We Don’t All Scream at Ice Cream Man

Ours just were used as fronts for selling drugs…

I always told my kids that the songs they played meant they were out of ice cream. 😉

When we were kids a big part of staying at the beach was the ice cream truck. In my case because the snacks were prepackaged it was safer allergy wise than going to the ice cream parlor with the different toppings. As far as price my parents gave us a budget for treats and souvenirs that we got to decide how to spend. (And what kid at the beach in the sun and surf isn’t always famished)

My sister has a ice cream truck in her neighborhood. They moved a couple streets over and discovered he didn’t go down that street. Since niece was 3 at the time, Sis chased him down one day and gave the driver there new street. The money would be on a table near the door and if Sis was busy with nephew (infant at the time) Niece could grab the money and go out to the driveway. They have older neighbors — who told sis they loved seeing niece proudly buying her ice cream. It was prepackaged and went into the freezer for after dinner.

5 years later niece, nephew, and new neighbor kid sit on the lawn in the evenings waiting for the ice cream man.

Of course sis has the good kind of involved neighbors. They knew Sis’s family was out of town this weekend. When I went to feed the dogs, the neighbor came over to warn me the power had been out for several hours and had just come back on. Everything was still frozen in the freezer. I texted sis and at her request tossed the milk.

We love the ice cream truck! We live in an area with only 2-3 months of decent weather, the rest is pretty much winter. I keep money on hand for the ice cream truck and we all run (me and my 5 kids) down the street barefoot to catch him. It is always terribly overpriced but it is a part of childhood I fondly remember and just means summer to me. We only catch him a handful of times each year.

“Queen Mommy” yells because her daughter was asked if she wanted ice cream by the Ice Cream Man? Oh, the humanity!

I’m glad she didn’t get the validation that she was clearly seeking. Politely saying “No thanks” should have ended this interaction, but not when you’re dealing with a sanctomommy.

We also love our Ice Cream Man, Ivan. I introduced myself years ago when I noticed his route coincided with our dinner hour and politely suggested he’d get more business if he came by after 6. He gladly changed his route as our street has tons of kids and adults who appreciate a Mr. Softee on a weekly basis. Stopping and talking to people can actually be a GOOD thing. You may find out the Ice Cream Man is a hardworking immigrant who love kids.

Why do we refer to packaged items as “prepackaged”? It’s obvious that ice cream from a truck is not in a cone…. no?

Because they are packaged before the sale, not at the time of sale.

And I vaguely remember getting ice cream cones from the ice cream truck. Since it’s a vague memory, I’d probably put that in the late-60s/early-70s timeframe (it would have been when I was staying at my aunt’s, since we were too rural to have ice cream trucks).

Any thoughts about the daughter’s reaction to her Mom yelling at this man and, likely, the daughter sensing that perhaps she had done something wrong by just standing where she was visible to the ice cream truck driver? I don’t wish to throw this parent under the truck (pun intended), but imagine if in a car accident and the child was hurt or in an airplane experiencing problems, would the child be reassured by a calm parent (while doing something to help in the case of the car wreck) or would the child be panicking because that’s what was going on around her?

I bet they serve good brownies.

@AM–Way back in the dinosaur age (1970’s) Mr. Softee served Soft-serve cones from his truck dispenser. In our family, we were only permitted to buy Good Humor Prepackaged ice cream because my parents worried that the dispenser might not have been cleaned properly. To this day, I eat Soft-serve whenever possible. So far, no e coli or salmonella! LOL

Oh dear, we are still in the ’70’s, along with Taradlion, by the sound of it! Mr Whippy sells softserve icecream in cones – you have to go to the dairy to get the stuff that comes in packets. I still don’t like them, just because I prefer the proper ‘hard’ icecream that you have to roll and press down on with your mouth to keep in the darn cone, but it’s fascinating to think of trucks selling packaged ice treats. Why would you bother? You can’t get a face full of runny colour from the sprinkles when you buy packet stuff…..

On the OP, that woman was very rude, IMO, and it was lovely to see so many comments pointing that out to her. Maybe she’ll think next time before attacking some poor bloke just doing his job.

