The Stone Cold Crazery (sorry, Coldstone Creamery)

[Plaid Adder]

One of these just opened in our neighborhood and my partner came back with lurid tales of its weirdness. Apparently it is staffed by perky young things who are forced to sing songs at regular intervals by their manager in order to make the Stone Cold Crazery (sorry, that's Coldstone Creamery) seem like a fun and happy place to be. Liza said it kind of gave her the creeps, because it seemed like the staff must all have gone through some kind of cult-like training process. Does anyone know what the deal is with this chain? Who owns/runs it, and what's the point supposed to be of all the enforced mass singing?

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[LibraLiz1973]

1. It IS weird.

they make them sing to get their tips.
I've heard of whistling while you work... but you KNOW some of them want to shoot at you for laughing while they do it.

[Shoeempress]

2. And the ice cream is not so good, no flavor just sweet.

[Plaid Adder]

3. Maybe that's why they're so focused on mix-ins?

Why pay to put the flavor in the ice cream when that heath bar will do it for you?

The Plaid Adder

[Shoeempress]

4. Exactly. But I don't get that, why eat ice cream, just have the cookies

or whatever that is added in? Oh well, guess hubby's ice cream obsession is rubbing off.

[distantearlywarning]

9. That's funny!

The last time I visited this place I had an epiphany: I like the add-ins a lot better than the ice cream. In fact, I tend to pick out the add-ins and throw the rest away. So I thought, "why spend money on Coldstone Creamery when I just want the black cherries - I should just go down and buy a tin of cherries and then I wouldn't have to dig them out of this ice cream which I don't really like that well."

[bettyellen]

7. it's very funny when you see the inner city kids do it. they are so blase

it's kinda funny.
i only get the super extra healh ....otherwise, you can't taste anything. the ice cream itself tastes like nothing.

[peacefreak]

5. It's like crack.

Evil stuff. I will only tip them if they promise not to sing. From what I understand, they have to audition before they can have the job.

[supernova]

6. How bizarre!

We have a "creamery" here at the local mall, but I don't know if they sing or not. I've never been in there because there is always a line. And I refuse to stand in line (out the door, yet!) for ice cream.

I prefer to get my ice cream from the local, organic dairy.

FWIW, I wouldn't go to a place where the wait staff had to sing for us. It just creeps me out, in general. I don't like fake happiness. We have a seafood restaurant here, Joe's Crab Shack, also a chain, where the waitstaff, sing for you about every 1/2 hour or so. Ugh. It's so noisy besides the singing, that I can't hear myself think. I went once, and haven't been back since.

[rockymountaindem]

16. Yeah, I don't go there anymore either.

I guess I've got it in for singing. I almost got detention in 1st grade because we had this mean substitute music teacher who didn't appreciate the fact that I refused to sing along. But I was completely justified, that song was stupid. And hand motions? Please, don't insult my dignity. I may have been 5 years old, but that's no reason why I should act like an idiot just because everyone else is.

[skygazer]

8. How bizarre!

I think we have one around here but I've never been. Brings to mind a trip to DC I made back in the 70's with my parents. I was a teenager and my cousin took me to a Roy Rogers to eat. I'd never been to one and I was completely taken aback when we approached the counter and a girl in a large cowboy hat said, in a horrid fake Texas drawl, "Howdy, pardner, can ah sarve ya?"

My cousin had to order for me - I was nearly incapacitated laughing.

[sakabatou]

10. I never had that happen to me at Coldstone...

[tigereye]

11. yeah I saw some indoctrination going on

in front of the one here when it opened. It had that creepy re-education vibe to it... "aren't we all so happy to be working here?"

That kind of stuff always scares me, and no I refuse to pretend to be something I don't feel, as a rule.


And that may explain why I have never gone in there. Something is just funny about it! ;)

[Arugula Latte]

12. Does Hot Dog On A Stick make their young lovelies do that as well?

They make them wear the ten-gallon retro stewardess hats in primary colors. That alone is kinda cultlike.

[Eurobabe]

13. one word: good ice cream, but OVERPRICED

two sundaes with mix-ins will set you back over $12.

[Debbi801]

14. One opened here. I think it is the worst ice cream I've ever had...

The lines were horrible. The singing was terrible. The ice cream was over priced. And, it was just plain yucky tasting. We all love ice cream, and not one of us could finish it, even the kids. My 3 yr old took one spoon-full and refused to eat any more.

I don't understand the appeal. :shrug:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. The process LOOKS cool, but the ice cream is mediocre

and overpriced. I tried it once. The servers looked at me funny when I wanted only one mix-in, but I wanted to taste the ice cream. Nobody sang, but they kneaded the chocolate chips into the ice cream with two spatulas on what looked like a slab of granite.

On the other hand, I just had a cone at a locally (Twin Cities) owned chain called Sebastian Joe's:Oreo cookie flavor.

The ice cream part was rich and creamy, and there was just enough cookie mixed in to give it flavor but not so much as to make it icky.

[rockymountaindem]

15. A friend of mine used to work there.

She said she was so embarassed by all the singing that she almost quit, and after 1 summer of working there she never went back. The deal is that they'll only sing if you give them a tip. The bigger the tip, the longer/louder the song.

My poor friend is very shy, and I feel bad for her. Although in this case, I can sympathize. Singing silly songs modified to be about ice cream is pretty dumb.

[nini]

17. They sing when someone puts a tip in the jar for them

at least that's how it is around here.

[Nay]

19. Yes!Seriously weird! and the ice cream is expensive and un-

remarkable. My Ma-in-law loves ice cream, so when we took her to this one mall we had never visited, we came across a Coldstone Creamery. It creeped me out totally to hear them sing like that! It was like being a visitor to a re-education camp or something. We went that once and never went again.

[Scout1071]

20. My only experience is a frozen ice cream cake. It was damn good.

But I've never ventured inside, they usually get them for work Bdays and I haven't had the cake pick-up duty in while.

[coffeenap]

21. BuyBlue's link: info and rating

http://www.buyblue.org/detail.php?corpId=300

[GoddessOfGuinness]

22. Has anyone tried their black licorice ice cream?

That was my favorite Baskin Robbins flavor as a kid, until they quit making it.

I haven't seen it since. :cry: