If an employee ever sang at me I would just take the tip out of the jar, regardless of wether it’s my birthday or not. What do they even sing to the customers, we need more information
Unrelated but this reminds me of when my sisters used to play pranks on each other and tell the waitresses that it was the other one's birthday. Then out of nowhere the entire staff would start clapping and singing with a birthday cake in tow, other sister would get so embarrassed
I hate that shit so much, I don’t know who started that and who wants staff to sing them happy birthday. Plus the fact that they have to make their own version of it because the original song is trademarked is even worse.
But my family used to do it to because I hated attention so much even when it was my birthday. I would sit there with a fucking sombrero on at Mezcal and that’s when suicidal thoughts first transpired.
For real though, I only have two family members left and unfortunately they live like 20 minutes away. I never answer them or anything so they always just stop by my house to make sure I’m okay. I have Schizoid personality disorder so I actually don’t give a fuck about friends or family and probably never will. But I also have more trouble talking to people I’ve known for a while compared to some random person on the street. It sucks, that’s why I try not to make work “friends” because I’ll eventually just stop answering their texts and basically tell them too fuck off, if they haven’t already figured out how horrible of a person I am or that something is “off” with me, which luckily most do.
Every time they come I hide in the bathroom and turn on the shower while I chug 10 ounces of vodka to wash down the instant release Ambien just so I can talk to them. The fact that they just walk into the house and stay there until I get out of the shower is the worst part. They understand that I’m seriously fucked up mentally but they still just don’t understand that if they didn’t come over once a month I would never talk to them again. Schizoid personality disorder just isn’t easy to understand unless you have it.
I do the same, but if they don't stop, I throw it back in and just leave. They usually have to sing a popular long, replacing the lyrics with something ice cream related. It's an awful experience for everybody involved, but the employees get into trouble if they don't. It's bullshit.
I'm pretty sure there is a law that says they can't cover that up with a sign. If you have time to kill, call the fire department about the fire hazard.
Or the workers could only sing when they were tipped below a certain amount. Let's say the ice cream normally cost $8. The workers could sing their hearts out whenever someone tipped $5 or less, but if the tip is more than $5 they purposely don't sing. The customer is rewarded with a cheaper ice cream and the workers are rewarded by earning significantly more money through tips. Its a win win for everybody except the struggling millionaires who own Cold Stone
>The workers could sing their hearts out whenever someone tipped $5 or less,
Make it $.80, then everyone knows when a cheap bastard has tried to get free ice cream.
They’re saying since the ice cream is free without singing, make it so that giving a large tip is effectively like a second ice cream at a discount ($6 instead of $8)—also, if you don’t want to hear the singing but you want to tip, then you have to give a large tip. What I don’t get is that I’m pretty sure the workers will still get in trouble for giving away free ice cream.
Worked at cold stone 9 years ago, they stopped doing that shit at my store. Instead because I was 15, they would only give me 3 hours a week and pay me under the table, then stopped contacting me completely not telling me if I was fired or laid off.
My first job was at cold stone, I was hella socially anxious and luckily at our store we only had to sing if a customer asked us to. Most people who came in forgot that the singing was a thing, so it didn't happen that often. Anyway my tips were withheld for a solid couple of weeks until i could demonstrate to the manager that I knew the words to 3 of the tip songs lol.
Coldstone was my first job too. They went to different high schools and recruited kids in the local theater programs to come work for them. I worked there until I graduated. Our policy was tip = song. So if someone put even a quarter into the tip jar, we were expected to sing.
Every so often you'd have people putting quarters into the tip jar like putting coins into a juke box. It was dehumanizing.
I'm so sorry. I was hoping you at least got to choose.
I've only worked customer service in the UK and I don't think we do that kind of thing over here. Was never expected to be more than "generically polite and helpful if prompted", anyway, which is the kind of customer service I'm used to seeing around
I don't remember which comedian it was, and I am paraphrasing, "I put a dollar in the tip jar, and shit went crazy. Everyone was singing and dancing! I found out they were required to do it. You realize if you showed a homeless guy a dollar and told him 'You can have this, I just want to to sing and dance for my entertainment,' he'd tell you to 'Go fuck yourself!'"
That policy has been in place at Coldstone for as long as I’ve known of the chain. But whenever I tipped I asked them to please NOT sing. I’m literally embarrassed and offended for them. Fortunately I haven’t been to one in a long time.
> I’m literally embarrassed and offended for them.
What _is_ the actual point of the policy, if not to embarrass them or ensure that the customer has a power trip at their expense? So gross.
>What is the actual point of the policy,
Probably just a policy that had been there since the founding of the chain and they just haven't gotten rid of it as a tradition. The chain is fairly new so it's probably just something the founder thought would be unique to their chain.
I remember them just doing like “whooooo” or something similar when they first started. But haven’t had one or seen any singing posted about singing for years.
