into the work the
next day, you know what happenedand had like my side of the
story in case these people evercalled and tried to make, you
(16:02):
know, a whole issue of what washappened.
I don't remember if there wasany situation after, but I just.
I was crying like I was so just,ugh, it broke me that night.
Anyway, secret to customerservice number four, trust your
people and empower them to dothe right thing.
So this was something he wasgreat about I talk about just
(16:23):
apologize and give something forfree.
He allowed us to do that, up toa certain point up to aqua, we
could give for free.
We were able to do that and thatwas huge because, you've got a
bunch of high school kids,sometimes a couple college kids
that's a lot.
To trust them to give this away,you're empowering them to make
the right decisions, do theright thing.
(16:44):
That's something that stuck withme because the best supervisors
I've had trusted and empoweredme.
And looking back, he was thefirst one that taught that to me
of how to do it.
And it's something that I havetried.
To use as I've become asupervisor for like a decade now
that I try to use my people too,is that you trust them to do the
(17:04):
right thing.
Empower them and they do abetter job because they have
ownership.
It wasn't our ice cream place.
He was the owner, but he gave usthat power.
To feel that we were a part ofit and able to make those
decisions, was huge for me then,and now, number five, also, is
allow people the opportunity tomake mistakes and learn from
(17:28):
them.
I'm sure there's some places,whether it's food industry or
something else where if you messup, you're done.
I've never been a waitress, butI imagine if you drop your tray
and break a lot of, I don'tknow, plates, glasses, whatever,
there's probably at some pointwhere they're like, Hey, this
isn't for you.
You should probably trysomething else.
But he was really great aboutletting us make mistakes,
(17:50):
whether he knew about them rightaway or not.
One of my favorite things was,every year we would have a
Christmas party.
Oh my gosh.
And the Christmas parties weregreat.
We would go to a littlerestaurant, get dressed up and,
he gave us gifts every year.
It was a really nice time to geteverybody together and spend,
(18:10):
spend an evening together.
But one of the things he woulddo is it was like confession
time.
So, you know, it's the holidays.
Anything you share, likenothing's gonna be held against
you.
Let's just talk about it.
And people had some storiesbecause they would save them all
year to share them, and some ofthem probably were bad.
(18:31):
But you know, that was like yourfree time to like your get outta
jail free card.
It's okay.
Whatever happens, at theChristmas party will not be held
against you.
One time, oh my goodness, I canstill remember this day may was
strawberry month.
We did strawberry shortcakes, alot of strawberry flavors.
I was making strawberry icecream.
I was bringing strawberries outof the walk-in freezer.
(18:53):
The floor was wet and I slipped.
I dropped, a five gallon bucketof strawberries all over the
floor.
It was so terrible.
And then I am just like, oh mygosh, what did you do?
So now I've got this mess toclean up, but we're outta
strawberries in strawberrymonth.
I had it all over me.
Did I mention we had to wearwhite shorts pants and t-shirts
(19:16):
with the logo across the front.
That was great.
It was terrible and I felthorrible and I was like, oh my
gosh, what if he finds out likeit's.
Everything cost money, which Iunderstand more now as an adult,
but even then I knew like we hadpaid for those strawberries.
We were not using thosestrawberries in a product to
sell because I had strawberriesall over the floor and I've just
(19:39):
cost, I don't know how muchmoney.
Well, I confessed that story atthe Christmas party.
Wasn't fired.
We all laughed about it.
But the point is you, not onlydo you empower and trust your
people, you give them theopportunity to fail.
It's not even just fail.
It's making those mistakes andlearning from it.
Do you think I ever dropped abucket of strawberries again?
(20:02):
No, I did not.
Do you think I was a whole lotmore cautious when I came out of
the walk-in freezer andrefrigerator, especially
carrying a product like in abucket?
A hundred percent.
Do you think I was also morecareful with the wetness of the
floor and making sure everythingwas clean in my area?
Oh, yes.
So it's allowing mistakes tohappen, but learning from them,
(20:26):
we're not defined by ourmistakes.
Number six, show respect topeople even when they aren't
around.
So there was this time that, um.
A girl was very disrespectful toour boss and a customer
overheard it.
Customer knew exactly who theemployee was.
(20:47):
That employee no longer workedthere.
So it is just, you've gotta payattention and be aware of your
surroundings and how you'retalking about people.
Just really showing respect evenwhen they're not around, and I
think that's a huge life lessonthat we all should be cautious
of.
It's not just being nice topeople, to their face, but also
(21:10):
being kind and respectful whenthey're not around.
Similarly, number seven is dothe right thing no matter who is
watching.
He got cameras installed frontand back we don't know if they
were recording.
Part of me thinks they weren't.
They were just there to scareus.
But it didn't matter because youknew they were there and they
(21:33):
could be recording and he couldgo watch anything at any time.
So it did help, I think, peoplebe more cognizant of what they
were doing.
Number eight, checklists are thebest way to make sure everything
done and nothing is missed.
Maybe I've taken this one alittle too extreme because I am
(21:54):
completely run by checklist.
Like if it's not written down,it's not happening.
If it's not on my calendar, I'mnot going to it.
Part of it may have startedbecause there was an opening
checklist and a closingchecklist it was on like.
You know, you could likelaminate a paper so we could use
dry erase markers on it andcheck it off.
You'd check it off, initial itand know if it was done the
(22:14):
morning one was good, but theclosing one even more, there
would be several of us trying toget things closed and everything
done, and if people were doingdifferent things, you'd wanna
make sure that you were stilldoing all of them.
So like if somebody's sweeping,mopping, washing dishes.
Restocking, like whatever allthe tasks were, and then having
it be initialed or have the namefor who did it, then in the
(22:37):
morning when somebody's opening,if something wasn't done, the
checklist and if it wasn't doneright, then they could also see
who was the one that wasresponsible for it.
This is huge and provided peoplewith a system.
For how to do things.
And I think especially when youhave high school kids, it's
important for them to have thatoutline many of us who'd been
there long enough didn't needthe list.
(22:58):
You just knew what had to bedone, how it had to be done, and
what it had to be done.
But for beginning people, andagain for that accountability,
it was really good to have thoselists there.
So number nine, know your value.
This is a good one, and this wasone of the ones that really
popped out to my head in theshower when I was thinking about
(23:18):
this.
