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  • Haley Wishall takes shaved ice orders from Molly Batts (from left), Haley Thursby, Jordan Thursby and Rachel Batts after the girls' first day of school at North East Carolina Prep School.

    USE ice-cream stand3.jpg
August 6, 2012

Ice cream stand a lesson in customer service

Staff Writer MIRANDA BAINES

TARBORO — Haley Wishall is on summer break from college, but the junior at the University at North Carolina has gotten a crash course in customer service 101 at her father Ronald’s roadside ice-cream stand in Tarboro.

“You have to deal with things as they come,” said Wishall. Like the child who asked for a new ice-cream cone after dropping hers on the ground while riding her bike or the woman who asked for a refund when her granddaughter brought back something different than what she had asked for. Wishall has the problem customer here or there, but she also has friendly customers who make her day, customers who buy four or five orders of shaved ice at one time, and her regulars.

“I have a couple of customers who come up and say ‘the regular’ and I know what they want,” said Wishall. She has one customer who comes every day to get a snow cream and a cup of ice. This is Wishall’s second summer working at the ice-cream stand, and the Pinetops native has gotten to know more people in the community as a result.

“People will see me in Wal-Mart and they’ll throw up a hand because they know I’m the ice cream girl.”

Wishall’s father Ronald, who works for Hershey’s ice cream, bought the bright pink ice-cream stand in April 2011. He set up his new business on the side of Western Boulevard beside Raceway and opened up Pretty in Pink Shaved Ice & Ice Cream for business on June 25. Wishall was at the stand from day one.

“My dad just kind of sprung it on me,” she said. At first, she was nervous about competing with the price of ice cream at fast food places (Pretty in Pink charges $2 for a small shaved ice and $2 for a single scoop of hand-dipped ice cream), but the ice-cream stand has been a profitable venture. On a sunny day, Wishall said she has an average of 50 customers. The college student was also apprehensive about working her first customer service job. Up until that point, she had only worked as a babysitter.

“I’d never really had to deal with the public in any way,” said Wishall. “It really has helped my social skills. I’m studying psychology, so I’m going to be dealing with people.”

Working at the ice-cream stand has given Wishall a greater appreciation for students who had to work customer service jobs in high school. It has given her a sense of the responsibilities of store management, as well. On a daily basis, Wishall has to manage the money and take an inventory of supplies that need to be replenished and relay that information to her father.

Wishall also has to make the call to close or stay open on a rainy day. She was glad the skies cleared quickly after the rainstorm Wednesday afternoon and customers started rolling in again. Among her customers were four students who had just finished their first day of school at North East Carolina Prep School – Jordan and Haley Thursby, and Molly and Rachel Batts. All four girls ordered different flavors of shaved ice – blueberry, snow cream, cotton candy, and tiger’s blood (a combination of watermelon and strawberry).

The stand offers 30 flavors of shaved ice, including three sugar-free flavors, and eight flavors of ice cream. Wishall’s top three picks for shaved ice flavors are Bahama mama, candy apple and Georgia peach.

This summer might be Wishall’s last time serving up shaved ice and ice cream alongside Jennifer Britt, a senior at Southwest Edgecombe High School. The psychology major plans to get an internship next summer before heading to graduate school. While working at the ice-cream stand is not directly related to Wishall’s career, it is a job that she will miss.

“It’s something that’s come to mean a lot to me.”

Pretty in Pink Shaved Ice & Ice Cream is open from noon until 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 1-6 p.m. on Sunday.

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