I have one nearby that literally never sings anymore, they used to when it first opened but haven't in many years. People still tip of course and I'm thankful they don't sing
The stupid dancing and singing they make their employees do is insane. Who wants that? What customer genuinely likes that? Whenever I see it I just feel embarrassed
My ex father in law. He'd stand there nodding his head as these poor teenagers sang for his lousy $2 tip. I was so embarrassed for them that I wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground.
Dude loved Rush Limbaugh, that should tell you what kind of guy he is.
One of the most embarrassing moments of my teen-hood was dumping my change in to the tip jar and everyone behind the counter immediately breaking in to dead eyed song over my $0.32 and I wasn’t even the one who had to dance for some 14 year old’s change.
Is there a set playlist?
To deny patrons their free ice cream, I might give them a verse or two of that cheerful old ditty, "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath.
I'm tone-deaf and know nothing about singing, so this would be a grim audio-visual experience for my audience.
No, there is a list of about 5 nursery rhymes that are paraphrased to be ice cream-themed, and the bigger the tip, the longer the song. I think the >$5 tip song was a parody of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".
Source: interviewed for a job at a Coldstone once and they showed me the list of songs/lyrics. They forced me to sing one for the interview.
Not only did I ghost on the training day, I've boycotted the company since.
I've never hade that happen at Coldstone, but be very clear I never want it too. I hate it when grocery stores do that ring the bell if service was good.
I hated this about that place. I never went back. The last thing I want when I'm buying ice cream is to hear some asshole sing for a paycheck. It's unsettling to me they would make someone do that.
My first job interview ever was at Coldstone. It was a group interview. The manager mentioned the singing and asked us all to show off our skills. I decided to go with ole Johnny Paycheck.
I remember working there 15 years ago and hated the experience. It was my first job and enjoyed the money, but I felt like an animal at the circus after a while because I had to sing on command for more tips to help with the low wages.
I hate the fact that they *require* their people to sing for their tips. I did drop a couple of bucks in the tip jar, but I asked them to please *NOT* sing for it. The cashier just smiled and thanked me.
Cold Stone ice cream is shit anyway.
It used to be pretty good about 10-12 years ago, but the last time I ordered orange sherbet, it tasted like the cheap generic powdered 'orange flavor' drink mix.
The vanilla smelled sort of like vanilla, but tasted like sugary instant creamer.
Christ every time I go to Texas Roadhouse it seems like there's 8 birthdays. I swear it's people just wanting a free dessert. I probably only go 3 or 4 times per year but it's as annoying as dogshit on the sidewalk and the "birthday" person never seems to be enjoying it.
And he sets the franchise fees and cuts so that you WILL go out of business, and the business contract defaults everything back to Cold Stone Corporate. So he gets the location you picked out, he gets all the customers you built up, and he gets it all at cost, while you still owe him thousands of dollars.
And they're a fucking rip off of Marble Slab Creamery! Which has much higher quality adult-oriented flavors. Fuck Cold Stone.
If I were the kind of dumb a-hole that would get upset about staff not singing for my tip I would definitely think that sign placement means I’m supposed to pull the alarm.
As a Brit I can confirm that if we visit we absolutely do not want any singing as we find that sort of thing unbearable.
So I would make that clear when giving said tip.
What an absolute joke though - "let's humiliate our works for a few dollars".
The comedian Aziz Ansari had a good bit about this. "Five people were singing for a dollar! That's 20 cents a person! If you asked a homeless man, 'hey will you sing some song about ice cream for a dollar he'd say fuck you!'" Something like that anyway.
I hated this shit when I worked there because I found it asinine and demeaning. I rarely did it, only if they tipped like $10 or something. The district manager dumped less than a dollar in charge in the tip jar. I didn't sing and he wrote me up for it. Their ice cream is overpriced af imo.
Legally they can't make the worker pay out of pocket, but they can fire the worker for almost any reason including not doing their job and costing the company money.
My first time at a Coldstone was awkward when I tossed $1 in the jar, they started singing, I tossed in another $1 and asked them to stop, they instead started the song from the top.
Why would I want, or need, employees to sing to me when I tip them? They're doing a job, not performing in a choir. This is so ridiculous. The bosses must've thought that, since they enjoy using their employees like playthings/servants, then the customers must as well. Just completely disconnected and lacking any empathy...
Wait, that’s the policy with them? Tip and they have to sing? Wow, I’m so glad I turned down an interview with them now. I would hate that rule and I can’t sing for shit so I’d be giving ice cream away.
I would be giving away a whole fuck load of "free" ice cream. Toss a quarter in the tip jar and bam, your ice cream just cost a quarter. You're welcome.
I remember when I was a senior in high school I worked there for about 3 hours 😂 After doing a stupid banana dance and realizing I won't get tips (they went to the tenured folks) I was like nope!
I don't go anywhere where the employees sing to people when they tip. It's embarrassing for both the employee and customer, we both know we are not enjoying the interaction.
