Well, I suspect it might be a difference between “parking,” “standing,” and “stopping.” It depends on jurisdiction, but “no parking” usually, IME, allows for a leaving a vehicle in place if it’s attended. Around here we have signs that say “no parking,” which allow for the standing and drop off of merchandise and passengers, and also signs that say “no parking, no standing, no stopping” which basically prohibit any such stopping.
Yeah, that is G-ddamn creepy.
One comes by for the day care kids. I bought an ice cream sandwich when I discovered that they no longer have the banana pop-scikles as they did in my wasted youth.
Bastards.
No banana popsicles? I weep for the youth of the 21st century.
But they still have root beer flavor, right?
Alas, they had no pop-sicles of any sort.
Did you also sell weed? That seems to be a common stereotype.
In Scotland they used to have Ice Cream Wars between vendors.
Glesga didn’t just get the European City of Culture bit handed to it on a plate.
How often did you drive an extra block to give the obnoxious rugrats some extra exercise?
What was the name of the song your truck played? (Please don’t say Helter Skelter).
I’m betting on Turkey In the Straw.
It’s almost always Turkey In The Straw, with Camptown Races coming in at a distant second.
And it’s almost always badly out-of-tune, tinny, and annoyingly lacks even a quarter pause between the end of the refrain and repeating.
One version I’ve heard (in several different cities) is Turkey In The Straw with percussion – Annoying as hell.
In one neighborhood I passed through once, there was a truck that played Music Box Dancer, and reasonably in tune too!
Why is it almost always Turkey In The Straw or Camptown Races?
Count your blessings. The one that came through my neighborhood played “It’s a Small World After All”
In my hood its the theme from the movie, The Sting. And its played through a speaker the size of a quarter at the volume of a General Electric GEnx advanced dual rotor, axial flow, high-bypass turbofan jet engine at full thrust just before takeoff :dubious:
How often did people try to buy treats with goods instead of money, and what did they offer you? Did you ever accept their offer?
What was your best selling treat? And which sold poorly?
Hi Ice Cream Man:
Here in Boston there are two types of ice cream sellers. Some were soft serve, some sold regular ice cream, like ice cream sandwiches, popsicles, etc. Some would sell both.
My all time favorite thing in the world, when we were young and poor, was getting a banana boat. Do you know what that is? We only got it on special days, like if we fell and needed stitches at the hospital. (I had 7 kids in my family, so that happened a lot).
Also, what was the favorite ice cream of customers? If you did soft serve too, what was the favorite flavor - vanilla or chocolate 
I’ve only known one ice cream truck driver personally. He rented an apartment from my grandparents in the upstairs of the house where I grew up and drove a “Ding Dong Cart,” which, in retrospect, seems a bit ironic. One day, when I was in high school, I got a message that I had to report to the police station after school. When I went, they asked me lots of questions about the guy, but told me nothing. When I got home, he had been removed from the house by the police. It seems he had a predilection for taking naked pictures of adolescent boys. Though I lived in the same house, he had never bothered me; I’m guessing it was either because I was a little on the chubby side, or else he simply didn’t want to cause problems where he lived. Whatever; we got to keep his TV because he never came back for his stuff years later after getting out of jail.
It was the fucking parents who I wanted to run over. I loved the kids. THEY always want ice cream. It really pissed me off when parents refused their kids treats. What assholes!
Nope. We were advised to keep our money in a McDonald’s bag or something. So it would make us harder to rob.
No.
I’d say about 3 times per shift. No, I don’t make fun of anyone wanting to buy ice cream. It’s how I paid my rent. I was only nervous if it was a single guy or a group of raggy looking guys, fearing they would rob me.
What’s wrong with that? 8:00 is right after dinner!
We drive until 10 on most nights.
It’s illegal to have the song on while parked?
We do that as a marketing strategy. We are told to drive 5 mph, and if neccessary park somewhere and turn our music up loud so the whole neighborhood could hear. Not only that, the longer we hang around the more likely kids would talk their parents into buying ice cream.
Demographics was 3/4 black and 1/4 white. 3/4 male and 1/4 female. And ages ranged from 25 to about 75. They don’t hire anyone under 25 because they aren’t trusted with such responsibility.
Some people did have to fight other companies. I lucked out, I had my route all to myself. Sometimes people from our own company would try to cross routes, that was looked down upon and even caused a few physical fights.
Nope! I had no mercy, unless it was an attractive lass.
They would have to go through the city and get a license. You can get into a lot of trouble serving ice cream without a license. I once went to the next town over, and got a hefty ticket and orignally had to go to court. Fortunately my boss talked the city out of me having to go to court and he paid for my ticket.
I don’t know what’s up with the HELLO. It’s supposed to get children’s attn?
Some ice cream trucks are private sellers. Others, like me, work through a company. Yes, our company had an office, a warehouse to store treats, and a parking lot with outlets to plug our freezers over night. I hated those outlets, sometimes sparks would fly outside them, when you tried to plug it. 
No. Ice cream only.
No one tried to trade anything. Not with me.
The jolly rancher pop sold the most. There was also the bubble gum bar, but I often lied and said we were out. They only cost $1.00. If I mostly sold those, I wouldn’t make enough money!
Popsicles and ice cream sandwhiches and small tubs of ice cream. I don’t know what a banana boat is. We had the chocolate banana split though.
My favorite kind of customers were again, attractive lasses. Followed by pre-teen boys. They were always entertaining. One time, a group of boys had a farting contest while I was gathering up their treats and counting my money.
What was the markup? How much did an eskimo pie cost you, and what did you sell it for?