[ Sorry -- meant to send this out on Friday! ]

Howdy folks, and welcome to this week's edition of "The Scoop" -- the only newsletter that unequivically promises that no penguins were harmed in its production. And no aardvarks either, or at least, none that I can remember.

If you've been by the store in the past couple of weeks, I'm sure you've seen the long lines and frenetic pace of my serving staff. Just a couple of months ago, my kids were complaining that they couldn't get enough shifts, and that things were too slow. Now we're at the other end of the spectrum: I have six to eight serving team members scheduled for most nights, and they're working hard to keep up with the lines and complaining about how hard they have to work and how late they have to stay to get the store cleaned up after the last customers have been served.

Our "regular" customers, who used to be able to wander in at will, place their order, and trade a few jokes with me, now find that they have to fight their way through the crowds to get served. Good for us, but tougher on them! I always try to help out a regular when I see them deep in the line, by prescooping their order, but I'm not always there to do so, and sometimes just too darn busy to notice them!

I'm usually squirreled away in my basement office working on bills or ordering supplies (at least, that's what I tell the kids I'm doing) during the busy rushes. But I like to wander upstairs and watch every so often. When the lines are long, and I have 8 or so kids working the windows, I sometimes feel like there's a giant "sucking" sound, as the ice cream literally flies out the front windows. It reminds me a bit of my first visit to "Four Seas" ice cream, down on the Cape in Centerville, the shop of one of my mentors in this business, the late, great Dick Warren. I remember standing there, chatting with Dick, watching the customers, and thinking to myself "Wow! Look at that ice cream move!"

SOS Party

We were delighted to donate the ice cream to North Andover's "S.O.S." (Save Our Seniors!) all night graduation party last Friday. We donated 30 gallons of ice cream, and while I gallantly offered to show up to help scoop it at the scheduled 3am serving time, it didn't take a lot for the parents organizing the event to convince me that they had plenty of help, and that I could skip it.

These June weekends are killers for me, as we have plenty of events to cater, ice cream orders to fill, and just the general chores that go into keeping the store running, so while I was looking forward to seeing all of the seniors, I was pretty happy after the fact that I hadn't sacrificed another 3 hours of sleep.

I think I'll probably try to actually scoop next year, as we have several North Andover High juniors on our scooping team, so I'll have to show up in person -- I don't think they'll let me skip out!

I'm really happy to see most of the area towns put on an all night party like this for their seniors, to help protect against the otherwise inevitable accidents that always seem to happen when the kids are caught up in their celebrations. And I think back to my little hometown of North Reading, where they've been doing this since even before I graduated, way back in 1978. They may have even been the first to start this type of graduation party, though I'm not positive about that.

Anyway, donating the ice cream was our tiny way of participating, and I sure hope all of the seniors enjoyed it, and that they had a fun, safe graduation night. Congratulations all!

Reader's Choice

We're happy to report that we were chosen as winners of the "Best Ice Cream" in the North Andover area by Community Newspapers -- the publishers of the North Andover Town Crossing. This is a nice award for us, as it comes from reader submissions, and we're flattered to hear our ice cream mentioned as the best around.

We were approached back in February by another company excitedly informing us that we had won their "official" poll for best ice cream in North Andover. But after talking to them on the phone, and asking them about the polling process, it became clear to me that the only thing they had polled was the Yellow Pages -- they didn't have any numbers or info about us, other than our phone number, and the hope that we'd willingly cough up $499 for a plaque to put on the wall touting this "great accomplishment".

$499 is a lot of money to a tiny business like ours, especially in the slow month of February, so it didn't take much thinking for me to turn down their "generous" offer. A friend of mine offered to award me his own award, and sell me a plaque for half price, but I turned him down too...

I noticed the same plaque from that same company in another local business -- in fact, they have about a dozen of them hanging above their counter. I chuckle every time I go in there to think that they're paying that much money each year for a plaque. Guess there's a lot more money in selling sandwiches than there is selling ice cream!

Pajama Party!

I've gone back and forth on whether to continue our annual Pajama Party on the last day of the school year. But at this point, I think we're committed to doing it!

I'm a little worried about the turnout we'll get from this with our new, high traffic location, but we're going to give it a shot and see how it goes. The last day of school for the North Andover system is on Tuesday, June 24th, so we'll hold our party that night -- anyone coming to the store dressed in pajamas will get a free "Kiddie" sized cone (that's "one scoop" in the Mad Maggie's sizing plan.)

Our rules from past years still apply: We don't accept T-shirts, sweatpants, or athletic clothing as "pajamas": Only REAL, authentic pajamas will be honored, and the decision of my serving team on what is and isn't considered "real pajamas" is final. Those of you who read this newsletter regularly know that I'm not a stickler for fine print, but I've found that if we don't make the point clear, we'll get that 2% of the population who decide to show up in a dirty t-shirt and demand a free ice cream.

