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 they ravish the carton, leaving it looking like it was attacked by "forty-niners" from Sutter's Mill.

Graders

Graders eat their frozen treats with the precision and patience of an engineer building the channel tunnel connecting England and France. To maintain a level surface, graders will scrape their frozen treat from side to side while eating.

My wife studied theater and voice in college. She also loves telling a good story. 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. Ready-aim-fire-analyze.

I've spoken to many people about their ice cream consumption, and the majority can be grouped into these categories. My guess is that you do too.