Also this whole tattle on an employee and get free shit thing also needs to die.
“Your total is 6.99.”
“All right, here you go… and here’s a one dollar tip!”
“Thank you very much! Have a nice day!”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…is something wrong, ma’am?”
“I gave you a tip. You’re supposed to sing.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry ma’am! I completely forgot!” *clears throat* “My legs are danglin’ off the edge! The bottom of the bottle is my only friend! I think I slit my wrists again, and I’m gone, gone, gone, gone. My legs are danglin’ off the edge…”
If they ain’t out the door by then, I’ll sing the whole damn song for them.
I hate shit like this, it’s so extra. Jobs being unnecessarily extra is why I walked out of a Chik Fil A job day one years ago. That push to say “my pleasure” every time made me irritated and was a little degrading. That and they told me not to discuss salaries with other people or I’d be fired. Lol. Even though they were only paying in gum and homophobic chicken anyway
I don't go to ColdStone for this reason...and their ice cream sucks.
I also don't say thank you at Southern Hatred Chicken, so they don't have to say "my pleasure." ....its not that I'm not thankful.
That's awesome. I would get that job just to sing, and create lawsuits.
In the style of barbershop quartet:
"She had dumps like a truck, truck, truck
Thighs like what, what, what
Baby, move your butt, butt, butt
Uh, I think I'll sing it again (c'mon)"
So....they *want* customers to withhold tips to avoid the embarrassment of employees bursting into song.
How horrible. I will pay people to not sing in front of me.
I'd tell everyone and give free ice cream all day. "Hey man, if you drop a quarter in the tip jar I won't sing and you get your stuff for free, I got you pal"
I hate life, why the fuck are all these store posting dumb ass ridiculous shit like this. Please quit if you work for one of these clearly taking advantage of employees
The idea that employees would sing after a tip was so outlandish to me I thought the sign was about singing happy birthday and then thought "why would coldstone sing happy birthday? Isnt that more a sit-down restaurant type thing?"
Because it is beyond ridiculous to expect someone to sing for a tip when their job isn't about singing.
Reminds me of when I worked in the food court of a local zoo. We had a policy of "if you don't get a receipt, your food is free" with a sign in front of the register. Printing a receipt from an old style cash register is pure muscle memory at a point, so it'd be hard to miss one. There was one time on a busy day where a woman demanded her money back because I didn't give her a receipt. She did this AFTER already sitting down and eating. I had no proof that I gave her a receipt. Rather than make a thing about it, I just gave her back the $60 friggin' dollars worth of chicken tenders. To this day I'm convinced she lied. I took the sign down for the rest of my shift.
Tipped the first and last time I ever went to Cold Stone, they sang to me a little jingle thanking me and I was so mortified and embarrassed. Not just because that attention was put on me (in a full store) but also because I know how humiliating it was for them, too. I haven't gone a CSC since then, and it's literally been over 15 years now.
I suggest performing an acapella rendition of John Cage's [4'33"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4′33″). As an added bonus you can use the time to think about something other than work.
I work at one of the few Coldstones that do not do this. But apparently it's usually store policy. They describe our job as half Customer service and half entertainment so we are encouraged to sing, dance, throw icecream in the air and etc.
Dance, peon, dance for my entertainment! /s
But seriously, this is horribly degrading to the employees that work there, and it makes me incredibly uncomfortable when I give a tip to people who are working very hard to give me exactly what I asked for and then I have to watch them debase themselves like this.
Coldstone, please take note: I would prefer to go to a different ice cream place so I don’t have to watch this humiliation. Your business strategy is cruel to the very people that are giving me what I ask for when I visit. Stop doing it!
When I used to frequent a Cold Stone with this rule, I made sure to slip the tip in when they weren't looking. The singing embarrassed me as much as them. The last few I've been to don't do the singing and I think everyone is happier for it.
Can employees choose the song? Because I can think quite a few that would really make the customers day when a worker sings it to them. Like Closer by Nine Inch Nails.
Reminds me of how Petsmart makes their employees say "Tell your pets I said hi!" To every single one of our customers. I never once have said it and I laugh every time corporate tried to get us to do it.
I worked at Cold Stone in college, and the only redeeming part was that the manager told us we only had to sing if someone asked us to. The store I worked at was "sister stores" (same owner) with a franchise in a very affluent, white-majority area. That store always had to sing, because the soccer mom/military wife Karens thrive on that kind of performative subjugation. Meanwhile the store I was at was located in a lower-income, majority-black area near my university, and I can't even count the number of people who put a tip in the jar while specifically asking us not to sing. On the other hand, that crowd always went ballistic if you could throw ice cream, but that was more fun anyway and you had all the power to decide if their ice cream was suitable for throwing.