The spirit of this party is to give the kids getting out of school for the summer a little summer kick-off, but we'll be happy to also offer the same deal to the adults -- just make sure you're really wearing pajamas. I want to see some furry slippers, or animal prints, or some of those goofy night blinders like Tony Randall used to wear on the old "Odd Couple" show.

Naturally, I'm fully expecting the Victoria's Secret models to show up this year -- I'm reserving an inside table just for them -- so don't be late or you'll miss Adriana, Alessandra, and their friends, as they'll undoubtedly be there early.

The give-aways will start at 6pm, and will continue through 9pm, or until people stop coming -- we'll see how that goes!

So come on down, see your neighbors in their goofy nightwear, and have a good time with us!

As always, if you sleep in the nude, please stay home.

Group Outing

The 24th is also the day that I've planned our annual summer outing, so we'll be opening a little later that afternoon -- hopefully, we'll be back to the store by 2pm.

I'm taking the kids "someplace", to do "something". I can't say what it is yet, because several of them read this newsletter, and I haven't told anyone about the exact destination. And "anyone" includes Maggie, as I learned long ago that the three best ways of spreading news quickly are via Telephone, Television, and "Tel-a-Maggie".

The kids are dying to find out where we're heading, but so far the only clues I've given them are to bring roller blades, a swim mask or goggles of some kind, and to be prepared to crawl around on their hands and knees. Oh, and I've told them that they need to decide if they want to be "targets" or "shooters". Some of those hints might be just noise to keep them guessing but I've got what I think will be a fun event planned for them, and hopefully they'll all have a good time with it.

I'll write more in the next edition...

"Hard" Work

With the busier summer traffic, I have 27 kids/young adults on my serving team, and I always get a kick out of listening to them talk about "how hard they work".

Some really do work hard. I have several who work 30+ hours each week, and do their best to stay busy. Others, well, let's just say I have a lot of fun teasing them when they're complaining about how hard they worked at the end of their five hour shift.

During the summer, most of the kids work a four to five hour shift. Some of the older kids like to pull a "full day" shift of noon until closing, with an hour off for dinner, but that's more unusual. And the "young'uns", those under 16, are only allowed to work 3 hour shifts during school days, due to Massachusetts' Child Labor regulations.

When they complain at the end of their 5 hour shift about how hard they've worked, I always laugh. Don't get me wrong -- they do work hard, but they don't understand what the "real world" is like.

Sometimes I put on my "back when I was a kid" hat, and tell them about my typical workday when I was a their age. I was fortunate enough at the time to live next door to a general contractor, and used to spend my summers as a teenager lugging roofing shingles or lumber up a steep ladder to the skilled workers, usually working six days a week (we'd knock off "early" at 2pm on Saturdays, working through lunch.) After working a 7am to 4pm shift, I had a night time job at the local supermarket working from 5pm until 10pm three or four nights each week, working behind the deli counter, or stocking prepackaged meats, or cleaning up the meat cutting room. (And I had to walk to work. In the Snow. With no shoes. Uphill. Both ways. ;^)

Believe me, the worst of the jobs I have the kids who work for me do doesn't compare at all to the most hated job I had at their age -- unpacking 200 lb boxes of chicken bodies, packed in ice, and stuffing them into plastic bags to be weighed. I can remember my hands being numb from reaching into the boxes, and having that slimy feeling of chicken skin on my fingers. Now that was a nasty job! I used to dread the weeks when the supermarket would run a special on whole chickens!

After working my 13 hour day, I'd have to get up the next day at 6am and do it all again. These kids work a 6pm to close shift, then most tell me that they sleep in until noon the next day -- at least when school is out!

I tell them to enjoy the "easy life" that they have now, as they're going to be in for a rude awakening when they go out into the real world and find that their stint at Mad Maggie's was a picnic!

Tumbling Team Members

I had the TV on last week, and after the Red Sox game completed, a gymnastics competition came on. I was too busy making ice cream to change the channel, and after a while, one of my team leaders, Sara, stopped to watch one of the tumbling acts.

"I'm always amazed that they can do that" I remarked, as we watched one competitor tumble her way across the mat.

"Oh, I can do that" Sara replied.

I didn't believe it, but Sara is on the North Andover Cheerleading squad -- in fact, she and Katie were just named captains for the upcoming year -- and she assured me that she could tumble, and that Katie was even better.

It didn't take much coaxing before I had Sara and Katie out on the grass in front of our store doing part of their cheerleading routine, and she wasn't kidding, they really can do it. They did some running, multiple cartwheels, and flips, and some other stunts that had me and the rest of the crew, watching from inside the store, cheering and clapping. A couple of customers were pretty impressed as well!