The ice cream truck around here goes by so quickly that you’d need to be an Olympic sprinter to have a hope of catching it if you wanted some ice cream. I don’t get it.

I think much of this Ice Cream Truck paranoia is fed by the sensational news media. Several months ago, I watched an “experiment” on one of 60 Minutes, 20/20 or Dateline where they had actors park an ice cream truck on the family’s street, then after having the parents brief their kids on what to do when approached by a stranger, sent the kids outside while the parent watched things unfold on camera. The guy with the ice cream truck asked the kids if they wanted to see inside the truck, and many of them got in, supporting the claim that your kids are in danger when out of your sight.

I read a book called “the Gift of Fear” in which the author talks about that gut feeling you get when something’s just not right, and he says kids have it too and we need to pay attention to it.

In light of this I would argue that in this “Experiment” those kids went into the truck not because red flags don’t ever go up for them, in which case mom and dad had better never, ever let them out of their sight. I think red flags never went up with these kids because they simply WEREN’T in any danger in this case, because the actors meant no harm. But the end result is now the sad fact that many parents fear the Ice Cream Man.

“As for the product being over priced, well duh…………it is coming off a truck, infront of your house…’

Yes, there is a reason you don’t get it as cheap as if you bought a box of ten at the supermarket. You don’t have to go to the supermarket, and you don’t have to buy ten at a time. It’s not “overpriced,” it’s priced for the product as well as the service.

“Perhaps there is some doubt about whether yelling at the guy in such a way was really the right thing to do after all? I mean, if it was truly the right thing to do, why ask? ”

Based on the OP’s continuing interaction with the commenters, I think she was looking to get patted on the back for being so on top of things.

I’ve only 2 problems with icecream trucks:
1) they make a lot of noise in an otherwise quiet area, usually during dinnertime or the prime time movie
2) there’s very little control over temperature and other hygiene conditions with them, never quite trust the temperature to not be too high at which they keep their wares, allowing the products to spoil.

@JT
Where are you, because here chip trucks, street meat and ice cream trucks are all subject to health codes, inspections and certs like any food vendor, including restaurants.

@Warren: And does that keep every single person from worrying about food poisoning? Exactly.

@J.T.–I agree that the lady who wants to file a written complaint to the school board, because her son’s teachers were drinking on their own time, is in the wrong, but just because a young person struggles in school, doesn’t automatically make them a “brat.” For example, when I was in high school, I barely passed grade eleven math. Actually, my teacher gave me a mercy 50% (a pass in Canada), because he saw that I wasn’t planning to take grade twelve math. I took all my classes (including math, at my parents’ insistence) at the advanced level, I got good grades in pretty much everything BUT math, I was in multiple extra-curricular activities, and I excelled in music and writing. I was also fairly well-liked at school, among my peers, and also the teachers and administrators. So, just because I was bad at math, didn’t make me a “brat.” I tried my best, and my parents got me a tutor, and they originally wanted me to take math all through high school, but after they saw how I struggled in grades nine through eleven, they figured that their non-bratty, RIGHT-BRAINED daughter had suffered enough. Some kids aren’t good at math, others aren’t good at writing, and others just aren’t school kinds of people. That doesn’t make them “brats.”

@Emily – you don’t sound like the kind of kid anyone would have labelled a brat. Eccentric, maybe, nerdy, probably (and I am speaking as a nerd myself, so not in any way meaning the term as an insult) but bratty, no. If any child is labelled a brat it’s usually because they are displaying bratty behaviour, but that is as likely to be successful kids as those who are struggling. At least with the strugglers you can surmise that part of their ‘brattiness’ is to do with either diverting attention from their struggles or just plain embarrassment at having to front up every day to something they really are not coping well with. In which case you should be helping them out.

The other brats – well, sometimes they’re bored, sometimes they have struggles with home life or school social life, and then again sometimes they’re just little s#$%!

As for that mum, well, it is hard if you have a kid no one seems able to help, but what teachers do with their own time, provided it doesn’t involve maiming their students, is not her business. And anyway, soundsa a bit like another parent thinking their child is the only kid out there. What about the other kids the teachers have seen through successfully to graduation, and I bet there were lots. Who is she to think they shouldn’t be out having a good time celebrating them…?

