Miners and graders

I believe people can be categorized into one of two groups: Graders and Miners. Let me explain.

The way someone eats ice cream out of the carton (don’t pretend like you don’t) tells a lot about their personality. My hypothesis is: those of you who fall into Powerful Choleric and Popular Sanguine temperaments are Miners and those of you who fall into Perfect Melancholy and Peaceful Phlegmatic temperaments are Graders.

Miners

Miners eat their ice cream by tunneling through the carton and carving out the tasty morsels tucked away inside. Miners do not have time to waste eating the vanilla or chocolate base. The goal of the miner is to strip the carton of its pralines, cups, or cookie dough pieces leaving the barren pint or half-gallon for the laggards to finish. You can always spot a miner because the carton looks like it had been ravished by “forty-niners” from Sutter’s Mill.

Graders

Graders, on the other hand, eat their frozen treat with the precision and patience of an engineer building the Channel Tunnel connecting England and France. Graders will eat side to side in a scraping motion to ensure a level surface is maintained.

My wife studied theater and voice in college. She also loves telling a good story, especially if she is at the center of it. She is amazingly driven and always accomplishes what she sets her mind to. She is a Ready-Fire-Aim kind if girl. She’s a miner.

I’m a grader. I am happy to stay on the periphery and listen to you talk. When I take action my tendencies are methodical in nature. Ready-Aim-Fire-Analyze.

I have asked many people how they eat their ice cream and almost all of them fall into one of these categories. My guess is that you do too.