Cherryberry is a self-serve frozen yogurt bar heaven. You get a cup, fill it with delicious yogurt, add your toppings, weigh it all, then pay. I have just finished my time working there this past summer and I have a lot of advice, tips, and suggestions for our customers.

1. Be Patient

I'm not sure if this is every Cherryberry location, but at the one, I worked at there was almost always only one person working at a time. This meant the entire store was being run by one person. There a lot of responsibilities besides running the till for the customers. We have to fill the machines, stock the freezers, replenish the dry bar and cold bar, sweep, wipe off tables, clean the bathrooms, mop, clean the yogurt machines, cut fruit, take out the trash. We do all of this while still trying to help every customer, which becomes difficult when it gets busy. We get very good at checking if someone is up front, but sometimes we get busy in what we are doing. Many people would get visibly angry when I would take a few seconds to get to the till. Please don't be that person.

2. Don't use sample cups without intentions of buying yogurt

Cherryberry is very generous about letting people use as many sample cups as they want to figure out what kind of yogurt they want. I can't begin to imagine how much free yogurt is consumed by sample cups. Within my time at Cherryberry, there were many times when I had a group of kids comes in who clearly had no intentions of buying anything but were just eating sample cup after sample cup of yogurt. Please don't be that person.

3. Pease put the sample cups in the garbage

Another thing that irritated me about sample cups is that many people didn't seem to know where the garbage was. They would always leave them in the trays underneath the yogurt dispensers. I never understood this because the garbage was right next to the machines. Please don't be that person.

4. Please tell me your number at a reasonable speed

At the till I'm supposed to ask you for your phone number to get you Cherryberry rewards points. You have the option to say yes or no. It honestly doesn't matter to me. You are just missing out on some actually decent rewards! The thing that irritates me is when people say their number at hyper speed. Was I suppose to be able to remember all of that? Please don't be that person.

5. Ask for help when you have a limited amount of money

I've had the experience more than once where someone has thrown away their entire cup of yogurt after weighing it because it was too expensive. If you know you have a limited amount of money, let the employee know! They would be more than happy to help you. Just let them know your budget, then they will come with you to fill it up and you can check every so often how much it will cost. Don't blindly fill the whole cup up with yogurt when you only have three dollars. Please don't be that person.

6. What toppings to look for and avoid when on a budget

After working there for the past few months I can tell you what toppings to look for or avoid if you are on a budget. In the dry bar, there are a few different types of cereal. They almost will add no weight to your cup. It's a great option and tasty! Something to avoid in the dry bar is the Skittles. For one, Skittles get very hard when they are in your ice cream. You can't even bite them, they're pointless. And two, they are very heavy and will cause you a lot of extra weight. In the cold bar, a good option would be anything that is powder or chopped up, like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Butterfingers, or Snickers. Try not to get the big chunks of these items though if you really want to cut down on the cost. Something to avoid in the cold bar is mini chocolate cups and the Bobas (those weird round things; no one actually knows what they are). Bobas are very popular because of their uniqueness, but are honestly so pointless and they give a lot of extra weight to your cup.

7. My favorite yogurt/topping combination!

Lastly, I have tried my fair share of combinations of yogurt and toppings. I will share with you my favorite go-to cup. First, you take any size of cup and put vanilla yogurt in it half full. Then get a spoon to pack it all down and make a little crater in the middle. Next, add strawberries or whatever fruit you want into the crater. Then fill up the rest of the crater with hot fudge or any other sauce you want. Then go back to the vanilla yogurt machine to cover up your crater with more yogurt. Finally, drizzle a little hot fudge on the top and add a cherry. That is my perfect cup of yogurt.

Cherryberry is a unique place to get a delicious treat with your friends after a long day of shopping. I have loved working there for the past few months and I'm a little sad to be leaving. It taught me responsibility, public relations, and patience. Remember all these things the next time you go to Cherryberry, and thank the person at the till. They will appreciate it more than you know!