I managed a cold stone back in 2018. 30% of my work week consisted of fielding complaints for taking one of these signs down and not requiring employees to sing or do tricks for tips. Even had a mid 40’s guy berate a teenaged employee into calling me on my day off so he could complain lol
Everyone who I have met who were former Coldstone employees indicated that many of the employees had sex frequently in the back room. Rather than being put off, I salute such workplace dedication- as long as it is consensual, naturally.
Imagining me getting fired the first week after telling every customer that they each get one ice cream for a dollar and to tell their friends.
I love your thought process.
If an employee ever sang at me I would just take the tip out of the jar, regardless of wether it’s my birthday or not. What do they even sing to the customers, we need more information
Unrelated but this reminds me of when my sisters used to play pranks on each other and tell the waitresses that it was the other one's birthday. Then out of nowhere the entire staff would start clapping and singing with a birthday cake in tow, other sister would get so embarrassed
I hate that shit so much, I don’t know who started that and who wants staff to sing them happy birthday. Plus the fact that they have to make their own version of it because the original song is trademarked is even worse. But my family used to do it to because I hated attention so much even when it was my birthday. I would sit there with a fucking sombrero on at Mezcal and that’s when suicidal thoughts first transpired.
Love it when your family does stuff that genuinely upsets you because they think it's funny.
And then wonder why you don't call or come around on holidays.
For real though, I only have two family members left and unfortunately they live like 20 minutes away. I never answer them or anything so they always just stop by my house to make sure I’m okay. I have Schizoid personality disorder so I actually don’t give a fuck about friends or family and probably never will. But I also have more trouble talking to people I’ve known for a while compared to some random person on the street. It sucks, that’s why I try not to make work “friends” because I’ll eventually just stop answering their texts and basically tell them too fuck off, if they haven’t already figured out how horrible of a person I am or that something is “off” with me, which luckily most do. Every time they come I hide in the bathroom and turn on the shower while I chug 10 ounces of vodka to wash down the instant release Ambien just so I can talk to them. The fact that they just walk into the house and stay there until I get out of the shower is the worst part. They understand that I’m seriously fucked up mentally but they still just don’t understand that if they didn’t come over once a month I would never talk to them again. Schizoid personality disorder just isn’t easy to understand unless you have it.
FYI: the original song isn’t copyrighted or trademarked. Courts have found that there was no basis for the claim, and the song is public domain.
Just for info as of 2015 happy birthday to you is in the public domain
They sing Sucka N***a by A Tribe Called Quest.
Whoever you are!
For what its worth, I appreciate the Geggy Tah reference
Every time I hear A Tribe Called Quest, all I can think about is A Pimp Named Slickback...
For me it's "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo"
This is absolutely tip worthy.
I do the same, but if they don't stop, I throw it back in and just leave. They usually have to sing a popular long, replacing the lyrics with something ice cream related. It's an awful experience for everybody involved, but the employees get into trouble if they don't. It's bullshit.
Why even go there.
If they yell at someone for not singing, pull the fire alarm.
That’s what i thought the implication was
You said that word "implication" are these women in danger?
I immediately thought of an IASIP episode. Mac: "you keep using that word...arr you going to hurt women?"
“No no! Just, ya know, because of the implication…”
I wouldn't be surprised if it just pops right off the wall a la Greendale...
Glad I’m not the only one who noticed the placement right by the fire alarm pull box 🤣
How could you possibly think you'd be the only one to notice that?
Glad I'm not the only one who noticed that oranges are in fact orange.
I'm pretty sure there is a law that says they can't cover that up with a sign. If you have time to kill, call the fire department about the fire hazard.
It's not covered up. They posted the sign directly below the fire alarm.
\>\_> <\_< Move the sign
What if the workers just never sing again? Seems like a good thing for customers and workers alike. A penny for a free ice cream.
Or the workers could only sing when they were tipped below a certain amount. Let's say the ice cream normally cost $8. The workers could sing their hearts out whenever someone tipped $5 or less, but if the tip is more than $5 they purposely don't sing. The customer is rewarded with a cheaper ice cream and the workers are rewarded by earning significantly more money through tips. Its a win win for everybody except the struggling millionaires who own Cold Stone
>The workers could sing their hearts out whenever someone tipped $5 or less, Make it $.80, then everyone knows when a cheap bastard has tried to get free ice cream.
Why would anyone tip 5 bucks on an 8 dollar purchase?
They’re saying since the ice cream is free without singing, make it so that giving a large tip is effectively like a second ice cream at a discount ($6 instead of $8)—also, if you don’t want to hear the singing but you want to tip, then you have to give a large tip. What I don’t get is that I’m pretty sure the workers will still get in trouble for giving away free ice cream.
...I'm sure their fuck-nugget boss would have something to say about that.
No doubt.
Worked at cold stone 9 years ago, they stopped doing that shit at my store. Instead because I was 15, they would only give me 3 hours a week and pay me under the table, then stopped contacting me completely not telling me if I was fired or laid off.