I loved working there, as I'vesaid many times, today.
There was a time I thought Ishould be getting more hours I
needed more money, so I waslike, you know what?
I am going to go apply foranother job.
So I, I did this twice.
Once was at Air Apostle and oncewas at Bath and Body Works.
And both places.
(23:39):
Both times they were different.
One I remember doing over theholidays because they, everybody
was hiring.
And the other may have been overa summer.
I just wanted more hours, to payfor college'cause it's
expensive.
When I got the callback or theopportunity to start, I let him
know.
I said, Hey, you know, I'm gonnabe having this other job.
I'm gonna need to work aroundthe schedule.
(24:00):
How can we make this happen?
He was like, I don't rememberwhat he said, but I ended up
getting more hours at the icecream place and did not accept
the second job.
I may have gotten more money oneof the times too.
Don't quote me on that becauseit's not as strong of my memory.
I just remember the like, Hey,you said I'd be able to get 20
hours, I'm only getting 15 orwhatever.
(24:22):
It was like, I'm gonna get thesecond job so that I can have
more hours.
And he was like, oh, well, youknow, let's, let's see what we
can do for you.
And so the lesson I'm takingfrom that is to know your value.
And I think that's so importanteven in life now, to know what
you're worth.
Whether looking for a new job oran additional job.
Like don't accept the lowestthing if your work is valued at
(24:45):
something more.
And also just don't acceptpeople treating you differently
if you deserve more, Consistencyis key.
That's number 10.
People expect the same sizeproduct and quality every time.
A single scoop was five ounces,one of the ways he would train
is you would get a cake comb.
You get a scoop have a bucket ofvanilla ice cream, scoop put on
(25:05):
the cone put on the scale seewhat it is, dump it off, scoop a
new one, put on the cone, put onthe scale until you get five
ounces, five, 10 times in a row.
This sounds easier than it wasbecause when starting out, does
anybody know what five ounces ofice cream looks like?
I surely didn't, but let me tellyou, if you put a cake cone with
(25:27):
a scoop of ice cream on it infront of me today, I will be
able to tell you if it's fiveounces or not.
I haven't worked in the icecream industry in 20 years, but
it's one of those things thatjust stays with you.
But people expect the same thingall the time.
If people are scooping differentsizes, like let's say one time
somebody comes and they havelike a seven ounce single scoop.
(25:48):
Well, the next time when theycome back and you give them a
five ounce scoop, they're gonnabe like, that's not the right
size.
I got more last time.
Well, last time you were overscooped by an employee who
didn't know what they weredoing.
This is what you get.
But it's the reason consistencyis key.
Milkshakes have three ouncescoops syrup and milk.
If they're getting too much icecream, if it's too thick or too
(26:12):
thin, you're not consistent.
It's so important forconsistency and that goes in
life also.
You should always do things theright way.
All the time, regardless ofwho's around or who's doing it,
like consistency is huge, andthat is something that I took
away from the ice creamindustry.
Speaking of the ice creamindustry, this isn't necessarily
(26:33):
a leadership or a people lesson.
Butterfat makes ice creamcreamy, and if you want to be
able to test or taste thequality of ice cream, you need
to get vanilla.
This was one of the things hetaught too, because obviously
there were so many amazing,amazing flavors, and I'm like,
oh my gosh, vanilla is soboring.
(26:53):
But he was like, no, vanilla ishow you taste quality and
butter.
Fat is what makes ice creamgood.
Okay.
I don't remember this allexactly, but it's kind of like
whole milk in a, in the UnitedStates is like 4% butter fat.
And Dairy Queen.
Well, places like Dairy Queenand Chick-fil-A, you'll never
(27:16):
see their frozen treats referredto as ice cream because it's not
actually ice cream.
To be qualified as ice cream,you have to have a certain
percentage of butter fat, and Ithink it's around 11 or 12.
Again, it's been a while.
I didn't live this up before Istarted recording, but.
(27:36):
Like Dairy Queen, their frozentreat is I think around like 5%
butter, fat, and Chick-fil-A,they call theirs Ice Dream.
'cause again, can't be qualifiedas ice cream.
And then the higher you get, youknow, your Haagen-Dazs, Ben and
Jerry's, that's when you'regetting more into like your 14,
16, 18% butterfat.
So.
There's your ice cream lessonfor the day, but that's
(28:00):
something I learned that stuckwith me at least, mostly, we'll
fact, check me later to see ifmy numbers were close.
But vanilla really is how youtaste it because you're able to,
get the full flavor withoutanything overpowering it.
If you get fudge ripple or homerun, vanilla ice cream, caramel
swirl, chocolate covered peanutsyou're not gonna get the quality
(28:22):
of the ice cream because you'regetting those other flavors and
textures over it, whereasstraight up vanilla, all you're
getting is the ice cream.
And let me tell you, I was quitethe little ice cream snob for a
while.
Debatable.
I might still be because thereis some ice cream that are
grainy and gross and I will noteat because it could be the
(28:44):
butter fat could be how it'smade.
The more you spin ice cream iswhere you get that graininess
it's like an art to making icecream.
See guys.
I really miss the boat.
I believe this is the industryI'm still supposed to be in.
Maybe when I retire, maybe I'llget my own ice cream place when
I retire.
All right, we're almost done,number 12, build relationships
(29:06):
and help those who help you.
The friendships I made workingat the ice cream place in high
school were some of my best.
I had church friends and schoolfriends, but there was something
about my work friends weredifferent I love them and we had
so much fun.
I mentioned I would work Fridaynights after closing, we would
go to Denny's Eaton Park andjust like I said, there was one.
(29:30):
We also would go to Wendy's.
This is a funny story.
There was a Wendy's just downthe street and they would be
open late.
So I remember vividly, I don'tknow what night this was, it may
have been a Friday, it mighthave just been some other random
night.
We went to Wendy's had likereally good salads and we got
our Wendy's food, and then wejust sat in the parking lot,
(29:52):
like outside our cars, likepicnic style, just eating in the
back of the Wendy's parking lot,like out by like their dumpster.
Ah, the memories to be youngagain, right?
So what was this lesson?
Build relationships, but also itwasn't just the friendships that
were made, it was alsorelationships within the
community.
(30:12):
We had partner businesses, thisamazing pizza place, sometimes
we would do trades with them.
