The Fudgery

I gotta hand it to the owners, the concept was smart. They set up shop in tourist traps, usually outside of restaurants and family friendly areas. We kept the doors open so the smell of cooking chocolate wafted out into the walkways. A cashier stands at the door yelling "FREE SAMPLES" at every parent, child, spring breaker, or bachelorette party walking by. And to top it all off? The employees had to sing.

And not just for tips. All. The. Time. Mostly parodies of Motown and R&B classics.

"I've got hot fudge on a cloudy day...when it's cold outside, hot fudge is what we make..."

"You don't have to be good, you just have to be willing." They weren't kidding. I had a manager who ran people out of the door with her shrill vocals and off-beat snapping. For the most part though, the job attracted natural entertainers who could put on quite a show, and I liked the peers I worked with. Once a batch was ready to pour, an employee would go outside, ring a bell installed just outside the door and yell "FUDGE SHOW, FUDGE SHOW, EVERYBODY COME ON IN FOR THE FUDGE SHOW!" Tourists would pile in to watch a call and response musical comedy show courtesy of the candy-makers and the sales associates.

I was two months from eighteen and lived in Myrtle Beach at the time. The summers were hectic. Not long in, I ended up becoming a shift leader and keyholder, and was quickly clued into the expectations for the store. Sell, sell, sell. We were encouraged to be happy, charming, and to push profit any way that we could. Little old lady with a sweet tooth? Buy three slices, the fourth one is free. College kid willing to buy a milkshake just to flirt? Bat your eyelashes and make the sale. It'll get us seven dollars closer to beating the other locations. No one in the store? Go to the door.

"Oh you MUST just LOVE working here! It seems so fun!"

Sure, lady. You've sampled every flavor in the case, we're ten minutes from closing, I've been yelled at by three customers today, my manager just implied that we can't close until we hit our sales goal and we're probably going to have to clean the store off the clock. Again. By the way. You buy two of any flavor, and you get a slice of Creamy Vanilla for free. You don't like vanilla? Okay, well I'll give you the Chocolate Caramel Nut if it'll get you out the door. In fact, I've got a whole fridge of fudge at home that I'll never eat because I'm sick of it. HAVE IT. FOR FREE. Don't mind the scoop marks- they only let us take the sample pieces home.

Almost a year in, I called corporate. For most of the summer, we'd worked off the clock. The woman asked if I could give her specific dates. I said "Check the cameras anywhere from March to September." As it turns out, the Fudgery is a family affair. The head of HR is the owner's daughter. The CEO is his son. This call was followed by an awkward store meeting and ultimately nothing was done. I was finishing my last semester at tech, so I put in my two weeks and moved on with my life.

Last year, I went to the Outer Banks with my husband's family. We were in a tourist trap, and passed by The Fudgery. My husband's cousin mentioned wanting to go inside. Unthinking, I blurted out a puddle of word vomit about how horrible the company is. I saw rapid movement come from my left, and looked over to see a small family eating ice cream out of cups from the store. Their wide-eyes stares made me realize how intense I was being and I tried to backpedal so that I didn't ruin their vacation.

I wouldn't take the experience back, even though it turned out to be a crappy job. I met some interesting people, and the quick promotion I received led to other opportunities for me down the road. Not to mention, working customer service jobs has a way of forcing you to empathize with the people who are serving you when you're on the other side of the counter. But if you're ever in the Myrtle Beach area and craving fudge...go to River Street Sweets.