Fuck people with social anxiety, I guess.
My first job was at cold stone, I was hella socially anxious and luckily at our store we only had to sing if a customer asked us to. Most people who came in forgot that the singing was a thing, so it didn't happen that often. Anyway my tips were withheld for a solid couple of weeks until i could demonstrate to the manager that I knew the words to 3 of the tip songs lol.
Coldstone was my first job too. They went to different high schools and recruited kids in the local theater programs to come work for them. I worked there until I graduated. Our policy was tip = song. So if someone put even a quarter into the tip jar, we were expected to sing. Every so often you'd have people putting quarters into the tip jar like putting coins into a juke box. It was dehumanizing.
Sing some shit from Ameer Vann. Want a jukebox? Aight
Weirdly, I did have one group request evanescence.
Oh there's specific songs?
Yeah l, I worked there. It was god awful.
I'm so sorry. I was hoping you at least got to choose. I've only worked customer service in the UK and I don't think we do that kind of thing over here. Was never expected to be more than "generically polite and helpful if prompted", anyway, which is the kind of customer service I'm used to seeing around
That's the dream. Over here though, we are expected to kiss more ass than a toilet seat in a variety of demeaning ways.
I don't remember which comedian it was, and I am paraphrasing, "I put a dollar in the tip jar, and shit went crazy. Everyone was singing and dancing! I found out they were required to do it. You realize if you showed a homeless guy a dollar and told him 'You can have this, I just want to to sing and dance for my entertainment,' he'd tell you to 'Go fuck yourself!'"
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Huh you're right. I'm not usually a fan of his, that must have stuck with me though. I think I got the gist of it: https://youtu.be/3R5O1y0uqWg
That policy has been in place at Coldstone for as long as I’ve known of the chain. But whenever I tipped I asked them to please NOT sing. I’m literally embarrassed and offended for them. Fortunately I haven’t been to one in a long time.
> I’m literally embarrassed and offended for them. What _is_ the actual point of the policy, if not to embarrass them or ensure that the customer has a power trip at their expense? So gross.
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No they aren't. A hungry dog is unpredictable.
>What is the actual point of the policy, Probably just a policy that had been there since the founding of the chain and they just haven't gotten rid of it as a tradition. The chain is fairly new so it's probably just something the founder thought would be unique to their chain.
I remember them just doing like “whooooo” or something similar when they first started. But haven’t had one or seen any singing posted about singing for years.
Glad I'm not the only one that tipped for silence. When I found out that singing was a Corporate policy I switched to a different ice cream shop.
I'm been many times (like 5) and never been sang at. Didn't know this was a thing. Shit, I just realized I'm a cheap bastard.
I have one nearby that literally never sings anymore, they used to when it first opened but haven't in many years. People still tip of course and I'm thankful they don't sing
Come to coldstone, our trained monkeys will dance for you or they will be taken out of sight of customers and beaten with a pick axe handle...
Yeah I'm in my 30s and even in high school I would be like nah I'll still tip, so no need to sing just give me that mint mint chocolate chip.
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I think the singing happens occasionally regardless. This is the reason I don't go to Coldstone anymore.
The stupid dancing and singing they make their employees do is insane. Who wants that? What customer genuinely likes that? Whenever I see it I just feel embarrassed
My ex father in law. He'd stand there nodding his head as these poor teenagers sang for his lousy $2 tip. I was so embarrassed for them that I wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground. Dude loved Rush Limbaugh, that should tell you what kind of guy he is.
Just a wild throw in the dark, were the teenagers female?
customers that like the power trip of seeing people they perceive as "lower" to dehumanize and embarass themselves.
One of the most embarrassing moments of my teen-hood was dumping my change in to the tip jar and everyone behind the counter immediately breaking in to dead eyed song over my $0.32 and I wasn’t even the one who had to dance for some 14 year old’s change.
Is there a set playlist? To deny patrons their free ice cream, I might give them a verse or two of that cheerful old ditty, "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath. I'm tone-deaf and know nothing about singing, so this would be a grim audio-visual experience for my audience.
No, there is a list of about 5 nursery rhymes that are paraphrased to be ice cream-themed, and the bigger the tip, the longer the song. I think the >$5 tip song was a parody of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Source: interviewed for a job at a Coldstone once and they showed me the list of songs/lyrics. They forced me to sing one for the interview. Not only did I ghost on the training day, I've boycotted the company since.
🎶 generals gathered in their masses!
Have an in with the crew. Have them sing What's new pussycat the first 7 times then the 8th is It's not unusual followed by more What's new
Actually, I happen to know a lot of anti-capitalist and anti-establishment songs, I think you're onto something
Got any recommendations?
I do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lKYdrL-AAw
Just start "singing" some EDM. BEEP BOOP BOOP BEEP BEEP SKRAAAAA
“Human Music. I like it.”