They'd be like, Hey, we'll bringyou pizza and spaghetti.
Can we get a quart of whatever?
And that was another thing thatwe were empowered and allowed to
do.
And looking back now, I'm like,really?
Should we have been doing that?
Giving away product getting foodit was a perk of the job, I
(30:32):
guess.
But it's important to buildrelationships.
Even in the business world,corporate or wherever you are
now, it is still important toone.
Have friendships at work.
I know this is debatable and wecould do a whole episode on it,
should you have friends at workor be at work just to work?
I am in the camp that it is veryimportant to have friends at
work because you spend so muchtime there that there needs to
be people there that you cantrust, that you can bounce ideas
(30:55):
off of coach and mentor you andjust have an enjoyable time.
It's also about buildingpartnerships and kind of that,
you know, I scratch my back, youscratch yours kind of thing.
It's not trading ice cream andpizza, although anybody at work,
if you would like to trade pizzaor ice cream with me, I am open
to that.
Or if you just wanna give mepizza and ice cream, also open
(31:16):
to that.
But it's just important to havethose partnerships and knowing
the people you can count on tohelp you with things, but that
you are also open to helpingthem.
December 13, hard work will berewarded.
So I started at 5 25.
I went up to five 50 I think bythat Christmas, and he was
(31:38):
really good about promoting hardworkers.
I went from scooper to crewleader quickly, then to ice
cream maker, almost the highestposition there.
Cake decorator was a side job.
If you were there and it wassomething you practiced and were
good at, then you could decoratecakes too.
But also, there would be mobileevents.
(31:59):
Like he would take the rollingfreezer and some ice cream and
we would do like community days.
For, croquet tournament.
Oh my gosh, that was one of themost fun things.
I didn't even know there werecroquet tournaments.
I did that for a couple years.
The 4th of July Community daysevent was one of my favorite
too.
But anyway, you would get to goto those events if you were a
(32:22):
better employee'cause he's notgonna take out, you know, the
crap employees to, because itwas kind of like a reward.
So.
And I still believe that, thatif you work hard, you will be
rewarded.
It may not always be right away,but that hard work does always
pay off.
And I still believe that today,similar to that, number 14, it's
(32:43):
more important to try than toget it perfect.
I still struggle withperfectionism, but I'm working
on it.
Decorating cakes, there would besome people that would want all
kinds of crazy thing on cakesand it'd be like, sure, we can
do that.
When I take the order, I'm like,yeah, I can do that.
I remember I put a duck on acake once.
That one was actually reallycute.
I did a skateboarder, that onenot as good, but I put in great
(33:06):
effort he taught a trick whereyou draw something out on wax
paper.
And use it to trace it on thecake, because if you put it on
the cake, not with the pencilside down, pencil side up, and
you could use a little toothpickand kind of make the indents on
the, top of the ice cream cake,then you could go back in with
the icing and fill in the littlesketch that you made.
(33:28):
But it's still important, likelooking back customers were
usually pretty good.
I don't remember anybody everbeing upset with a cake that
we'd done.
But it was about trying like,you know, sometimes trying is
more important than getting itright sometimes.
And practice really does help.
If you have time, practice theshells design on the, borders of
(33:52):
the cake and just practice itover and over and over again.
Also, a tip, if you ever have anicing bag.
Hold it in your hand and thenfold it over it and scoop the
icing in.
It makes so much less messnumber 15.
There are difficult people inthe world and sometimes you'll
have to work with them.
Be kind, always.
There are a lot of differentpeople in this world, and there
(34:14):
were several girls I did notenjoy working with.
They were annoying.
There was one girl specifically,she was so annoying looking back
I could have been nicer to her.
I don't think I was ever reallymean to her.
At least I hope I wasn't.
But she really was annoying.
But the thing is, is you aregonna deal with annoying people
(34:34):
in the world quite often in theworkplace.
Always be kind.
You don't know what they'regoing through.
People may think you're theweird one and you would want
them to be kind to you.
So always be kind.
Finally, the best advice he evergave me.
I remember him saying, findyourself a handyman and marry
(34:54):
him a hundred percent right?
I did get myself a handyman.
I did marry him, and it has paidoff in dividends.
But this was important toobecause, at the ice cream place,
it was often something wasbroken, especially the waffle
irons, those pieces of, theywere down so often.
He always fixed them.
He was a fixer and I rememberhim saying, Kristen, just get
(35:18):
yourself a handyman.
And he was right.
Much better advice than what mynana told me when she said,
marry a man for love.
You marry the man and love hismoney.
Probably good advice for somenot the route I went, but I did
get a handyman and it's beenwonderful.
Those are the 16 things Ilearned from my first high
(35:39):
school job.
Most from my first boss, who hada huge impact on my life.
Whether he knew it or not, thereare things he taught me.
That have stayed with me for 25years.
Things that he has taught methat I have passed on to other
people.
Looking back, when I think aboutall the leaders that I have had
(36:03):
in my life to look for asexamples, I really think he's
one of the first and probablyone of the best.
So.
That's what I have for youtoday, I hope it resonated with
you on some level, let me knowwhat you think.
Are there lessons you learned inhigh school or from one of your
first jobs that is stillapplicable now?
(36:25):
Are there things that youlearned that you are.
Still using, are there thingsthat you think other people
should know you know how to getahold of me?
Reach out and I'll talk againsoon.
That's a wrap for this week'sepisode.
Thanks so much for spending timewith me.
Until next time, be honest withyourself.
(36:46):
Ask the hard questions, andremember, you are not alone on
this journey.
Welcome to season two of Talk with Kristen with an E.
This season, we're digging alittle deeper into leadership,
personal growth, and the courageit takes to follow your passion.
Real conversations, honestreflections, because life isn't
perfect and neither are we.
(00:27):
Hey everybody.
Welcome back.
Today's episode, I really amexcited about this one and I am
happy to say I'm excited becauseI have kind of been at this
like.
I dunno, it's not quite writer'sblock'cause I'm not writing
maybe speaker's block.
Tried several topics forupcoming episodes and they've
just fallen like, I'm like, no,that's not the one.
(00:49):
That's not the one that, Nope,nope.
So today I was literally in theshower and was like, this is it.
Like I have got to go to mystudio now and record this
because this is the topic, thisis what I need to share.