@Hineata and Emily-

“Nerd” isn’t an insult anymore. Be proud of your nerdiness!

Thanks for your comments everyone. I actually think they are all pretty good. Well I came back and saw them though because I saw another story on the local blog though that takes the paranoia cake from that one

Apparently these people also think taking a walk/run is a crime and that doing so must equal this person is going to rob them. I edited my own comments in:

See below “I live on a cul de sac in a suburban neighborhood. On two days out of the seven days in the past week I noticed that around 8-10 a.m. [So they are canvasing your house in broad daylight?]there will be a car parked on the cul de sac street pavement in front of my house. It is not blocking my driveway[so it really isn’t in front of your else], but it does not belong to any of my neighbors and its causing my wife and I a uneasy feeling. On the second day it happened I decided to walk out with my dog and investigate. As I walked over I see a 15-17 year old boy wearing a t shirt and shorts walk over to the car. I decided to try and strike up a conversation. “Hi, how’s it going?” “Everything okay?”
The boy said to me “I’m just taking a walk.” I told him “I know you’ve been doing this for two days.” [So is there some exercise limitation I’m missing]He then looked away from me and got into the car and drove away.

Third time it happened my wife and I were about to drive about to drive out of the cul de sac and take our son to court.[And yet your worried about some other kid out for a walk] The car was no longer there. But as we drove out I see the boy walking up the street towards our cul de sac[So he parked somewhere else to avoid you yelling at him]. My wife rolled down the windows and striked a conversation with him. My wife said to him “Hi, how’s it going. what are you doing?” The boy said “I’m just out for a walk, am I doing something wrong?” My wife said “Oh no sweetheart [that’s passively aggresively demeaning]we’re just wondering why you parked your car on our street and why do you always walk here?” The boy said “Well I like taking walks here in this neighborhood lots of hills, inclines, pavements, and sidewalks I can walk on.” “I did not mean to frighten or cause any harm to anyone.” My wife said “Oh no of course not, we just don’t like it when people who aren’t neighbors park in our cul de sac.” [why it’s not like you live in an areas with not enough parking]”There’s a park near here where you can park instead of in front of our house[but you just said he wasn’t parked in front of your house that day], do you live in this neighborhood?” The boy said “No I don’t live in this neighborhood but I enjoy taking walks here, thank you for teling me about the nearby parks.” My wife then asked him “So what’s your name your?” the boy said “My name is **** *****.” My wife said “Nice to meet you **** *****, sorry if this seems odd to you, we just are vigilant [more like paranoid ] when we see people we don’t recognize in our neighborhood.” We drove off.

So far no robberies, break ins have happened before, during, or after our encounter with him. [so there’s no crime committed]

Is this boy trying to case our homes in the cul de sac, should I report this, or is he just some innocent kid we may have jumped conclusions on?”

@Katie – I’m speechless. Just speechless.

@Natalie – thank you for that, LOL! Just wish I could money off of my nerdiness, like Bill Gates has managed (still, it probably also helps that he really, truly understands computers!).

@Papilo: Back when I had a car, I sometimes drove to a particularly pretty part of the city and walked there just because it was full of interesting houses. Sometimes my parents would visit from out of town and we’d all go over there to walk and look at the houses. This isn’t any different from driving to a park to hike – it’s just driving to a place where you enjoy exercising. Sometimes I biked around town instead, but the interesting architectural district was miles from my house and across several highways, so I figured that by the time I’d biked there, I wouldn’t really need a walk. Unless we’re disallowing all driving to get to recreational sites (which is a perfectly legitimate position, but let’s adhere to it – no driving to the amusement park, the state park, the swimming pool, etc.) there’s no particular reason not to drive to walk in a nice part of town.