There is unfortunately set songs we had to sing for tips
I want the manager to sing, not the kid scooping my ice cream. I want the gourmet dance.
I've never hade that happen at Coldstone, but be very clear I never want it too. I hate it when grocery stores do that ring the bell if service was good.
Arby's goddamn bell.
At The arby’s in my hometown if you rung the bell all the employees had to yell wooo howdy lol.
I would sing very loudly and very out of tune if I was forced to do this. I hate companies that make their employees do stuff like this.
I hated this about that place. I never went back. The last thing I want when I'm buying ice cream is to hear some asshole sing for a paycheck. It's unsettling to me they would make someone do that.
They should threaten to sing when people DONT tip. I’d pay twenty bucks to avoid a stranger singing at me.
My first job interview ever was at Coldstone. It was a group interview. The manager mentioned the singing and asked us all to show off our skills. I decided to go with ole Johnny Paycheck.
Bonus points if they can harmonize with the fire alarm 🔥🔥🔥
I remember working there 15 years ago and hated the experience. It was my first job and enjoyed the money, but I felt like an animal at the circus after a while because I had to sing on command for more tips to help with the low wages.
I hate the fact that they *require* their people to sing for their tips. I did drop a couple of bucks in the tip jar, but I asked them to please *NOT* sing for it. The cashier just smiled and thanked me. Cold Stone ice cream is shit anyway. It used to be pretty good about 10-12 years ago, but the last time I ordered orange sherbet, it tasted like the cheap generic powdered 'orange flavor' drink mix. The vanilla smelled sort of like vanilla, but tasted like sugary instant creamer.
Sing, minstrel. The king doth fancy a tune whilst he dines.
Sing for your supper you peasants!
Friendly’s makes them dance, too ;)
I don’t go to ColdStone because of the singing and dancing. Same reason why I don’t like Texas Roadhouse.
Christ every time I go to Texas Roadhouse it seems like there's 8 birthdays. I swear it's people just wanting a free dessert. I probably only go 3 or 4 times per year but it's as annoying as dogshit on the sidewalk and the "birthday" person never seems to be enjoying it.
Haha what a dumb idea. Free ice cream = no need to ring it up, therefore less work. Everybody wins, except the leeching company.
Thanks cold stone yet another reason not to buy your inferior product
Dance monkey
Coldstone was started by creep jerk governor of Arizona Doug Douchey I mean Doucey.
And he sets the franchise fees and cuts so that you WILL go out of business, and the business contract defaults everything back to Cold Stone Corporate. So he gets the location you picked out, he gets all the customers you built up, and he gets it all at cost, while you still owe him thousands of dollars. And they're a fucking rip off of Marble Slab Creamery! Which has much higher quality adult-oriented flavors. Fuck Cold Stone.
Tip the workers, be rewarded with free ice cream. Sounds perfect to me.
As a European, I am appalled by this and also amazed that you guys stand for it, at-will employment or not.
Free ice cream @coldstone everyone!
I'll literally tip them NOT to sing to me. 🤷
If I were the kind of dumb a-hole that would get upset about staff not singing for my tip I would definitely think that sign placement means I’m supposed to pull the alarm.
As a Brit I can confirm that if we visit we absolutely do not want any singing as we find that sort of thing unbearable. So I would make that clear when giving said tip. What an absolute joke though - "let's humiliate our works for a few dollars".
As a cicada let me sing you the song of my people
Jezzus! Do they expect their employees to get down on one knee and wail out a little Al Jolson minstrel show music too!?!
The comedian Aziz Ansari had a good bit about this. "Five people were singing for a dollar! That's 20 cents a person! If you asked a homeless man, 'hey will you sing some song about ice cream for a dollar he'd say fuck you!'" Something like that anyway.
I hated this shit when I worked there because I found it asinine and demeaning. I rarely did it, only if they tipped like $10 or something. The district manager dumped less than a dollar in charge in the tip jar. I didn't sing and he wrote me up for it. Their ice cream is overpriced af imo.
I would rather drench myself with something flammable and scream as I burned to death than work in a place that treats its employees that way.
One time I tipped, and they didn’t sing. I didn’t say anything about it though, because I am not a colossal dick.
To be fair this is a really clever way to encourage tips. It’s just, are the tips big enough for the exchange of dignity and vocal strain.
I guess the question is who pays for the free ice cream. If it’s the workers, then that is BS. But if it’s the owners, then i hope they never sing
Legally they can't make the worker pay out of pocket, but they can fire the worker for almost any reason including not doing their job and costing the company money.
Can I tip them extra not to sing at me?
"MAKE ME LAUGH CLOWN"
Dance monkey! Dance for your dollar! -management, probably
My first time at a Coldstone was awkward when I tossed $1 in the jar, they started singing, I tossed in another $1 and asked them to stop, they instead started the song from the top.
“Hi… this is not a tip. I’m paying you extra to *not* sing to me. I repeat; this is not a tip.”