This is where, this is whatwe're gonna do.
So before we get into that, Iprobably need to provide a
little bit of, well, no, notpro.
(01:10):
We're just gonna get into it andI'm gonna set the stage give you
why this became the topic today.
So I recently got a new job,same company, same organization,
actually kind of a little bit.
Sort of like what I was doingbefore.
I'm not gonna spoil it becausethat's going to be a whole
episode in itself because ofeverything I learned from that
(01:32):
whole process.
I've been in the new job for afew weeks now, it wasn't
supposed to be effective untilOctober, but we've had this slow
transition and I'm kind of in itnow.
So I was sitting in the parkinglot waiting for my son to be
done with dance, and I was like,you know what?
I'm just gonna update myLinkedIn status now.
What the heck?
So I did, I put the new job, andthen of course, you know, you
(01:52):
get the typical people likingyou.
Congratulations, all that.
It's great.
My first boss from my first jobin high school, commented I knew
you back when.
Great to see all your successes.
It got me thinking about thatjob and everything I learned
from it.
As I started ticking off thelessons from that job in high
(02:13):
school and how I'm applying itto my life today, I was like.
Oh my goodness.
This is gold.
Because while he was looking atmy new job and my LinkedIn
update as, wow, look at all thatKristen's done.
I was looking back and thinkinglike, I've done a lot of this
because of you, when I startedmaking the connections, that's
(02:35):
where it was.
We're gonna talk about my firsthigh school job.
I'm gonna go through a list of15, 16, 17 items of lessons.
I learned then and how I stillapply them today.
And they may be ones that youare already familiar with.
Maybe it's ones that you haveheard.
Your past or can apply to yourlife also.
(02:56):
So I thought it would be good togo over those and while I'm
focusing the first part ofseason two on personal
development growth, andleadership.
I think this flows into bothperfectly.
So my first job not my firstjob, but my first real job in
high school was at an ice creamplace.
The best job I could have had.
(03:17):
But it's funny, when I startedkind of outlining all the things
I wanted to talk about, I waslike, oh my gosh, I remember.
So much and so much of thespecifics of the beginning of my
ice cream career to the point Iremember specifically when I
dropped my application off, forany of you younger people back
in the day, we had to go to theplace of business ask for a
(03:40):
paper application fill it outand turn it in funny because
after I'd been working there,people would ask for
applications we were taught tosay, we're always willing to
take applications we weren'tnecessarily hiring, but if
somebody was let go or left, wewould have this repository of
applications.
So we would always take theapplications and put them in a
folder.
(04:00):
I was there for a lot of peoplecoming and going, but this
specific night, it was aWednesday, after youth group, I
was coming home from church andstopped at the ice cream place
to drop off my application.
I got a single scoop of cinnamonbun on a sugar cone.
Oh my gosh.
Cinnamon bun was so good.
Cinnamon ice cream with acaramel cinnamon swirl it was
(04:23):
gooey sweet and amazing.
All of their ice creams werephenomenal.
Everything was made on site.
I actually became an ice creammaker The ice cream was so good.
I dropped my application off gota call for an interview and I
went if I close my eyes, I canpicture myself walking from the
parking lot to the side door andknocking on the door and him
opening the door.
And I remember who was in theback during my interview it's a
(04:47):
vivid memory, and I don't knowwhy it stands out, it wasn't
traumatic.
They always say something reallygreat or really terrible
happens.
It's cemented in your memoryforever.
Maybe this was my superwonderful thing.
At my interview I was wearingkhaki pants and a pinky purple
shirt.
It was a one piece, but lookedlike a twin set, so it looked
like it was like a shirt with amatching cardigan over it, like
(05:10):
three quarter sleeves.
I loved that shirt so much Iwore it in my senior pictures
too, with a pair of jeans.
Of course, my mud flared jeanswith the button fly.
That's what I wore for my seniorpictures.
But for my interview, I worekhaki pants because I was
dressing.
Nice.
I was dressing nice, likebusiness casual I was never
going to dress like that atwork, but I had to show that I
(05:33):
was professional.
I was a very professional17-year-old showing up to be
interviewed.
I think I was hired on the spot.
I feel like it was one of thosewhen can you start things?
I even had my workers' permit,because I was under 18.
That basically allowed me towork.
So anyway, I interview, get thejob.
I am beyond excited, this was mydream job, which is adorable.
(05:56):
I mentioned at my interview.
My dad was really into icecream.
He looked at franchises likeDairy Queen, I think might have
looked at Rita Zeiss for aminute, or TCBY when they were
big.
Like my dad was really big intothat, and he always talked
about.
How he wanted to have his ownice cream place someday, and he
is gonna name it Spanky Afterme.
So I use that as an interview.
One of the questions was why doyou wanna work here?
(06:17):
And I told that story my dadalways said he wanted an ice
cream place and name it afterme.
And since he doesn't have thatyet, I want to work an ice cream
place.
If my dad gets it, I know whatI'm doing or something.
I was making that familyconnection that this is what I'm
supposed to do.
At least the way I remember it Iwas confident.
I'd never applied for a jobbefore.
I, the jobs I'd had before I'dwork for a family or family
(06:40):
business or babysitting.
Like this was a real job to me.
Real paycheck, real taxes, allthe things, and I got it.
I started pretty much rightaway.
I think this was October,November of 2000.
Minimum wage at the time wasfive 15.
I remember this though.
I Googled it just to make suremy memory was right on that one.
(07:02):
But I made more than minimumwage.
He started me at 5 25.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, thatwas$5 and 25 cents an hour
thinking about that.
Now this sounds like soridiculous, but 17-year-old
Kristen was like, this isamazing.
I am making, making my ownmoney.
Keep in mind, also didn't havemy own bills, so I was making
(07:25):
money just to shop.
I did save some too but still,for me it was like, hmm, this
means I can go to Goodwill andget my$2 Abercrombie jeans.
This is gonna be great.
My life's gonna be amazing.
That was my job I started infall of 2000.
I stayed through college.
During college.
I actually was working not quitefull-time, but I would work on
(07:48):
Tuesdays and Thursdays I hadclasses Monday, Wednesday,
Friday, during the day, and anight class on Monday or Tuesday
or whatever.
