Unfortunate weather collides with creative fantasy and environmentalconscientiousness

It seems that every job has an aspect that is simply no fun at all. For an ice cream girl working at a shop with 65 flavours, this aspect happens to be washing out the tubs. "Tubs" is the title of the job. Simply put, you take the empty 11.4 litre ice cream tubs to the back and scrub out the lasts of the melted ice cream to prepare them for recycling. Not my favourite job.

It just so happens that unfortunate weather collided with creative fantasy and environmental conscientiousness on a slow Saturday night while my manager was on holiday. I had volunteered to brave the tubs for the night, sticking it out for Jenn, who had done them the day before.

It was 9:00 pm when it started to rain. Before long, customers were a rarity as the water struck down on the parlour and made it hard to see into the parking lot. The atmosphere was warm, and I stood from the back room looking on to the outside where the rain was pouring down. As I was forming the description, "torrential" in my mind, I realized what I was about to do.

"I'm going outside!" I called to Jenn (in the event that I was struck down by lightning, I wanted someone to know where I was). I hoisted the 8 tubs of the night under my arm and ran into the rain in reckless abandon. As it was seeping into my ponytail, I saw my opportunity for success.

There was a drain running from the gutters on the roof, pouring a steady stream of rain onto the pavement below. Without hesitation, I shoved the buckets under (to my surprise, it comfortably fit 3 at a time) and scattered the rest in other places that the rain was sure to hit them. Laughing like a maniac, I ran back into the store and leaned over to watch as the rain filled the tubs.

It only took a few minutes for the first few to be full. I ran back out and heaved them one at a time back into the shop. Rain dripped from their sides and covered my shirt, but I continued pulling the rubs out from under the drain, one at a time, and running them back into the shop.

I stuck my hands into the first tub sitting in the sink and reveled at the wonderfully warm temperature. I took a cloth and waded into my elbows. Before long, the tubs were clean and I returned the water to the pavement, running again to shove the tubs (now upside down) to the pile of recycling.

Sometimes, an ice cream girl must be creative in order to enjoy her job; but all the time, it is possible.