Abby became a Girl Scout this year. I too was a Girl Scout back in the day. In fact, my mom still has my nicely pressed uniform with my sash and all the trimmings. Abby is enjoying the Girl Scout experience a great deal. It's right up her alley, collecting badges for all her accomplishments. She thrives with that kind of reward system. I don't recall my Girl Scout days with quite the same fondness. All I really remember is being benched during a meeting for repeatedly misquoting "
Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers." I got the "pepper" part wrong (
use your naughty imagination). I highly doubt it was intentional on my part, unless I was just trying to make everyone laugh. Anyway, the benching didn't sit well with me (no pun intended) so I quit soon after that. But this post isn't about my criminal Girl Scout past.
It's about the cookies.
Let's start with a brief Girl Scout cookie history, shall we? These delightful little goodies go way back to 1917 when members started baking and selling their cookies as a way to finance troop activities. Twenty years later the Girl Scouts licensed the first commercial baker to produce the cookies sold in councils nationwide. The only time the Girl Scouts stopped mass production of cookies was during WWII when butter, flour, and sugar were in short supply. Instead, Girl Scout
swimsuit calendars were sold. Today, two licensed bakers produce a maximum of eight varieties, including three mandatory ones (Thin Mint, Peanut Butter Sandwich, and Shortbread). All cookies are kosher. Fun facts you never knew, right?
Recently, Abby and I had our first shift publicly selling the goods for our troop. We were stationed outside
the Swarthmore Co-op grocery store. My immediate thought upon securing this assignment is that Swarthmore is probably the last place you want to sell artificially flavored food items loaded with preservatives. This is where the most
haughty and superior intelligent and health-conscious people in America live. Not exactly our target market. While we did okay (
Abby turned the box so the nutrition and ingredients panel wasn't immediately visible), I did note that there are a number of popular avoidance techniques, including:
- Eyes cast down: These supreme avoiders will not make eye contact under any circumstances.
- Play deaf: Pretend you didn't just hear that cute little girl ask you if you wanted to buy cookies.
- Been there. Done that. Tell her you already bought some.
- Cry poverty. As if Swarthmoreans aren't loaded.
- Catch ya next time. They say "I'll be back," hoping you won't be here on that occasion.
Despite the rejections, Abby thoroughly enjoyed her time hawking sweets. So much so that she (we) has shifts at the Acme in Granite Run this Saturday and Sunday from 2:00-4:00 p.m. If you're out and about, stop by. I'll be the one giving folks the stink eye if they even think about passing us by.
 |
| Emma and Abby outside the Swarthmore Co-op |
2 comments:
LOL First, I love your tongue twister mishap. and a BIG BOOOOO to your mean troop leader.
Happy cookie hawking! I am very glad that Katie has just reach her self-determined goal of 126 boxes, so the pressure is off ;-)
Good luck to Abby! You guys must be FREEZING right about now! I used to be an "eyes cast down" strategist, but now I'm a "no thank you with a smile" strategist. I hope you don't run into too many folks like me!
Post a Comment