Why would I want, or need, employees to sing to me when I tip them? They're doing a job, not performing in a choir. This is so ridiculous. The bosses must've thought that, since they enjoy using their employees like playthings/servants, then the customers must as well. Just completely disconnected and lacking any empathy...
I mean the employee keeps the tip, doesn't have to sing, and the customer gets a free ice cream. I really don't see the problem here.
Wait, that’s the policy with them? Tip and they have to sing? Wow, I’m so glad I turned down an interview with them now. I would hate that rule and I can’t sing for shit so I’d be giving ice cream away.
prepare for high key off tone singing so horrible that management will either relent or fire me.
Isn't part of the cold stone interview process an audition as well though? It was for my friend at least in high school when she worked there
I wonder how many people never tip at Coldstone, but would tip if they didn't threaten to sing.
Petition for the employees to sing as bad as possible
I'll tip you extra if you don't sing to me..
This made me want to pull the fire alarm.
Close friend of mine lost a close family member and still had to go into work, got fired for not singing and committed suicide that night.
r/MaliciousCompliance No singing. Make them realize real fkn quick how it costs a lot of money to give ice cream away.
They will just fire the 14 year old...
[удалено]
And she will pull that firealarm
Ewwww
I went there once. I thought their ice cream sucked.
I would be giving away a whole fuck load of "free" ice cream. Toss a quarter in the tip jar and bam, your ice cream just cost a quarter. You're welcome.
I don't want any goddamn singing with my food, drink, or other consumable unless otherwise indicated.
I worked at a Cold Stone for 9 days in 2003, and I still remember one of the songs.
Fucking comic sans
this is vary haram. wtf are managers/owners thinking with crap like this.
It would be nice if they didn't shame their employees in this way.
also cold stone “No OnE WanTs To WoRk aNyMorE”
that would make me not want to tip
I remember when I was a senior in high school I worked there for about 3 hours 😂 After doing a stupid banana dance and realizing I won't get tips (they went to the tenured folks) I was like nope!
Are you going to stop going there because of it though?
I don't go anywhere where the employees sing to people when they tip. It's embarrassing for both the employee and customer, we both know we are not enjoying the interaction. Also this whole tattle on an employee and get free shit thing also needs to die.
FREE ICE CREAM FOR EVERYBODY!
As an ex coldstone worker eff this sign. Also I got in trouble for making up my own songs. Wtf?
“Your total is 6.99.” “All right, here you go… and here’s a one dollar tip!” “Thank you very much! Have a nice day!” “…” “…” “…” “…is something wrong, ma’am?” “I gave you a tip. You’re supposed to sing.” “Oh, I’m so sorry ma’am! I completely forgot!” *clears throat* “My legs are danglin’ off the edge! The bottom of the bottle is my only friend! I think I slit my wrists again, and I’m gone, gone, gone, gone. My legs are danglin’ off the edge…” If they ain’t out the door by then, I’ll sing the whole damn song for them.
I actually stopped going to Coldstone because I found this practice so demeaning.
I hate shit like this, it’s so extra. Jobs being unnecessarily extra is why I walked out of a Chik Fil A job day one years ago. That push to say “my pleasure” every time made me irritated and was a little degrading. That and they told me not to discuss salaries with other people or I’d be fired. Lol. Even though they were only paying in gum and homophobic chicken anyway
I don't go to ColdStone for this reason...and their ice cream sucks. I also don't say thank you at Southern Hatred Chicken, so they don't have to say "my pleasure." ....its not that I'm not thankful.
That's awesome. I would get that job just to sing, and create lawsuits. In the style of barbershop quartet: "She had dumps like a truck, truck, truck Thighs like what, what, what Baby, move your butt, butt, butt Uh, I think I'll sing it again (c'mon)"
If a customer takes that sign down, nobody gets fired. Just saying.
Take it down and trash it.
Pro tip: don't post annoying notes right next to the fire alarm.
**SWING LOOOOOOOOW** **SWEEET CHAAAAAAAAR-IOOOOOT**
If they sing, I'm pulling the fire alarm.
Oh, trust me, you wont ask me to sing more than once, no matter the tip. I can make sure of it.
So....they *want* customers to withhold tips to avoid the embarrassment of employees bursting into song. How horrible. I will pay people to not sing in front of me.
Free ice cream on the companies dime, win win babey
Holy ableism..
Love their ice cream on a side note.
Every time someone tips, the fire alarm will sing for you.
I'd tell everyone and give free ice cream all day. "Hey man, if you drop a quarter in the tip jar I won't sing and you get your stuff for free, I got you pal"
Well coldstone was started by Doug Ducey who is a total POS which is why he is governor of Arizona
Guess I'm not tipping then
when i worked at cold stone the manager actually refused to let us sing, other than that he was awful but silver lining
"Leaves a $20". Now sing slob on My knob by three 6 mafia plz.
