Random Acts of Ice Cream

One fun story about Las Vegas I meant to relay last night involves some of my favorite things: ice cream and random acts of kindness. I think this anecdote took me by such surprise because it happened in Vegas where innocence and good heartedness are hard to come by. As Chris and I were leaving the pool one early afternoon, I realized that the Bloody Mary I had had for breakfast a couple of hours earlier just wasn't cutting it anymore and I was HUNGRY. First I wanted ice cream, then I wanted a bagel (yes, neither are nutritious choices, but keep in mind breakfast had been vodka and tomato juice). The bagel line was too long, so we headed to the ice cream parlor. A nice-looking middle-aged man dressed in a green button down was standing outside of the ice cream parlor looking at his watch and telling people there was free ice cream inside. Nothing is free in Vegas, even the free stuff isn't so much free. I was suspicious, but I wanted ice cream. At the counter, I ordered a cone of black cherry ice cream. The woman in line behind me explained it was the guy-in-the-green-shirt's 40th birthday and he was paying for ice cream for whoever wanted it for 40 minutes. So to all the people in line: free. When I looked at the total at the register, it was up to $378. This 40 minutes of free ice cream was turning out to be a lot cheaper for the guy than a round in a bar would have been and it was making so many people so much happier than a shot ever could. On the way out of the store, we stopped to wish the guy a happy 40th birthday. He was really nice and I could tell he really enjoyed giving this small gift to everyone on his birthday. So happy birthday green-shirt-guy and thanks for the ice cream.