Cold Stone Ice Cream Pokey

There’s nothing wrong with enthusiasm for your job, its something to be admired in most cases. But then… there’s other cases. And these other cases just make me want to kill something. Luckily, I kill many things in video games, so my rage doesn’t go unchecked.

I went to Cold Stone, which has some pretty darn good ice cream, and as I stood quietly in line ignoring the rambunctious children in front of me, I noticed that there were no less than five teenage girls working the counter, and I knew that somehow, something stupid was about to happen.

I was right.

The customer at the register made the mistake of putting a tip in the jar. And then, all hell broke loose. The five girls stopped what they were doing, holding up production, and commenced to singing and dancing. That’s right, singing AND dancing. Some mutilated version of the Hokey Pokey replacing the words with ‘ice cream’ and ‘cold stone’ and the like.

What was I looking at? Was this rehearsed? Did they get together and actually decide to do this? Heaven forbid it was spontaneous! Was it instituted by the manager? Did some doofy guy in an ice cream tie actually sit his staff down and ask them to sing and dance? Was it his idea, or did his superiors request it? Picture a board room in some corporate building, a bunch of men in suits and ties, and one says, “You know, I think it would be a good idea for our employees to sing and dance every time they get a tip, kinda like those organ-grinding monkeys.” Now picture the assembled heads nodding in approval.

The world is truly a scary place.

I had to see this song and dance no less than four times while I was waiting in line. Fortunately, the people right in front of me did the same thing I did (as I heard them mutter), not tip them for fear of the cacophony that will surely follow.

In other news, and the reason I haven’t been posting, I picked up Dragon Quest VIII, which is truly a great game. Its a game that ten years ago wouldn’t have stood out in the least, but in this age of watered-down and ‘innovative’ RPG’s, it was really nice to play a classic old-style RPG. The music is good, the characters are decent, and the plot is serviceable. Its funny how a game of fairly average components can add up to a good game.

I would say my one and only problem is the scaling of experience and money. Example:

Trodain – Lvl 20-22 area – average 150 exp and 50 gold a battle (8000 exp levels and 3000g equipment)
Dark Ruins – Lvl 30-34 area – average 350 exp and 75 gold a battle (15000 exp levels and 9000g equipment)

The experience scaling, while a bit low, doesn’t bother me a whole lot. Its the gold that drives me insane. I haven’t upgraded my equipment in ages for lack of money. Though, on the flip side, it does give the game a bit of challenge, and that’s always a good thing.

Zel-kun out.