My dad, JC as he is known to his friends & family, is not a run of the mill gentleman. He beats to his own drum and never ceases to amaze. What happened to us today was a standard run to Bassetts in the Reading Terminal Market to pick up ice cream.

Bassetts is on 12th and Chestnut and we were leaving from 2nd and Vine. I took Arch St because I figured it was a straight shot. Around 9th we run into some traffic problems and this used to frustrate JC, but the new and improved JC stayed calm as we battled the traffic. I pulled over to the side and put my flashers on while JC went in to the get the ice cream. About 5 minutes passed and he came out carrying 2 tubs of ice cream.

As he enters the car I have a sense that whatever occurred inside didn’t go exactly as planned.

He sits down and says, “wow, that was a horrific experience.”

I humor him, “what went wrong?”

“They gave me this much ice (about 40 tiny cubes) and charged me $8. How is this going to keep it cold for the ride home?”

I didn’t know what to say. He gives me some further directions to take Market back instead of Filbert and this was sound advice. On the car ride back I started to get the whole story. He called up at 11:30 and asked if he could get some “dry ice” because he needed to keep his 2, 2 1/2 gallon tubs cool as he had 3 hours of traveling ahead. They said no problem. When we got there, he was given a tiny bag of ice. The icing on the cake is that they charged him $8 for it because this is what an employee had agreed to on the phone previously for proper packaging.

 

JC was stunned. He couldn’t believe that the crew of 4 thought that the amount of ice in a bag warranted $8 of his hard earned money. Here are some direct quotes:

“The woeful wholesale packaging department for significant travel needs a severe upgrade”

“4 guys working on this problem – not understaffed –  problem solving ability is a bit to be desired.”

“No need to go overboard to keep the $90 amount of JC’s Seasonal Eggnog Ice Cream and the all time favorite, off the map, put it up against any ice cream in the Eastern seaboard, maybe the country, French Vanilla.”

“Now it’s time to get ready for some serious ice cream eating”

Doesn’t your dad by ice cream by the 3 gallon tub?