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Hard Labor – Part 3 – Delivering Christmas Cheer?!
My 3rd “Hard Labor” job, during Christmas and Easter breaks, was for the Cotton Club Bottling Company (see here) at its Ashtabula warehouse and distribution center. This job grew out of my 2nd “Hard Labor” (my last post here) as a warehouse laborer for a 7Up distributor. My mother and her boss Dooney helped me get this as well. I’ve briefly described this 3rd job in a previous post 5/19/22 – Onni as in Dooney – Ooni Koda 1st Bakes, but I’ll dive further here.
Just as with 7Up, I started sorting bottles at Cotton Club. However, the job somehow evolved into driving one of those large soda pop delivery trucks at the request of Frank Napoli, the Distribution Manager.
Picture this: it’s Christmastime 1977, Cotton Club’s busiest season. Its major products were mixers for alcoholic drinks—think Ginger Ale, Soda Water, Quinine, etc. As an 18-year-old, I was driving a very large truck in the winter snow on freeways, tasked with helping the lead driver.
Imagine an 18-year-old behind the wheel of the largest vehicle he’s ever been in, navigating snowy roads with the finesse of a football player on figure skates. Each of us had our own separate trucks, delivering thousands of dollars’ worth of product to East Cleveland grocery stores. It was like Santa’s workshop, but with more soda and less elves!
Each bay was filled with cases like the above. Each case held 12 GLASS bottles of the mixers with each full case weighing between 40 – 50 pounds. We’d stack 5 cases on a dolly then push and pull the dolly load up and down snowy steps and ramps into the stores.
In most of the larger stores like Heinen’s, we’d tussle with competitive soda drivers (think Canada Dry or my old employer 7Up) for prime locations within the store. If the tussle didn’t work, we’d sometimes have to schmooze store managers with a bottle of booze to secure a prime location.
Picture a scene straight out of a soda pop version of ‘West Side Story’, complete with soda drivers snapping their fingers and vying for shelf space. Once in our preferred location, we’d stack the cases into elaborate displays with signs and banners to entice customers’ purchases. It was less of a soda display and more of a soda masterpiece!
Although pulling the cases from the truck, bringing them into the store, and building displays was grueling, I enjoyed the job immensely—especially the schmoozing and display building. There was a great feeling of accomplishment when a store customer walked past a competitor’s display and chose our products instead. It also paid well, and I could envision a “career path” as a full-time driver. For a brief moment, I questioned whether I wanted to return to college! Luckily, I went back, realizing that while delivering soda might be a ‘pop’ular career choice, I had other bubbles to chase.
No Nebaletan Word of the Day today. This post was getting too long, so I moved it to my next post!
Pizza Review – Pizzicletta, Flagstaff, AZ
All of us know that the Italian word for PIZZA is PIZZA! MY FAVORITE FOOD!
But, did you know that the Italian word for BICYCLE IS BICICLETTA? MY FAVORITE ACTIVITY!
So when a pizzeria mashes the two together and is named is PIZZICLETTA – HOW CAN I POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
It didn’t, it was GREAT!
| Date | 9/19/24 |
| Pizzeria | Pizzicletta |
| City/Neighborhood | Flagstaff, AZ / Downtown Flagstaff |
| Website | https://www.pizzicletta.com/ |
| About Us | None, but the hostess said that the owner got the inspiration while riding on SS-145 (a road on the Sorrentine Peninsula in Campania)! See the menu below. How can you possibly beat that combination…Sorrento, Campania, Neapolitan Pizza? |
| Style | Neapolitan – a perfect representation of a Neapolitan! |
| Ambiance | Small and quaint, but business was hopping on a weeknight! |
| Rating Criteria | |
| Shape | Round |
| Dough/Crust | Tickness- Neapolitan Thin Cook – Outstanding! Soft, Spongy/airy, Bubbly, Chewy Flavor – SOURDOUGH! Perfect! A much different taste than a yeast dough. Slight Char. The char had a slightly different, but fun, flavor. After speaking with the pizzaiolo, they use Arizona olive wood in the oven |
| Cornicione | Spongy/airy, Bubbly, Chewy, Sourdough |
| Toppings | Cheese, in house moozedell made daily, Fresh basil leaves, olive oil drizzle Fresh – Yes |
| Sauce | Tangy, Thin Per the pizzaiolo, it’s canned Bianco di Napoli with salt only! PURE! |
| Cheese | Cheese Type- Moozedell, Parmagian Cheese Distribution – Splotchy Stinky (in a good, made fresh, way – due to the fresh whey?), Salty |
| Cheese to Sauce Ratio | Sauce – A little to Medium Cheese – Medium Balance – PERFETTO |
| Value | Medium at a relatively high price of $17 for a 12″. If the pizza wasn’t sooooo great, I’d complain! |
| Overall Rating | Great Who knew that you can take a Classic Neapolitan and slightly modernize it and make it turn out so fabulously?!?!? Pizzicletta knows what they’re doing |
| Would I Go Back? | Yes Had never been to Flagstaff before, but it’s an outstanding outdoors town with massive hiking and biking trails within the city limits. Very cool place – WONDERFUL PIZZA (more reviews to come from Flagstaff) |
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