crema lita

About a week after moving to NYC, this was August 2003, I found a job selling NYC opera tickets. I did that for 4 days and then I got hired to work at an ice cream store called Crema Lita.

It was a kosher soft serve ice cream store. We were located on 3rd avenue and 10th Street in the East Village in a great location. We were close to a restaurants, a movie theater and a nightclub called Webster Hall. I usually worked nights and served up ice cream to customers, made ice cream and kept the store relatively clean. If I got out at a reasonable hour, I could easily get some food, catch a movie or go dancing.

I worked here for a month. I had to wear a weird hat and learn how to dispense soft serve ice cream properly. Easier said than done, people. It took me forever to learn how to make a soft serve ice cream cone - I always encouraged the cup and dreaded having to make a cone that I knew would come out lopsided. Oh well, I did my best and still managed to score some decent tips.

Despite my mediocre ice cream serving skills, I did win the award for giving out 1,000 free ice cream samples in 3 weeks! I got a $25 gift card to I forget where. It is very difficult to get New Yorkers to take free samples. They are in a hurry, they don't want to take anything from strangers (especially food) and they are skeptical that it really is free. I had an uncanny ability to get rid of my samples before they melted. Not sure exactly what that particular skill set is, but it served me well then.

I left this job as soon as I was offered a job as a receptionist at a hair salon. Stay tuned for that post - this next job literally changed my life.