But then my working schedule, Iwould work all day Tuesday and
Thursday all day being like 1030 to three 30 or 10 to three,
something like that.
Oh, actually I even been doing10 to five during the school
(08:09):
year.
I can't remember that part, butI would be there Tuesdays and
Thursdays, usually Fridaynights, because a lot of the
other workers, mostly highschool kids were in band
football or cheerleading.
I wasn't in high school orcollege.
So I could work Friday nightsand a Saturday or Sunday,
sometimes both.
I was also the person who wasalmost always willing to pick up
(08:29):
extra shifts, partly for themoney, more, because I loved
being there.
I loved the people.
And by college I was making morethan, I don't remember the exact
amount, and so stayed there allthrough high school my first two
years of college because I wasgoing to a local school and
living at home, so I keptworking that schedule and then I
went away for junior and senioryear.
(08:50):
Came back on breaks and summers,I still worked there.
And honestly, after I graduated,my parents had then moved away
from that, from that state.
And I had talked to the bossabout working full-time after
college and what he could offerme.
And, the money wasn't gonna beenough.
And I was gonna need insuranceand all of that.
(09:11):
And it was, it just wasn't gonnawork.
I was heartbroken because thatwas my plan.
I was gonna graduate, go backwork there and it was gonna be
amazing.
Funny enough, where my parentsmoved in Virginia, There was
another ice cream place thereand I went and applied.
I'd had all the experience and acollege degree and they're like,
yeah, we'll hire you.
And they were then paying me$12an hour.
(09:31):
This was 2005.
I was getting$12 an hour there.
Still no insurance.
As the assistant manager, whichwas a big deal for me ice cream
was really gonna be my life.
Ended up going a differentdirection.
But there are still times whereI'm like, my life would be so
fun if I still just worked in anice cream place.
(09:53):
Okay, so anyway, now that youhave all that background, let's
get into the lessons I learnedand how I am applying them
today.
So these aren't in any order.
I kind of just wrote them downas they came to me.
Some of them flow, but we'llsee.
Number one, never take the easyway out.
(10:13):
This was a big deal because wewere not allowed to use
calculators, we couldn't use thecash register to put the amounts
in.
We had to count the change backto people, and it was hard at
the beginning.
Math is not my favorite.
I'm fine at it, it's just Idon't prefer it, but, so we had
a cash register.
So you would push the button,you know, put the order in.
(10:36):
Then MR would come up, and thenyou know, like, okay, your total
is 1351, and then they wouldgive you a$20 bill.
So you'd go to the cash registerand you'd start at the pennies
count out four pennies.
You're at 55, you'd get your twodimes.
That's 75.
You get your quarter.
Okay, so now you're up to$14.
So then get one that's 15 andthen five is 20.
And you would go back and youwould count the change back to
(10:57):
them.
Your change makes 14, one is 15,five is 20.
Thank you.
Have a great night.
Starting out you're like, thisis so hard.
I'm never gonna get this.
But then all of a sudden you do,and then like you'd start
memorizing prices.
Like I think at one point asingle cone was 2 76, so if
somebody gave you a three or afive, you knew what change to
get, but you were still supposedto always start the beginning.
(11:20):
Count it out.
And I don't know that Iunderstood or appreciated at the
time why that was such a bigdeal, but it's a big deal
because then you are making surethat they're getting their right
change.
You're not just reading it off ascreen and then just gathering
it.
And to this day, when I amshopping, which we all know is,
(11:40):
you know, I shop a good bit.
I pay attention to people whenthey gimme the change back.
And if they just hand it to meor count it back, I still
appreciate having my changecounted back I often do it in my
head although how often do I paycash anymore?
But I will pay attention andknow the change I should get
back we did not write ordersdown.
There were not.
We didn't have notepads.
(12:01):
There weren't pens.
You would go to the window, youwould take the order, and then
you would remember the order,and you would make the order and
come back.
Obviously, it was fine if youforgot, a big order, like they
have two milkshakes, a sundae, awaffle cone like you could ask,
but it was important to.
Take their order, repeat it backto them so that you knew exactly
(12:22):
what you were doing and then doit.
The first lesson, is never takethe easy way out.
How that's applied now shows upin my work ethic how I handle
myself at work and also kind ofhow I expect other people to
work, that I expect them to dothe work and not take the easy
way out.
The second one I wrote down isalways make a place better.
(12:44):
if you have time to lean, youhave time to clean.
'cause there would be some ofthese girls and they would just
hanging around, leaning againstcounters, waiting for customers
there's always something youcould be doing.
There are dishes you could bewashing, counters you could be
cleaning off.
Napkins.
You could be refilling or spoonsyou are not getting paid$5 25 to
just stand around, do something.
(13:08):
As I go to different jobs.
I, always look at where I canmake a difference, where I can
help look for things that needto be done and do it.
So it's not necessarily thephysical.
If you have time to lean, youhave time to clean what can I do
to make this place better?
How can I make me better?
Or somebody else better?
it's about not being idle.
That's different than relaxing.
We all need downtime, but whenyou're on the clock, you should
(13:31):
be doing something to make theplace better.
Number three, the secret ofcustomer service, apologize and
offer something for free.
And he was really big on this,is that, you know, mistakes
happen.
And if somebody gets the wrongorder or they're upset about
something, then you justapologize and you offer them
(13:52):
something else.
Always make it right I believethis, I still tell this to the
people, that the secret tocustomer service is apologizing
and offers something for freebecause that's all people want.
They just want to know youacknowledge what was done was
wrong, or not even wrong, butlike wasn't satisfying to what
they need.
And then people love free stuff.
(14:14):
So I pay attention when I'm outif something's done wrong, I see
how they handle it.
It could be as simple as like,you know, dairy Queen gives me a
coupon for like a free cone orblizzard because an order took
too long it's easy to just makeit right and you should always
be making it right because.
The customer is the one that'sgoing to keep coming back.
And if you give them a positiveexperience, you'll make more
(14:36):
money.
Like in the end, it all worksout for everybody.
Now there were some customers,like people are terrible.
And for any of you who haveworked in any kind of food
service or really any kind ofservice with people, you know,
there's terrible people outthere.
I probably had a handful ofcustomers every now and again
(14:58):
who are bad, but they wereusually not bad.
But I remember this one time itwas fall, it was apple dumpling
time.
