The job: Yogurt server / cashier

My age: 16

Hourly Wage: Maybe $5.00?

You had cravings for some soft-serve yogurt in the Hinsdale area in 1991? You might have came and saw me for some relief. TCBY, the country’s best yogurt, it was a think in the late 80’s and early 90’s – a real thing. A craze if you will.

Until then ice cream had really dominated and out of nowhere – yogurt! Frozen yogurt! It was good, and supposedly healthier.

This was one of those jobs where I for sure ate too much of the product I was trying to sell.

After getting this job I would get a few shifts a week and had to scoop and dispense various flavors of whatever yogurt was on tap that week at TCBY. It was a small space and often the lines were long, out the door even.

This location in Hinsdale was also special because the CEO of TCBY lived in Hinsdale, so yes, we were in constant fear that the global CEO of the hottest frozen yogurt company in the world would come in and see how we were doing – and he did come in on occasion!

I learned a lot about working hard and customer service working here. I learned that the cash register has to balance at the end of the night. I learned how to make drops at the bank and more. I also learned every night we had to keep the store super clean to keep the food healthy for customers, and avoid the wrath of the health inspector.

Also I have this distinct memory of a coworker whose grandfather started the Radio Flyer Wagon company. I thought this was the coolest thing ever. When I was growing up, almost every kid had a Radio Flyer wagon, and my co-worker was an heir to this family company. I think at that point the company was not what it once was, but still, it was super cool.

Besides having co-workers who were heirs to family fortunes, I also had co-workers who didn’t work that hard and sometimes spent more time in the back of the store avoiding customer interactions, and using whip creams cans for things other than topping chocolate yogurt.

This was the first time in my career I really realized not everyone works as hard as everyone else, and some people are just trying to ‘get through their shift.’ It wouldn’t be the last time I saw this trend.

But, most of the time we served a lot of happy customers whatever flavor they wanted and they left happy. It was a happy place, people came with their families, friends etc – it was a choice for them to do this, it was something ‘extra’ and it was good.

Lots of face time for me with customers and I think all of the jobs I had in retail and hospitality taught me hard work, and how to ‘deal’ with people. In an age where we spend a lot of time staring at our phones, it’s still a big deal to be able to look people in the eye and respond to whatever they throw at you. I use this every single day.

But, back to TCBY. At some point the yogurt craze died down and TCBY went past it’s ‘moment.’ But, as of this writing they still have 500 or so stores in the US? I was surprised because I almost never hear of anyone going to those places anymore, where I live it’s all about Fro-Yo.

Everyone should work retail at some point, and serve some yogurt or ice cream. Trust me on this one. You may eat your way through your shift, but there are worse options then downing a bit of chocolate yogurt to pass the time.

Carpe Diem my friends!