LA woman shares her nightmarish experience working under her ice cream truck boss — but the boss is a 9-year-old and the owner is her fiancé
In the cutthroat world of Los Angeles small business, seniority is everything. But TikTok creator Caroline Levich (@carolinelevich) never thought that her senior would be a four-foot-tall, nine-year-old boy. That too, at her fiance’s own ice cream truck.
Caroline is going viral on TikTok after sharing her work life under her fiance’s only employee: a nine-year-old neighbor. But that boy has officially usurped her position in the ice cream truck’s hierarchy.
With over 2.6 million views, the story highlights the grueling reality of working under a boss. Even if the boss still has a bedtime. The video also proves that the “face of the truck” doesn’t hold any real power when the neighborhood’s most dedicated third-grader is on the clock.
The nine-year-old neighbor has more seniority on the ice cream truck
Caroline explained that her fiance, Eddie, owns an ice cream truck. And he employs exactly one person: the nine-year-old boy next door. Because the boy “entered Eddie’s life” before Caroline did, he reportedly never lets her forget that she is the newcomer.
The nine-year-old has even told her directly, “You know, I work for Eddie, but you work for me.” Yes, imagine a little boy throwing shade like that? He has established a workplace dynamic that is as elite as it is terrifying.
The boy apparently uses the ice cream truck to avoid schoolwork
The boy is obsessed with his career in the frozen dessert industry. So much so, that he allegedly tells his teachers he cannot do homework over the weekend because he “gotta work the ice cream truck.”
His parents even use the job as leverage. They require him to get good grades and avoid “talking back” just to earn his shift at the end of the week. However, once he clocks in, his primary “work” seems to consist of “strutting in late” and critiquing Caroline.
He critiques Caroline’s register duty performance
Despite Caroline being the actual adult at the register, the nine-year-old acts as a self-appointed quality control manager. He frequently tells her what she’s doing “wrong.”
“I’m always on register duty, like I’m the face of the truck. Eddie’s on the machine… and the nine-year-old is always telling me what I’m doing wrong.”
According to Caroline, he offers critiques like, “I really think you could have explained the flavors better to those customers.” When Caroline attempts to go “above his head” to the actual boss, Eddie simply defends his star employee. He keeps insisting that the boy “would never” be mean.
Customers at the ice cream truck mistake him for their actual child
Perhaps the most profitable part of the setup happens at the tip jar. Because customers assume the boy is Eddie and Caroline’s hungry child, they leave good tips. One customer even dropped twenty dollars into the jar, telling Caroline she “really should feed” her kid.
But at the end of the night, the nine-year-old simply reaches into the jar and takes the entire day’s tips. Whether the business was good or mediocre, the boy walks away with a “pretty good day.” Even if all he did was to sit there and eat his ice cream for six hours. Oh, he told Caroline how she’s doing everything wrong.
The internet played along
The comments section has largely sided with the nine-year-old. They even urged Caroline to “respect his seniority” before she gets written up. “Honestly, it sounds like you need to take a step back and respect his seniority,” one viewer joked. “He’s already adding manager to his resume,” another noted, impressed by the boy’s early career development.
“Typically when people discuss their boss online, they get fired. Be careful,” a third warned, leaning into the “CEO” narrative. One user was so hooked that they requested the parents of the nine-year-old to let viewers hear “his side of the story.”
The ice cream truck has a new CEO
Caroline’s story proves that in the service industry, it’s not about how old you are, but how long you’ve been standing by the machine. While she might be the one handling the cash, the “boss boss” clearly knows that the nine-year-old is the one bringing the “main character” energy. And, of course, the twenty-dollar tips.
We hope the nine-year-old does not grant Caroline a performance review after seeing the video. But if any of you are at an ice cream truck in LA, the kid eating the free cone is probably the one who’ll take your job in eight years.
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