Since then, I've found out that we have quite a few tumblers on the team, as Jenna is also on the North Andover team, and our "old veteran" Katie T, from North Reading, was also captain of her squad in North Reading that won the national championship a couple of years back.

Who knew we had that kind of talent on our serving team? Maybe we should have them out front tumbling every night to get the attention of the cars driving by on route 125!

Dirty Jobs

Despite their complaints about how hard they work, I suspect the kids really do appreciate how lucky they are to have a job where they get to be around others their age, eat a lot of ice cream, and see their friends and other young folks at the other side of the counter.

Until Steve puts on his "time to clean" hat and starts passing out chores!

We have a lot less "downtime" to clean things at this time of year, so I have to pick and choose when to tackle a cleaning job. The kids dread working on rainy days, as they know I'll find a freezer to be defrosted, equipment to be moved and swept behind, or shelves to be unloaded, cleaned and refilled.

I've also found that the time from 6pm until around 7 is a relatively quiet time when it's good to tackle a quick cleaning task. I'll typically count the number of kids I have on the schedule, then take that number of Popsicle sticks and write a chore on each, then make each kid draw a stick and fulfill that chore. If they're lucky, I'll sometimes leave one stick that says "Free Pass" on it, and they'll get that one. If they're unlucky, they'll get the "Clean the toilets" stick, or the "Mop the basement stairs" stick, or even the "sweep out the walk in freezer" stick.

So far, it seems like Alex is the unluckiest of the bunch -- she always seems to draw the worst chore, whether she picks the first stick or takes the final stick after everyone else has drawn. I won't be giving her any of my cash to buy scratch tickets, she definitely doesn't have the "luck of the draw"! And Meagan always seems to get the easiest task for some reason. I think she cheats, but I haven't been able to catch her at it yet!

Flavor News

One of our team leaders, Sara, came in a couple of weeks ago with an idea for a new flavor. Her mom makes a snack she calls "White Trash", which consists of Chex, Cheerios, M&M's, pretzels, and peanuts, all coated in white chocolate. She raved about it enough that I agreed to give it a try.

We mixed up a batch of the above snack, then mixed it into a batch of vanilla malted ice cream base. The result isn't bad -- I really expected the cereal to end up mushy and disgusting, but the white chocolate coating seems to preserve it very well.

So, come on in, try out a scoop of our new "White Trash", and tell us what you think!

My production manager, Janae, has also been threatening to start making Orange Pineapple this week, so maybe that "summer flavor" is in the freezers by the time you read this.

And I just got an email that Boston Hill Farm is now picking fresh native strawberries, so we'll be down there this weekend, picking strawberries and making them into fresh strawberry ice cream! Watch for it, this is a great flavor, and it only lasts a few short weeks.

Staff News

We have a full crew at this time of year, and they're all trained and ready to serve, for the most part. I still have to keep an eye on them, and jump in to show one of them how to make the "perfect frappe" on occasion, but all in all, we have a good crew of kids, and just about all of them know how to make every item by now.

I tell my friends that I feel like I've become the "foster uncle" to 25 or so kids every summer. They're a lot to keep up with, but I really enjoy interacting with the kids, and hearing what they're talking about. They pretty much run the shop at this point, as I have a very experienced team, with only four "rookies" this year.

Still, we're getting flooded with applications, and it always amuses me to see the kids who come to the store looking for a job at this time of year. The few that we hired this year had their applications in way back in February and March, and made certain to stop in and show their faces during the spring, to keep their names fresh in my mind. Those applying now must be thinking "Hey, school's out, better start looking for a job..." The ones who got hired were those who were smart, and looked ahead and planned for a summer job back in January. We want to hire smart, eager kids on our team, and getting their applications in early is a good indication to me that they fit that model.

The worst way to get hired is to send a parent in to ask if we're hiring. I field several inquiries each week from adults who ask "are you hiring?", and I always know that they're looking for a job for one of their kids. "Yeah, are you sure you want a job scooping ice cream?" is my normal response, and when they tell me "well, no, it's for my daughter/son...", I usually reply, "Why aren't they here asking then?" I figure if a kid is lazy enough to send their parent in to inquire, rather than coming in themselves, then they're probably not going to be a hard worker.

We will likely hire a handful of other kids this summer, but that'll be in July, when we prepare for our college kids to head off to school in August. I like to hire three or four then, so that they'll have several weeks to get up to speed before our older kids abandon us again.

So, if you didn't get hired this spring, get an application in NOW for July, and maybe you'll get a spot on our team. Just don't send your parent in to ask!

Newsletter Coupon

No newsletter coupon this week -- the coupon is to come to our Pajama Party and get an ice cream for free. I think that's enough of a deal until the next newsletter!

OK, that's it for this week. Hope to see you at the Pajama Party, and enjoy the vernal equinox -- also known as the "official" first day of summer!