Example of a Basic Essay
Selling Ice Cream
Introductory
paragraph
For many people, the summer months are a time for relaxed living and freedom from care. But as a softice-cream concessionaire on the Boardwalk in Atlantic
City, I have never been able to share this attitude. I have, in fact, found that my job of selling ice cream during the summer can be a most trying and exasperating means of making a living. One must contend with government forms, the hired help, and most of all, the weather.
Motivator
Thesis statement mentioning three areas for discussion. Topic sentence The first big headache is the growing amount of forms and regulations with which the small businessman is swamped. There are census forms on materials consumed for the U.S. Agricultural Census
Department, milk forms for the state labor board, sales tax forms, income tax forms, and dozens more. Every day seems to bring a new and more complicated form to contend with. One summer I recorded and paid a young lady of legal age an hour overtime pay, and I was harassed by a state investigator for permitting the employee to work one hour overtime, due to some silly state rule regarding female employees.
Support by example Topic sentence Even more irritating than the government controls is the problem of securing efficient, dependable help.
There are the incompetent ones who, even though taught how to use the cash register or to mix the ice cream, repeatedly make mistakes that may take hours to correct. I once had a young man who on three
Paragraph
hook
Support separate occasions erroneously poured a gallon of chocolate malt into the vanilla vat. There are the lazy ones who can not be relied upon to show up on time for their shift or even to show up at all. These types seldom work at a pace steady enough to keep up with the flow of customers, nor can they be counted on to help with the cleaning, restocking, and other chores that must be acomplished when the lines of customers slow. The worst types are the "light-fingered" ones who think you are their fortunes. One enterprising and stupid young woman kept a tally of how much money she was stealing each day. When caught red-handed, she didn’t seem a bit embarrassed or think it dishonest to, in her words, "rip off the establishment." by example
Topic
sentence
While the help can be trying, the weather is the greatest worry of all, because it is totally beyond control. Very hot weather is not ideal ice-cream weather. The customers wind up taking in the beaches during the day and languidly sitting or strolling listlessly, sipping drinks or water ices, at night. Also, rainy, windy, or damp weather discourages a great many of our clientele from walking the boards with their children and so stopping for ice cream. Not only does the weather affect the quantity of prospective customers, but it also affects the quality of our product. Too hot weather causes the ice cream to melt too quickly, and too much wind or dampness makes for soggy cones and ice-cream inconsistency. It’s most aggravating to watch a fine confection become a wet, sticky mess in people’s hands. The help aptly calls this mess
"loose juice".
Paragraph
hook
Support by example Concluding paragraph Contending with the government, the help, and the weather can be a terrific hardship for one person to assume. On the other hand, I have been compensated with a decent income and an independence that I prize highly. These values help balance off the problems – at least most of the time!
Restatement of thesis Broadening and relating of subject to larger
perspective