Log 57: "Keekay," "Ula," and "Neweye"

There are a lot of things that I like about working at Ululani's. I like my coworkers and my manager. I like that there's an ABC store inside the Hyatt that never runs out of egg salad sandwiches. But most of all, I love the ice. 

For years now, I have been somewhat deficient in iron. And over the years, I developed a habit of eating ice. This behavior is called “pica” and it's very common amongst anemic people. It's also very common amongst toddlers. “Pica'' is an impulse to eat things with no nutritional value. Like little kids that eat sand or paper. For someone who has the urge to consume ice, a shaved ice shop is an ideal place of work. 

At all hours of the day, I ask whoever’s on the shaving machine to “make me a cup of fluff please?” Typically, the ice is packed down firmly when it comes out of the shaver, but I prefer to have it unpacked, with more of a snow-like texture. That said, I will also happily eat the packed shaved ice - particularly packed ice that's about to be thrown away because we made it the wrong size. Hell, I'll even eat the straight up blocks of ice unshaved. My coworkers find this behavior strange, albeit entertaining.

Just today, I got my hands on a chunk of broken off ice headed for the discard bucket to snack on. “You're going to get your mouth stuck to it,” My coworker, Erin, warned me, laughing. Erin was standing next to me in the trimming spot while I poured. “Don't worry about it,” I brushed her off. The moment my mouth touched the ice block, it was stuck. I panicked and yanked away, definitely leaving some lip skin behind, and yelping in pain. All of the customers waiting for their shaved ice witnessed the scene unfolding.

Besides getting to eat plain ice, I also like that I get one free flavored shaved ice per day. And really, it ends up being as many shaved ices as I want, because of all the mistakes. Roughly once or twice every couple hours, someone in the shaved ice assembly line we have - cashier, shaver, trimmer, pourer - makes an error. If a small cup was supposed to be a medium, somebody (usually me) pours the wrong flavor, someone forgets to mark what kind of ice cream an order is supposed to have (also, usually me), or someone accidentally prints out an order and puts the ticket in their pocket instead of handing it to the shaver (okay, that one is always me), then we have to remake the order. When this happens, the “mistake” shaved ice often goes to waste. But, if the flavors look good you can also just eat it, which is what I usually opt for. I can't tell you how many customers have watched me pour the wrong flavors and screw up their order, apologize, and then proceed to start eating the order in front of them.

I continue to be surprised at how baffling shaved ice as a concept seems to be for our customers. First, there's the pronunciation issue. Ululani's has three bowl sizes: keiki (small), ulu (medium), and nui (large). They are very simple names, and I can pronounce them with no problem despite growing up in Minnesota. But they regularlly stump the guests at the Hyatt Regency. Every day I hear “keekay” and “keekee,” “ula” and “ulee,” “nua” and “nueye,” and a million other pronounciations of the three. Our menu item names are also turning out to be a challenge. The “Haleakala” gets absolutely butchered nine times out of ten. The “Lahaina” (the name of the city they likely have dinner in every night) and the “Kaanapali” (the city they’re literally in) fair no better. 

Beyond pronunciation, everyone remains confused about the ice cream and toppings that we sell as add-ons to the shaved ice. Many customers will clarify before they even order that they do not want ice cream put in their shaved ice. “Aren't you going to mark that down?” One man asked after telling me so. “Oh, well… we don't just put ice cream in there. You have to like, add it on,” I explained. “Oh,” he said gruffly and proceeded to walk away from me before I could give him his pickup ticket. 

Another woman came by the other day after we had closed and were cleaning the shop. “Excuse me, what is 'haupia' cream?” she asked over the counter as I restocked flavor bottles. I explained to her that it's a sweet coconut condensed milk topping, and that we have another topping called the “snow cap,” which is sweet condensed milk, so haupia cream is the dairy free version of that. “Ohh, okay,” she said, nodding, “So it's ice cream.” I furrowed my brow, “Um… no… we put ice cream underneath the shaved ice. The haupia cream is a sweet condensed milk topping, but instead of dairy milk it's coconut milk,” I reiterated. “Is it thicker than the condensed milk?” the woman inquired further, looking concerned. “Uh… yeah, I guess I’d say it’s a little thicker,” I shrugged. She chewed on this for a moment. “So it's more like ice cream,” she concluded. It wasn't a question. 

Highlight: The Hyatt has an area of the resort where they keep a flock of trumpeter swans, as well as a number of other varieties of ducks and geese. The swans roam freely around the green area, and while it's sad to see them in a place they aren't native to, it is incredible to get to see them up close. The only issue is, the swans aren't super friendly. Once, a few weeks after I started working, I was walking back from the ABC store, crossing a little bridge within the swan area. I stopped and turned when I saw one of the birds swimming a little bit behind me. The swan stopped too. So I kept walking. And then I stopped again, and found the swan still following me. At this point, I'm thinking, Wow, am I about to have a really cool bonding moment with this swan?” I started to approach it slowly, and it did the same. I was about to reach out my hand, when the swan reared its head back and lunged at my ankle, biting it hard. I jumped away from it and hurried back to the shaved ice stand.

However, the swans were not done for the day. Just as we closed shop at 5:00PM, I did a double take when I saw one of the swans waddling across our seating area, which is not part of the swan area. As hotel guests started to point and take photos of the swan, it remained still, probably very confused. Although, I did briefly consider the possibility that he wasn't confused at all, and he was here to finish what he started with me. Maybe it's lost?” Andrea, a coworker, proposed. I shrugged. But just then, five more swans, a few ducks, and a couple of these weird red faced geese came waddling down the same path as the first swan too. They all congregated around the original swan and were still, and eventually, most of the onlookers got bored and went back to their vacation. Except for one little boy, who slowly inched closer and closer to one of the swans. “That swan’s gonna bite that kid,” I warned Andrea. A few seconds later, the swan did indeed bite the boy - he jumped away in shock and scurried off. Swans are very unfriendly creatures.