My life as a purveyor of sweet dairy treats starts on the dreary work floor of the local shipping center. I'll call it "Flip and Ship." I was home from college and looking to make some cash over summer break, but I didn’t know where to start. The help wanted ads left me wanting better options. Someone, I don’t remember who, told me that Flip and Ship paid new employees well. This now-unknown person also had a connection at F & S and was able to get me hired lickety-split. Here’s what I found out –

Flip and Ship did pay new employees well.

But new employees did the crappiest, back-breaking work.

And they did it on the graveyard shift - 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.? Or 3 a.m.? Maybe 4??? (It’s all a painful blur now.)

After a week of sleeping through the day and hoisting heavy packages at night, I got my first paycheck. After taxes, the take home was still respectable. But was it worth living like a vampire during summer vacation? Actually, vampires have fun at night. This was not fun.

I turned to the help wanted section once again. There was a new ad that seemed too good to be true - "Wanted: Ice Cream Truck Driver." Headquarters was ten minutes from my house. I drove over and was hired lickety-split. Here’s what I found out –

Selling ice cream paid just a well as my backbreaking nocturnal shipping job.

New ice cream men did the same fun work as every other ice cream man (or woman.)

And we did it during the day! The bright, beautiful, summertime days.

The only downside was the tinkly tune the truck played over and over and over but, honestly, you stopped hearing it after the first few days. Quitting the shipping biz and joining Ice Cream Inc. was a no-brainer. I went from pulling packages out of a dingy delivery truck for unseen bosses to pulling popsicles out of my shiny ice cream van for excited children. 

Why work somewhere you hate if you can work somewhere you love?

I know that a lot of people don’t have that choice, but I’ve been lucky enough to work at places I love ever since. And when I landed my dream job creating my own television show, I had the opportunity to pay homage to one of the best “career” decisions I’d ever made.