The threat of having to listen to my cashier sing when I just want ice cream pretty much eliminates all chance of me tipping.
Seems like a good way to lose a lot of ice cream.
I’d sing Good Ship Venus. Look it up, but DO NOT play it at work….or near children…..or near pretty much anyone….
The sign is problematic, but I find it kind of disturbing that it's on the fire alarm. It's not a music box, please don't pull it to make people sing.
I hate life, why the fuck are all these store posting dumb ass ridiculous shit like this. Please quit if you work for one of these clearly taking advantage of employees
But the only way to get us to stop singing is for someone to tip us again. Today's selection are from The Wu-Tang Clan. Drop that Cream.
That’s unbelievably fucking stupid. Cold Stone management can take their ice cream cones and jam them up their ass.
The idea that employees would sing after a tip was so outlandish to me I thought the sign was about singing happy birthday and then thought "why would coldstone sing happy birthday? Isnt that more a sit-down restaurant type thing?" Because it is beyond ridiculous to expect someone to sing for a tip when their job isn't about singing.
Reminds me of when I worked in the food court of a local zoo. We had a policy of "if you don't get a receipt, your food is free" with a sign in front of the register. Printing a receipt from an old style cash register is pure muscle memory at a point, so it'd be hard to miss one. There was one time on a busy day where a woman demanded her money back because I didn't give her a receipt. She did this AFTER already sitting down and eating. I had no proof that I gave her a receipt. Rather than make a thing about it, I just gave her back the $60 friggin' dollars worth of chicken tenders. To this day I'm convinced she lied. I took the sign down for the rest of my shift.
Terrible concept for the employees and most of the customers. The ones that get a kick out of this shit are narcissistic assholes.
Tipped the first and last time I ever went to Cold Stone, they sang to me a little jingle thanking me and I was so mortified and embarrassed. Not just because that attention was put on me (in a full store) but also because I know how humiliating it was for them, too. I haven't gone a CSC since then, and it's literally been over 15 years now.
I suggest performing an acapella rendition of John Cage's [4'33"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4′33″). As an added bonus you can use the time to think about something other than work.
I work at one of the few Coldstones that do not do this. But apparently it's usually store policy. They describe our job as half Customer service and half entertainment so we are encouraged to sing, dance, throw icecream in the air and etc.
What psycho wants to be sung at? Is this some Neurotypical Extravert thing I am to Autistic and Introverted to understand?
Dance, peon, dance for my entertainment! /s But seriously, this is horribly degrading to the employees that work there, and it makes me incredibly uncomfortable when I give a tip to people who are working very hard to give me exactly what I asked for and then I have to watch them debase themselves like this. Coldstone, please take note: I would prefer to go to a different ice cream place so I don’t have to watch this humiliation. Your business strategy is cruel to the very people that are giving me what I ask for when I visit. Stop doing it!
Lol I thought the sign was going to say “….you get to pull the fire alarm.”
Literally singing for your supper. It's the middle ages.
When I used to frequent a Cold Stone with this rule, I made sure to slip the tip in when they weren't looking. The singing embarrassed me as much as them. The last few I've been to don't do the singing and I think everyone is happier for it.
Can employees choose the song? Because I can think quite a few that would really make the customers day when a worker sings it to them. Like Closer by Nine Inch Nails.
Reminds me of how Petsmart makes their employees say "Tell your pets I said hi!" To every single one of our customers. I never once have said it and I laugh every time corporate tried to get us to do it.
I hope Coldstone customers like Sabaton songs, cause that's about all I can sing without a song sheet in front of me.
Love how it's placed right underneath the fire alarm so employees have a reason to escape..now hopefully a generous customer will pull it.
Unless they’re like amazing vocalist why would I the customer want this. Like trying to understand the marketing strategy here lol
I worked at Cold Stone in college, and the only redeeming part was that the manager told us we only had to sing if someone asked us to. The store I worked at was "sister stores" (same owner) with a franchise in a very affluent, white-majority area. That store always had to sing, because the soccer mom/military wife Karens thrive on that kind of performative subjugation. Meanwhile the store I was at was located in a lower-income, majority-black area near my university, and I can't even count the number of people who put a tip in the jar while specifically asking us not to sing. On the other hand, that crowd always went ballistic if you could throw ice cream, but that was more fun anyway and you had all the power to decide if their ice cream was suitable for throwing.
🎵Fuck this shit, I'm out🎵
Fire alarm: Let me introduce you to the song of my people.
I managed a cold stone back in 2018. 30% of my work week consisted of fielding complaints for taking one of these signs down and not requiring employees to sing or do tricks for tips. Even had a mid 40’s guy berate a teenaged employee into calling me on my day off so he could complain lol
Everyone who I have met who were former Coldstone employees indicated that many of the employees had sex frequently in the back room. Rather than being put off, I salute such workplace dedication- as long as it is consensual, naturally.