You don’t know where the kid lives, either – he might live in some development that’s cut off from everything by highways where it’s difficult to take a long walk. (My parents used to live in just such a place.) He might live in an ugly area where it’s all strip malls – and I’ve lived in such areas, and taken my exercise alongside heavy traffic and parking lots, and it’s a drag. He might be getting bullied at school and feel that if he walks in his neighborhood he’ll be targeted – I know a kid that happened to. Or maybe he just likes the trees and houses and feels like he can take longer, more enjoyable walks in scenery he likes.

That woman sounds like an entitled, paranoid monster. If she doesn’t want anyone even looking at her precious house or parking near it, she should move to a secure condo and park in the parking garage.

I add that I actually live in a neighborhood with, sadly, a lot of crime – and it would never, ever occur to me to get all crazytown because someone parked on the public street.

In our city, the Ice Cream Man has us pegged. He sells coffee now. Now he is welcome everywhere.

@Lark: The boy said he walked in that woman’s neighborhood because there were no sidewalks where he lived. The crime I meant was that lack of sidewalks, not anything that kid did. I’d feel locked up if I couldn’t just leave the house for a walk. It sounds so unlivable and hostile.

“That whole cul de sac thing seems just as much about being snobs, as security”

Looked to me like you were blaming it on the fact that they lived in a cul-de-sac (though where I live they are usually called circles) and that made them snobby.

In regards to the story (if you want to read more crazy comments see below) I posted: Yes, I think it is sad that there aren’t more sidewalks so people can just walk places. There are a lot of snobs in the county although I don’t know I would tie it to living in a particular place. It’s also a big county of things like walk ability and such could vary greatly depending on where specifically in the county they live.

and OY VAY. If you thought the story itself was crazy here are some of the even crazier responses from the local blog:

Comment 1: “You effete pussies living in your Section 8 subsidized loser housing need to wake up.

Suppose an unknown airplane approached US airspace. Didn’t respond to requests to identify itself.

Do you think Norad would scramble a few fighters to tell it to turn around, or force it to land?

Damn straight they would.

If you park in front of my home, and loiter there for several days, and I don’t know who you are and what you’re doing, I will confront you.

If I don’t like your answers you’ll leave fast, voluntarily or assisted.

What we have online is a bunch of over-sensitive weirdos who have minimum wage lives and can’t afford to own your own home.

Threaten me and mine and I don’t give a f what your conception of yourself is.

You will state your business or I will be as assertive as I feel a need to be to protect my family.”

Comment 2: “I will say that was one of the things I looked for in a house. It’s very hard to get anywhere near my house without me knowing, and difficult to come up with an ostensible reason unless you’re delivering my mail. I know this isn’t practical for everyone but I take some delight how difficult it’d be to case my place”.

Comment 3 “Actually, most crooks are extremely polite and friendly. That’s to keep you off guard so you won’t report them. I would still at least have the police run the plates. It’s suspicious to use that location instead of the community center. I’m sure the HOA or the Sub-Division developers would be happy by strangers parking in front of other people’s houses. Granted its not a crime, but still something not to be taken for granted”.

Warren — I hadn’t even thought about that. I can sort of understand being a bit concerned, or at least curious, about someone who parks in your cul de sac every day and doesn’t have any apparent connection with the neighborhood. Not that I’d badger someone about it, but I’d probably wonder about it if I was aware of it.

BUT, how do you KNOW he doesn’t have any connection with the neighborhood unless you’re doing some kind of Gladys Kravitz routine? When someone parks by my house and I don’t recognize the car as belonging to my neighbors (who can’t always fit all of their, and their frequent guests’, cars in their driveway), I simply think, “Oh, I guess someone is visiting my neighbors.” *If* I even paid enough attention to which cars parked where, and I noticed it was three days in a row, I’d think either, “Oh, I guess one of my neighbors’ relatives got a new car” or “Oh, I guess my neighbors have a new friend who visits a lot for some reason I’m not the least bit interested in” — but mostly likely, I wouldn’t even think about it that much.

But this lady knows which cars “belong” in her neighborhood, and which don’t, and follows up on the ones she can’t account for? This is NOT normal behavior, and the fact that so many commenters on the original site don’t notice that is really strange.

@pentamom Would it help to clarify, if I mentioned this is Northern Virginia?