It's when you should be happyabout life smelling the apple
dumplings pumpkin flavors areright around the corner, it's a
great time I do not remember whythese individuals were unhappy.
I don't think it was at me tobegin with.
(15:19):
There was a situation withanother employee and it had
escalated, and then as I was thecrew leader on shift, I'd gone
up to handle the situation.
I.
And it was so bad.
I think they were yelling at meit was terrible.
I remember going back into theback of the, so front, like the
front of the house was where,you know, all of the ice cream,
(15:39):
freezers, milkshake makers, likeeverything was out front and the
back was, you know, stockingstuff.
The.
Ice cream machines, sinks, frontback, same thing I remember
going to the back getting anotebook writing out the entire
situation as it happened so thatwhen he came into the work the
next day, you know what happenedand had like my side of the
story in case these people evercalled and tried to make, you
(16:02):
know, a whole issue of what washappened.
I don't remember if there wasany situation after, but I just.
I was crying like I was so just,ugh, it broke me that night.
Anyway, secret to customerservice number four, trust your
people and empower them to dothe right thing.
So this was something he wasgreat about I talk about just
(16:23):
apologize and give something forfree.
He allowed us to do that, up toa certain point up to aqua, we
could give for free.
We were able to do that and thatwas huge because, you've got a
bunch of high school kids,sometimes a couple college kids
that's a lot.
To trust them to give this away,you're empowering them to make
the right decisions, do theright thing.
(16:44):
That's something that stuck withme because the best supervisors
I've had trusted and empoweredme.
And looking back, he was thefirst one that taught that to me
of how to do it.
And it's something that I havetried.
To use as I've become asupervisor for like a decade now
that I try to use my people too,is that you trust them to do the
(17:04):
right thing.
Empower them and they do abetter job because they have
ownership.
It wasn't our ice cream place.
He was the owner, but he gave usthat power.
To feel that we were a part ofit and able to make those
decisions, was huge for me then,and now, number five, also, is
allow people the opportunity tomake mistakes and learn from
(17:28):
them.
I'm sure there's some places,whether it's food industry or
something else where if you messup, you're done.
I've never been a waitress, butI imagine if you drop your tray
and break a lot of, I don'tknow, plates, glasses, whatever,
there's probably at some pointwhere they're like, Hey, this
isn't for you.
You should probably trysomething else.
But he was really great aboutletting us make mistakes,
(17:50):
whether he knew about them rightaway or not.
One of my favorite things was,every year we would have a
Christmas party.
Oh my gosh.
And the Christmas parties weregreat.
We would go to a littlerestaurant, get dressed up and,
he gave us gifts every year.
It was a really nice time to geteverybody together and spend,
(18:10):
spend an evening together.
But one of the things he woulddo is it was like confession
time.
So, you know, it's the holidays.
Anything you share, likenothing's gonna be held against
you.
Let's just talk about it.
And people had some storiesbecause they would save them all
year to share them, and some ofthem probably were bad.
(18:31):
But you know, that was like yourfree time to like your get outta
jail free card.
It's okay.
Whatever happens, at theChristmas party will not be held
against you.
One time, oh my goodness, I canstill remember this day may was
strawberry month.
We did strawberry shortcakes, alot of strawberry flavors.
I was making strawberry icecream.
I was bringing strawberries outof the walk-in freezer.
(18:53):
The floor was wet and I slipped.
I dropped, a five gallon bucketof strawberries all over the
floor.
It was so terrible.
And then I am just like, oh mygosh, what did you do?
So now I've got this mess toclean up, but we're outta
strawberries in strawberrymonth.
I had it all over me.
Did I mention we had to wearwhite shorts pants and t-shirts
(19:16):
with the logo across the front.
That was great.
It was terrible and I felthorrible and I was like, oh my
gosh, what if he finds out likeit's.
Everything cost money, which Iunderstand more now as an adult,
but even then I knew like we hadpaid for those strawberries.
We were not using thosestrawberries in a product to
sell because I had strawberriesall over the floor and I've just
(19:39):
cost, I don't know how muchmoney.
Well, I confessed that story atthe Christmas party.
Wasn't fired.
We all laughed about it.
But the point is you, not onlydo you empower and trust your
people, you give them theopportunity to fail.
It's not even just fail.
It's making those mistakes andlearning from it.
Do you think I ever dropped abucket of strawberries again?
(20:02):
No, I did not.
Do you think I was a whole lotmore cautious when I came out of
the walk-in freezer andrefrigerator, especially
carrying a product like in abucket?
A hundred percent.
Do you think I was also morecareful with the wetness of the
floor and making sure everythingwas clean in my area?
Oh, yes.
So it's allowing mistakes tohappen, but learning from them,
(20:26):
we're not defined by ourmistakes.
Number six, show respect topeople even when they aren't
around.
So there was this time that, um.
A girl was very disrespectful toour boss and a customer
overheard it.
Customer knew exactly who theemployee was.
(20:47):
That employee no longer workedthere.
So it is just, you've gotta payattention and be aware of your
surroundings and how you'retalking about people.
Just really showing respect evenwhen they're not around, and I
think that's a huge life lessonthat we all should be cautious
of.
It's not just being nice topeople, to their face, but also
(21:10):
being kind and respectful whenthey're not around.
Similarly, number seven is dothe right thing no matter who is
watching.
He got cameras installed frontand back we don't know if they
were recording.
Part of me thinks they weren't.
They were just there to scareus.
But it didn't matter because youknew they were there and they
(21:33):
could be recording and he couldgo watch anything at any time.
So it did help, I think, peoplebe more cognizant of what they
were doing.
Number eight, checklists are thebest way to make sure everything
done and nothing is missed.
Maybe I've taken this one alittle too extreme because I am
(21:54):
completely run by checklist.
Like if it's not written down,it's not happening.
If it's not on my calendar, I'mnot going to it.
Part of it may have startedbecause there was an opening
checklist and a closingchecklist it was on like.
You know, you could likelaminate a paper so we could use
dry erase markers on it andcheck it off.
You'd check it off, initial itand know if it was done the
(22:14):
morning one was good, but theclosing one even more, there
would be several of us trying toget things closed and everything
done, and if people were doingdifferent things, you'd wanna
make sure that you were stilldoing all of them.
So like if somebody's sweeping,mopping, washing dishes.
