I Scream

I’ve been a bit busy these days, working 7 day weeks, so the blog is getting a little spotty. Here is a classic blog entry, a quick one based on an observation yesterday.

I was “on the road” yesterday, meeting with some big clients on the Peninsula. After a meeting in Los Gatos, I had a craving for some ice cream, and stopped at a Baskins nearby.

Of course, I was looking for my classic coffee ice cream with something crunchy. They had a seasonal flavor called “Tax Crunch” which had coffee ice cream, hunks of chocolate and rice crispies. A little weird, but close enough, and given the name, I felt it was made for me. I ordered a one scoop on a sugar cone. It was not one of those scoops you see in a marketing photo – you know, a big scoop and at the bottom of the scoop there is a bunch of ice cream sticking out in all directions that makes it look like they gave you a bunch more ice cream, and you’ve got to eat that extra fast before it falls off. Kind like this one above.

Nope, that’s not the one I got. The one I got makes this second one look like a real fresser (if you don’t know that word, they use it in Jewish delis to refer to the extra large size of something). It was basically a ping pong ball on top of a sugar cone. The Baskins' and Robbins' cost: $2.49. Are you freaking kidding me? Now I may be wrong, but can’t you just go to Safeway and buy a pint of fancy ice cream (maybe coffee and bacon bits?) and a box of sugar cones for around that? Talk about a high profit item for Jack and Marian’s! * **

*Jack and Marian’s was an incredible Jewish deli in Brookline, Mass for many, many years. The had the largest menu in the world, maybe three feet square, and they had every permutation and combination of sandwich you could imagine. Periodically on the menu there were starred (*) items. If you searched real hard, in the middle of the menu was a small note in very small type that said “starred (*) items indicate high profit items for Jack and Marian’s. Not popular items. High profit items. Great restaurant, RIP.

** In the spirit of my blogging hero, Joe Posnanski, I am moving to the asterisk system for asides.

Anyway, I’m probably sounding like my Grandpa Izzy*, complaining about the prices. He of course used to do full charge bookkeeping work for his business clients for $5 per month, and he did it with a fountain pen.

*Actually, Grandpa gave me some of the best advice I ever got. When I was interviewing for my first accounting job coming out of USF, I told him about the interviewing process. He put his arm around me and said “Don’t take less than $25 per week.” You laugh, but I consider that excellent advice.

Back to Baskins. You know their ice cream isn’t all that great. I don’t think I’ll be back any time soon. If I’m going to pay that ridiculous sum for an ice cream cone, it better be a fresser.