Taste of Madison

lisa Posted on September 7th, 2009 No comments

Michael and I worked at Taste of Madison on Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend this year.  Heather Lerner’s mom and step-dad, Fannie and Neill, run a cheesecake catering business.  They have been selling their frozen, chocolate-dipped cheesecakes at local fairs and festivals, but this was the first time they had run a booth at Taste of Madison.  Fannie was at another fair this weekend, so Neill handled the Taste of Madison booth.

A few months ago, Heather called Michael to ask if we could help Neill with the booth this weekend.  We didn’t have plans for Labor Day yet, so we put it on our calendar.

We sold frozen cheesecake and made and sold lemonade for about six hours each day on Saturday and Sunday.  Unfortunately, we ran out of cheesecake on both days or I think we would have been there until the festival ended each night.  I have to say that both the cheesecake and the lemonade were VERY popular.

Michael and I switched off making lemonade, restocking cheesecake from the big freezer in the back, and handling the counter.  We really work well together as a team in a production environment, which I guess is good if you’re marrying someone (but not true in all cases).  Also, it was an informative test run for us because I’d like to run a small business one day.  Michael insists (after this weekend) that any business I run should have air-conditioning.

We had lots of pleasant customers and most people were enjoying themselves and in a great mood, but while I was making lemonade, Michael had one who was kind of loud and rude.  Apparently the whole family was arguing amongst themselves and making it difficult for Michael to understand what they wanted.

I don’t think people always understand that they choose their behavior and that they can decide to have a good time or to be miserable, argue, and then berate someone who has nothing to do with their misery.  It made me feel glad that I didn’t know the customer and sympathetic to waiters and cashiers in food service jobs who probably see a lot of rude customers that are rude for reasons entirely unrelated to the service they are receiving.

Otherwise it was a pretty good experience.  Over the two days of the festival, I managed to find a tasty Jamison burger at the Claddagh booth and samosas and aloo chole at the Taj booth.  We didn’t walk around much otherwise– it was a really busy time.

Best of all, it’s a three-day weekend, so we still have one day to laze about a bit, shop, and get the house back in order for the work week.  I think Michael would like to spend some quality time with his computer games, too.