Smiles are the best for customers to feel at home

By Nellie Curtiss ….

One of the best smiles this week was on Thursday. My dog Schroeder was styled at All Four Paws Grooming which is a stone’s throw away from the Valley Courier.  Andie fetched him even before I parked. She clicked his leash on and let me know when to return for him. Her smile was the best. (I do miss Cher who was Schroeder’s groomer earlier; and I hope she gets better soon.) On return, I received a text that my boy was finished. As a side note, Andie added to check their Facebook post as Schroeder was listed as “Schroeder, the other reindeer.” Indeed, my pup was fuzzy where it counts and soft as a new baby’s toy. If anyone were to ask me how I feel when I go there, I would say, “I feel like I’m home.”

As a treat for Schroeder, we checked out Dairy Queen. I have yet to catch anyone with a frown as they hand me and Schroeder an ice cream cone, dipped or not, and a dog treat. It is inspiring to get served so happily. Even when I select Door Dash (because of a free-no charge coupon), the Dasher is tilted in a friendly dance like the reindeer might be pulling Santa Claus’ sleigh.

It was more than a half century ago now that I had my first soft-serve ice cream cone at the El Sombrero drive up in Mercedes, Texas. Mama was driving and Aunt Nono was on the passenger side. Barbara and I were scrambling for the first look out over the middle hump and we finally peered out the front window of Mama’s green 1955 Chevy.

While Mama went up to the window to order our cones, Aunt Nono would sing with us; sometimes we sang, “This is the way we wash our hands, wash our hands, wash our hands”; she would start singing and we would follow when she sang, “Here we go round the Mulberry Bush,” or other times we’d sing “Home again, home again, jigged-y jigg.” On wintery occasions, the sing-a-long would be, “Oh, you better watch out, you better not pout. Better not cry, I’m telling you why, Santa Claus is comin’ to town!”

When we licked that first moun­tainous cone, heaven opened up and hugged us. Temperatures could be 90 degrees in the shade, but we didn’t care as we gobbled the fast melt­ing ice cream glacier. And to think, they were only a nickel back then. Oh, my. Passing Dairy Queen on Hwy 160 in Monte Vista brings back the memo­ries of Mama rewarding us girls by get­ting us a curly cone and singing in her tank-like Chevy. My motto now is, when in Monte Vista, drive through Dairy Queen.

I worked at Alaskaland Ice Cream Par­lor for a while as a senior in high school when I lived in Anchorage some part of half a century ago. We dressed in turn of the century garb with straw hats, silky miniskirts and bright red vests. When it was a customer’s birthday, the whole staff ran out, (much like I saw Chili’s staff in Alamosa do), singing and banging a drum and carrying a bulg­ing ice cream mountain to wish the surprised birthday person a happy, HAPPY day.

No matter which memories pop up, after a fluffy styling at All Four Paws Grooming, ice cream and DQ come in handy, don’t you know!

— Nelda Curtiss is a retired college educator and long-time local columnist. Reach her at columnsbynellie.com or email her at columnsbynellie@columnsbynellie

Picture cutline: “Schroeder, the other reindeer.”