It creeps around neighborhoods promising over-priced sugary bliss and pours carnival-theme music through pitted speakers so loudly that the tinny notes bore through your head and take residence there for days. Everything about this ice cream truck screams, "run away!" From its rusted fenders which promise tetanus (or at the very least an infection), to the greasy man in a wife-beater who growls a greeting through his tooth.
Yet time and time again we send our trusting children out, gripping sweaty dollar bills and quarters in their grubby fists, telling them it's OK to buy perishable products from shady strangers. Should we be wary of the message we are sending? Or is this another case of judging a book by its cover?
I pondered this as I ate my popsicle stick-flavored fudge pop today (my husband does not have the same uneasiness about buying food from creepy people). I came to the conclusion that in the food industry there is no shame in judging a book by its cover!
Every good business person knows that in order to attract customers your place of business needs to be appealing and clean. Maybe this is why the ice cream pimps market to young children playing outside away from the scrutinizing eyes of their parents. Kids will take sweet stuff from anywhere! It could be covered in dirt and hair, but as long as it tastes sweet it's fair game.
It has to be a conspiracy!
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