Restocking, like whatever allthe tasks were, and then having
it be initialed or have the namefor who did it, then in the
(22:37):
morning when somebody's opening,if something wasn't done, the
checklist and if it wasn't doneright, then they could also see
who was the one that wasresponsible for it.
This is huge and provided peoplewith a system.
For how to do things.
And I think especially when youhave high school kids, it's
important for them to have thatoutline many of us who'd been
there long enough didn't needthe list.
(22:58):
You just knew what had to bedone, how it had to be done, and
what it had to be done.
But for beginning people, andagain for that accountability,
it was really good to have thoselists there.
So number nine, know your value.
This is a good one, and this wasone of the ones that really
popped out to my head in theshower when I was thinking about
(23:18):
this.
I loved working there, as I'vesaid many times, today.
There was a time I thought Ishould be getting more hours I
needed more money, so I waslike, you know what?
I am going to go apply foranother job.
So I, I did this twice.
Once was at Air Apostle and oncewas at Bath and Body Works.
And both places.
(23:39):
Both times they were different.
One I remember doing over theholidays because they, everybody
was hiring.
And the other may have been overa summer.
I just wanted more hours, to payfor college'cause it's
expensive.
When I got the callback or theopportunity to start, I let him
know.
I said, Hey, you know, I'm gonnabe having this other job.
I'm gonna need to work aroundthe schedule.
(24:00):
How can we make this happen?
He was like, I don't rememberwhat he said, but I ended up
getting more hours at the icecream place and did not accept
the second job.
I may have gotten more money oneof the times too.
Don't quote me on that becauseit's not as strong of my memory.
I just remember the like, Hey,you said I'd be able to get 20
hours, I'm only getting 15 orwhatever.
(24:22):
It was like, I'm gonna get thesecond job so that I can have
more hours.
And he was like, oh, well, youknow, let's, let's see what we
can do for you.
And so the lesson I'm takingfrom that is to know your value.
And I think that's so importanteven in life now, to know what
you're worth.
Whether looking for a new job oran additional job.
Like don't accept the lowestthing if your work is valued at
(24:45):
something more.
And also just don't acceptpeople treating you differently
if you deserve more, Consistencyis key.
That's number 10.
People expect the same sizeproduct and quality every time.
A single scoop was five ounces,one of the ways he would train
is you would get a cake comb.
You get a scoop have a bucket ofvanilla ice cream, scoop put on
(25:05):
the cone put on the scale seewhat it is, dump it off, scoop a
new one, put on the cone, put onthe scale until you get five
ounces, five, 10 times in a row.
This sounds easier than it wasbecause when starting out, does
anybody know what five ounces ofice cream looks like?
I surely didn't, but let me tellyou, if you put a cake cone with
(25:27):
a scoop of ice cream on it infront of me today, I will be
able to tell you if it's fiveounces or not.
I haven't worked in the icecream industry in 20 years, but
it's one of those things thatjust stays with you.
But people expect the same thingall the time.
If people are scooping differentsizes, like let's say one time
somebody comes and they havelike a seven ounce single scoop.
(25:48):
Well, the next time when theycome back and you give them a
five ounce scoop, they're gonnabe like, that's not the right
size.
I got more last time.
Well, last time you were overscooped by an employee who
didn't know what they weredoing.
This is what you get.
But it's the reason consistencyis key.
Milkshakes have three ouncescoops syrup and milk.
If they're getting too much icecream, if it's too thick or too
(26:12):
thin, you're not consistent.
It's so important forconsistency and that goes in
life also.
You should always do things theright way.
All the time, regardless ofwho's around or who's doing it,
like consistency is huge, andthat is something that I took
away from the ice creamindustry.
Speaking of the ice creamindustry, this isn't necessarily
(26:33):
a leadership or a people lesson.
Butterfat makes ice creamcreamy, and if you want to be
able to test or taste thequality of ice cream, you need
to get vanilla.
This was one of the things hetaught too, because obviously
there were so many amazing,amazing flavors, and I'm like,
oh my gosh, vanilla is soboring.
(26:53):
But he was like, no, vanilla ishow you taste quality and
butter.
Fat is what makes ice creamgood.
Okay.
I don't remember this allexactly, but it's kind of like
whole milk in a, in the UnitedStates is like 4% butter fat.
And Dairy Queen.
Well, places like Dairy Queenand Chick-fil-A, you'll never
(27:16):
see their frozen treats referredto as ice cream because it's not
actually ice cream.
To be qualified as ice cream,you have to have a certain
percentage of butter fat, and Ithink it's around 11 or 12.
Again, it's been a while.
I didn't live this up before Istarted recording, but.
(27:36):
Like Dairy Queen, their frozentreat is I think around like 5%
butter, fat, and Chick-fil-A,they call theirs Ice Dream.
'cause again, can't be qualifiedas ice cream.
And then the higher you get, youknow, your Haagen-Dazs, Ben and
Jerry's, that's when you'regetting more into like your 14,
16, 18% butterfat.
So.
There's your ice cream lessonfor the day, but that's
(28:00):
something I learned that stuckwith me at least, mostly, we'll
fact, check me later to see ifmy numbers were close.
But vanilla really is how youtaste it because you're able to,
get the full flavor withoutanything overpowering it.
If you get fudge ripple or homerun, vanilla ice cream, caramel
swirl, chocolate covered peanutsyou're not gonna get the quality
(28:22):
of the ice cream because you'regetting those other flavors and
textures over it, whereasstraight up vanilla, all you're
getting is the ice cream.
And let me tell you, I was quitethe little ice cream snob for a
while.
Debatable.
I might still be because thereis some ice cream that are
grainy and gross and I will noteat because it could be the
(28:44):
butter fat could be how it'smade.
The more you spin ice cream iswhere you get that graininess
it's like an art to making icecream.
See guys.
I really miss the boat.
I believe this is the industryI'm still supposed to be in.
Maybe when I retire, maybe I'llget my own ice cream place when
I retire.
All right, we're almost done,number 12, build relationships
(29:06):
and help those who help you.
The friendships I made workingat the ice cream place in high
school were some of my best.
I had church friends and schoolfriends, but there was something
about my work friends weredifferent I love them and we had
so much fun.
I mentioned I would work Fridaynights after closing, we would
go to Denny's Eaton Park andjust like I said, there was one.
