When Randy Lapidus, 37, of Knox, had difficulty finding work after a corporate layoff, he decided to find something to keep him in good humor.

A Good Humor ice cream truck, that is.

Visiting neighborhoods throughout Grove City and Pine Township every Friday, Lapidus peddles his ice cream along with his good sense of humor to everyone who buys his frozen wares.

"You aren't sure what you want yet?" he asked a young boy with a laugh. "Well, I'm not going anywhere, so take your time."

After giving him a Push-up pop and returning his change, Lapidus pointed to the smiling kid and said, "How could you not enjoy that?"

Lapidus and his wife Robin purchased an original Good Humor ice cream truck in April. According to Lapidus, 420 of the trucks were made for the company but now there are fewer than 100 in existence that still have original Good Humor signs. "When we got this, the brass bells were black, and it was nothing but a pile of rust," he said.

They got it up and running by mid-May under the business name of Randy-N-Robin's Neat Treats and circulated near the Knox area. Three weeks ago, Lapidus began visiting the Grove City area on Friday afternoons and evenings.

"I like this better than Dairy Queen because you don't have to get in your car and go to it," said 9-year-old Ashlynn Moyer of East Pine Street.

"It's a nice surprise because we haven't had anything like that," said Amy Miller of Gregg Street who was buying ice cream for her 8-year-old daughter Kaitlin.

Part of his popularity is a freeze on price hikes with his products, which range from 30 cents to $1.50. Lapidus also sells nickel candy, chips and pop.

"That's another thing I do. That girl had 57 cents. I gave her two 30-cent Popsicles," Lapidus said, referring to a 12-year-old who had just purchased two frozen treats. "Other ice cream people tell me I'm stupid. If that be the case, so be it. You get to know these people after awhile. To see the smiles on their faces, there's nothing better in the world."

Lapidus said he was in the retail business for 25 years, but once 9/11 occurred, sales dropped and times became tougher. A fire at his home last May kept him out of work while he dealt with that until September. That's when he got a position as a dining room/banquet supervisor at a hotel. Before November hit, he was told his position was being phased out because of corporate cutbacks. "So there I was, two months before Christmas without work," said the father of two and foster father of his two nephews. "I told my wife, I guess I wasn't meant to work for other people. And she laughed and thought it was the funniest thing she ever heard."

Her good sense of humor combined with his helped them through the tough time, and he began researching the opening of an ice cream business and spent months trying to track down an original Good Humor truck, which he finally purchased in April. Recently he bought a second truck to be used by his brother next year at events such as baseball games, festivals and parties.

"Truthfully, this has been a tough year. The truck hadn't run in probably three years so it cost to repair it, and the weather this summer hasn't helped any," Lapidus said. "This year, we aren't really making anything, but that's OK, we will next year. It's not a money issue. It is a matter of enjoying ourselves for the first time."

He said the average salary for the six-month-a-year business is anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000, but to hit the high salary end isn't his goal. "There are kids getting ripped off by ice cream men who want to make a fortune. When someone is charging $1.50 more than I am for (an ice cream treat), well if you don't call that highway robbery, I don't know what is," Lapidus said. "We didn't do this to get rich. We did this to have fun and peace of mind."

In the meantime, he continues to ring the brass bells, play the festival music and press the truck's horn, which makes an old-fashioned "arruga" sound as he drives through the Grove City neighborhoods.

"I always tell the kids, don't run to the truck. I'll wait for you. Just stay where you are," he said.

Eight-year-old Brianna Stull of East Pine Street agreed. "I like it because it's riding around and you don't have to go nowhere."