When your job is to hand out free ice cream samples, you get all kinds of reactions when people realize exactly what they have come across.

Some people squeal with excitement, some ask for more than one sample, some take a long time to decide (after all, there are 6 fantastic choices to choose from), while others are immediately drawn to one flavor.  There are those who turn us down for various reasons (diabetic, dieting etc.), but none who look very happy to be doing so.

But in the inevitable excitement, a lot of people forget to say ‘please’!  It’s not that they have bad manners, after all, they usually have gathered themselves together enough that they remember to say thank you, and once they’ve tried the sample, you’d be surprised at the number of people who return just to say another round of thanks after having so thoroughly enjoyed their treats!  But the “magic word” your parents always taught you to remember, well, sometimes it’s just not remembered.  Our window is also the site of many of those “please” and “thank you” lessons, as parents coach their children in the course of their interactions with us.

Our winner of "most polite"!

We met this little Bella Girl outside the Whole Foods Palo Alto, and she wins our award for “most polite customer” of the tour, at least so far.  She asked me “may I please try the lemon sorbet”, and then promptly said “thank you” as soon as I gave her her sample.  She seemed quite proud when I praised her manners, and I can tell you, it was a pleasure to serve such a polite and well spoken little cutie!