About 70 years ago, in a galaxy far away called Flushing in Queens, NYC, there was Jack’s Station Sweet Shop, an ice cream, candy, newspaper, cigarette store and luncheonette. I worked there as a teenage part-timer on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons/evenings and all day on Saturdays from 1954-1957.
I worked behind the counter making ice cream treats, sodas, shakes, and sandwiches and selling cigarettes, newspapers, and comics. I also handled the cash register and made change as required. No calculators, just basic arithmetic.
A favorite soda drink was an egg cream. It had no egg and no cream , so what the h—l is an egg cream? OK. Foist (that’s New Yawk speak). You squirt some chocolate syrup into a soda glass. Then add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk. Finally you carefully fill the glass with soda/seltzer/ sparkling water from the charged tap. “sshht”. It will foam at the top and look like beaten egg, hence the name “egg cream”. You’ll only find it in New York or New York-type cafes/ restaurants.
Another popular drink, especially for senior customers, was the “2 cents plain” What izzit? It’s just a glass of plain seltzer. Believe it or not, in 1953ish, it cost 2 cents.
That part time job taught me a bunch about life, communication, customer service, and the importance of dependability. Even after about 40 years from those days, when I was helping plant managers in the Charleston area with training new employees, a major consensus was “Bring me a reliable employee who can follow clear instructions, and I’ll be a happy plant manager”. Again, a valuable lesson learned. Enuf.