Soda Jerk

Soda Jerk

Funny how memories come as you get older. People, events, sad or happy, pop into the mind like a jack in the box. They always leaving a residue of a season long gone, never to return. The following is one of those memories.

I started my working career at home: making my bed, cleaning my room, picking up my dirty clothes, taking turns washing and drying dishes (in the days before the dishwasher), taking out the garbage and picking up dog poop. The pay wasn’t great, usually a small allowance, but room and board made the difference.

My first paying job was a soda jerk. I don’t remember how I got the job. I must have walked into the Milk House at Minnetonka Mills and applied. The pay was fifty cents an hour and all the pop I could drink. In addition to stocking shelves with grocery items and keeping the milk cooler full, I stood behind a long stainless steel lunch counter serving ice cream delights.

For those not in the know, a soda jerk is a person who operates the soda fountain in a drug store/convenience store serving soda drinks, ice cream sodas, malts and cones. It was a popular job for a teenager back in the 1920-1950’s before McDonalds. I learned how to put flavored syrup in specially designed glasses and add carbonated water for a fountain soda. Malts were two scoops of ice cream, malt powder, run in the malt mixer and served with a long handled spoon and a straw.

This was my first experience working with the public where the customer was always right. Also, my first experience working for a boss not my parents. Thinking back on those early working days, I see the positive work ethic that was foundational for later life. I enjoyed and learned, at least in part, from all my employment experiences.

This word from the Book of Proverbs continues to speak truth into my life: “Appetite is an incentive to work; hunger makes you work all the harder.” I haven’t stopped working and I haven’t gone hungry. What more can I ask?