I was on my home from dinner tonite, when I was overcome with an unstoppable craving for Carvel Ice Cream. There are almost no Carvel places on the west coast, but there is one here in Berkeley. It’s owned by a family, and there is often a line out the door.
I pulled up at 8:50 hoping they would be open and satisfy my compulsion for a huge cup of soft serve ice cream with chocolate sprinkles. As I was parking i saw that it was closed, the store was dark, and the gates had been pulled shut.

One of the owners saw me and the look of disappointment on my face. As I was getting ready to pull out, he came up to me and asked if I really wanted some ice cream and of course my answer was, ” i’ll come back tomorrow.” He told me to wait and in about 30 seconds, the gate was open, the lights were on, and I was eating a huge ice cream cone with chocolate sprinkles.

I had been getting ice cream there for almost a year. I had gotten to know the family that owned it, and one of them was willing to reward me for my loyalty. There are at least seven great places for ice cream. I could have gone to any of them, but because of consistent excellent customer service and their willingness to engage their customers.

Not only will I make it my first choice, but I will tell my friends, use them as an example in my writing, and we’ll all spend our money at Carvel.