It’s Not Easy Not Being Green

A long time ago, I worked in a gourmet homemade ice cream shop. The owner is really big into natural, unprocessed ingredients. (This was a big deal at the time since it was before the whole organic fad.) I can’t tell you how many times I had this conversation.

Customer: “I would like a cup of mint chocolate chip.”

I go get their order and give it to them.

Customer: “This isn’t green. This isn’t what I ordered. I want mint chocolate chip.”

Me: “Our ice cream is made with natural ingredients. We do not add green dye to the mint chocolate chip. It still has mint in it, just not green dye. Go ahead and taste it! It’s mint!”

Customer: “But it’s not green! It can’t be mint!”

So many times, I would have to throw away their first order and get them something else because they couldn’t believe it was mint without being green. The worst was having these arguments with full-grown adults. I can understand a kid being confused over the color, but to watch adults throw a fit about the color was just embarrassing.