Free ice cream!

When Melody and I met to walk home after work last night, she noticed that there was a line of people at the Häagen-Dazs near where I work. Ends up the people were waiting for free ice cream, so we got in line (which wasn't all that long) and we each got our free scoop.

The giveaway was to promote how Häagen-Dazs is trying to make people aware that honey bees are in danger with their Help the Honey Bees campaign. Not all the flavors were being offered for free, just the ones which depend on bees (flavors with fruits, nuts, etc.)

A manager and two employees were scooping, and the manager was really chatty with the customers. He must have pulled rank because unlike the other two workers, he wasn't wearing the bee wings on his back. Those women seemed to bump into each other's wings whenever they tried to get to the different flavors.

Melody and I used to go to that Häagen-Dazs fairly often several years ago. It got to the point where the woman working there would see us coming and automatically get a scoop of coffee chip for Melody, who while liking the flavor, felt she couldn't order anything else. We probably would have had to sneak in and tell the woman a different flavor before she could start scooping!

We've lucked out and have been able to get free scoops at Ben and Jerry's before, once at University Village and once near the San Francisco Maritime Museum, when we just happened to be there on free scoop day. One year B&J sold calendars where for $4 you got twelve coupons good for one free scoop each month of the next year. They didn't offer the calendars the next year; must have been too popular.

One year the Chipotle on the Ave near work was giving away free burritos, and the line must have been at least 75 people long. We didn't feel like waiting at least an hour, so we passed that one by. Some years they also give away burritos on Halloween night if you show up in costume.

Back to ice cream, there used to be another ice cream shop on the Ave which had ice cream which was good, but not as good as H-D or B&J (which wasn't in the area at the time). However, the shop gave out huge servings which made it a really good deal. One day Melody and I went in there and an older woman was doing the scooping. We gave our orders, and the servings ended up being less than half the size as before. The woman mumbled something about how her employees were practically giving away ice cream, so she decided to serve customers herself. The place closed not long after that.