One of our favorite rites of passage each spring is our first trip to the ice cream store.  We have a great mom and pop ice cream store up the road that promises heaping scoops of decadent flavors for lower prices than the national chain stores.

This past weekend was glorious and we upstate New Yorkers emerged from our dens, squinting at that unfamiliar bright orb in the sky.  Finally…

I mentioned the ice cream store to Wes and his arm twisted quite easily and painlessly.  So we packed up the boys and happily made the short trip.

Since I’m a creature of habit, I opted for my two favorite flavors: peanut butter cup and cookie dough.  Does it get any better than that?

And then it happened.  The unthinkable.  A few licks in, those two beautiful scoops of ice cream slid right off my cone and plopped into a heap in the dirt.  I was horrified.

So I hopped back in line, empty cone in hand, and waited to tell my tale of woe.  Surely, they would understand my dilemma and place two more fat scoops of ice cream on that cone, right?  (I’d be happy with even just one…)

I was wrong.  When I finally made it to the window, the teen-age girl inside listened to my story with a blank look on her face and said, “You’ll have to pay for it.”

Would you believe me if I told you I teared up a bit?

I don’t know if it was the fact that we had left the rest of our money in our car across the road or that I didn’t feel like I should fork over the $2 that could be spent elsewhere.  Or possibly it was the injustice of it all.  (It became obvious to me that this wasn’t my fault when I saw someone else lose their ice cream just minutes later. )

I certainly don’t know what the typical protocol is when it comes to this dilemma.  Possibly this is a national standard.  But it simply didn’t feel right to me.

So, my question to you all is this:  What would you do if you faced this dilemma?  Would you simply walk away like I did?  Would you ask to speak to a manager? Or maybe you agree with the store’s policy?

I certainly don’t plan on boycotting the store or sending hate mail.  I simply will be extra careful licking my ice cream cone the next time we stop in.

Epilogue:  My super kind husband gave me the rest of his cone that day.  My hero.




Welcome to the weekly Cha-Ching Challenge!

Would you like to join us?

Simply copy and paste the image above (or the html code below) in a post detailing all of your savings for the week.  Each week I will choose one participating blog to highlight right here on Cha-Ching on a Shoestring. Please be sure to leave your comment no later than Sunday (4/26 at 12 p.m. EST).

Here are my savings for the week:

Savings from coupons and store sales: $69.92

• We scored a 50% off coupon from oldnavyweekly.com.  I used it to buy some much needed summer clothes for my boys and socks that don’t fall off for my 8 month old!
• Got two GREAT deals at Target this week:
  • Market Pantry Fruit Snacks (snack size located near the registers) – $0.89 each
    Use $1/1 Target coupon here.
    FREE after coupon
    (I ‘bought’ 5!)
  • I also got the Glade candle deal I posted about here.

Savings from cutting costs:  $30.00

• Wes learned a new skill this week: coloring my hair!  I got some hair dye free at Rite Aid last week and suckered him into asked him if he’d help me use it.  I figure this saves us the $30 we would have used in a salon.  Wish I had a picture of this one!

Savings from shopping the deals: $59.20

• If you missed my post on the Deckers Leather sandals I scored for $5.80, you missed out!  Check it out here.  Let me know if the deal still works.

TOTAL SAVINGS: $159.12

TOTAL SAVINGS FOR THE YEAR: $1063.33  (WE BROKE $1000!)

HOW DID YOU DO? Leave a comment with a link to your blog and let’s celebrate our savings! Be sure to add a link to this post to your blog so others can join in.

Here is the html code for the button above:

<a href=”https://chachingonashoestring.com/2009/04/25/chachingchallenge/” title=”Cha-Ching Challenge“><img src=”https://chachingonashoestring.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/button-challenge-125.png” title=”Cha-Ching Challenge” /></a>