(29:30):
We also would go to Wendy's.
This is a funny story.
There was a Wendy's just downthe street and they would be
open late.
So I remember vividly, I don'tknow what night this was, it may
have been a Friday, it mighthave just been some other random
night.
We went to Wendy's had likereally good salads and we got
our Wendy's food, and then wejust sat in the parking lot,
(29:52):
like outside our cars, likepicnic style, just eating in the
back of the Wendy's parking lot,like out by like their dumpster.
Ah, the memories to be youngagain, right?
So what was this lesson?
Build relationships, but also itwasn't just the friendships that
were made, it was alsorelationships within the
community.
(30:12):
We had partner businesses, thisamazing pizza place, sometimes
we would do trades with them.
They'd be like, Hey, we'll bringyou pizza and spaghetti.
Can we get a quart of whatever?
And that was another thing thatwe were empowered and allowed to
do.
And looking back now, I'm like,really?
Should we have been doing that?
Giving away product getting foodit was a perk of the job, I
(30:32):
guess.
But it's important to buildrelationships.
Even in the business world,corporate or wherever you are
now, it is still important toone.
Have friendships at work.
I know this is debatable and wecould do a whole episode on it,
should you have friends at workor be at work just to work?
I am in the camp that it is veryimportant to have friends at
work because you spend so muchtime there that there needs to
be people there that you cantrust, that you can bounce ideas
(30:55):
off of coach and mentor you andjust have an enjoyable time.
It's also about buildingpartnerships and kind of that,
you know, I scratch my back, youscratch yours kind of thing.
It's not trading ice cream andpizza, although anybody at work,
if you would like to trade pizzaor ice cream with me, I am open
to that.
Or if you just wanna give mepizza and ice cream, also open
(31:16):
to that.
But it's just important to havethose partnerships and knowing
the people you can count on tohelp you with things, but that
you are also open to helpingthem.
December 13, hard work will berewarded.
So I started at 5 25.
I went up to five 50 I think bythat Christmas, and he was
(31:38):
really good about promoting hardworkers.
I went from scooper to crewleader quickly, then to ice
cream maker, almost the highestposition there.
Cake decorator was a side job.
If you were there and it wassomething you practiced and were
good at, then you could decoratecakes too.
But also, there would be mobileevents.
(31:59):
Like he would take the rollingfreezer and some ice cream and
we would do like community days.
For, croquet tournament.
Oh my gosh, that was one of themost fun things.
I didn't even know there werecroquet tournaments.
I did that for a couple years.
The 4th of July Community daysevent was one of my favorite
too.
But anyway, you would get to goto those events if you were a
(32:22):
better employee'cause he's notgonna take out, you know, the
crap employees to, because itwas kind of like a reward.
So.
And I still believe that, thatif you work hard, you will be
rewarded.
It may not always be right away,but that hard work does always
pay off.
And I still believe that today,similar to that, number 14, it's
(32:43):
more important to try than toget it perfect.
I still struggle withperfectionism, but I'm working
on it.
Decorating cakes, there would besome people that would want all
kinds of crazy thing on cakesand it'd be like, sure, we can
do that.
When I take the order, I'm like,yeah, I can do that.
I remember I put a duck on acake once.
That one was actually reallycute.
I did a skateboarder, that onenot as good, but I put in great
(33:06):
effort he taught a trick whereyou draw something out on wax
paper.
And use it to trace it on thecake, because if you put it on
the cake, not with the pencilside down, pencil side up, and
you could use a little toothpickand kind of make the indents on
the, top of the ice cream cake,then you could go back in with
the icing and fill in the littlesketch that you made.
(33:28):
But it's still important, likelooking back customers were
usually pretty good.
I don't remember anybody everbeing upset with a cake that
we'd done.
But it was about trying like,you know, sometimes trying is
more important than getting itright sometimes.
And practice really does help.
If you have time, practice theshells design on the, borders of
(33:52):
the cake and just practice itover and over and over again.
Also, a tip, if you ever have anicing bag.
Hold it in your hand and thenfold it over it and scoop the
icing in.
It makes so much less messnumber 15.
There are difficult people inthe world and sometimes you'll
have to work with them.
Be kind, always.
There are a lot of differentpeople in this world, and there
(34:14):
were several girls I did notenjoy working with.
They were annoying.
There was one girl specifically,she was so annoying looking back
I could have been nicer to her.
I don't think I was ever reallymean to her.
At least I hope I wasn't.
But she really was annoying.
But the thing is, is you aregonna deal with annoying people
(34:34):
in the world quite often in theworkplace.
Always be kind.
You don't know what they'regoing through.
People may think you're theweird one and you would want
them to be kind to you.
So always be kind.
Finally, the best advice he evergave me.
I remember him saying, findyourself a handyman and marry
(34:54):
him a hundred percent right?
I did get myself a handyman.
I did marry him, and it has paidoff in dividends.
But this was important toobecause, at the ice cream place,
it was often something wasbroken, especially the waffle
irons, those pieces of, theywere down so often.
He always fixed them.
He was a fixer and I rememberhim saying, Kristen, just get
(35:18):
yourself a handyman.
And he was right.
Much better advice than what mynana told me when she said,
marry a man for love.
You marry the man and love hismoney.
Probably good advice for somenot the route I went, but I did
get a handyman and it's beenwonderful.
Those are the 16 things Ilearned from my first high
(35:39):
school job.
Most from my first boss, who hada huge impact on my life.
Whether he knew it or not, thereare things he taught me.
That have stayed with me for 25years.
Things that he has taught methat I have passed on to other
people.
Looking back, when I think aboutall the leaders that I have had
(36:03):
in my life to look for asexamples, I really think he's
one of the first and probablyone of the best.
So.
That's what I have for youtoday, I hope it resonated with
you on some level, let me knowwhat you think.
Are there lessons you learned inhigh school or from one of your
first jobs that is stillapplicable now?
(36:25):
Are there things that youlearned that you are.
Still using, are there thingsthat you think other people
should know you know how to getahold of me?
Reach out and I'll talk againsoon.
That's a wrap for this week'sepisode.
Thanks so much for spending timewith me.
Until next time, be honest withyourself.
(36:46):
Ask the hard questions, andremember, you are not alone on
this journey.
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