We have survived the first cookie sale. Amazingly enough, I didn’t scream at anyone. This is amazing for so many reasons, the prime one being that I woke up at 4:15 and couldn’t go back to bed. And I was determined I would go back to sleep, so I didn’t get out of bed and accomplish a ton of stuff. So, 8 hours of selling cookies in the rain today was a recipe for me losing my temper.
There was a moment there where I thought the rest of the troop was going to throttle the one Scout who wanted to get additional cases of cookies for our next sale in two weeks. Luckily, we did this crazy thing called taking a vote and she was overruled. Which means, with the extra boxes of cookies we’ll get when we get our pre-orders next week, we have about 75 boxes of cookies we still have to sell.
Seventy-five boxes to freedom.
I have to say, we had a really good time out there today. Apparently some of the girls had forgotten what it was like to sell cookies with me. For those of you who have read Jenny Crusie’s Welcome to Temptation, the five steps to running a con work. Really. Well. I’d say I should send her a box of cookies, but since she just found out she’s diabetic and is making real changes to her diet, I won’t. Also, I don’t know her address beyond somewhere in the wilds of Ohio. But God knows, she deserves them.
I’m not above using guilt, sarcasm, sweetness and light, or begging to sell cookies. You’re wearing a Carolina Tarheels hat? “You know what you’re going to want at 4:00 when you take on Maryland? Thin Mints.”
Guys walking out with Bud Lite. “You know, Thanks a Lots are really good with beer.” Well, they are. Then, looking at the girls, “This is not knowledge you should have.”
Baby teething? No problem. You need Shortbreads. Carmel deLites (do not let the name fool you, they are not lite) go well with a spicy Cabernet. And they’re all good on SuperBowl weekend because they’re snack foods and everyone knows snack foods are calorie-free on big game weekend!
I had customers walking into Radio Shack giving the guy in there grief because he only bought one box. Heck, I was trying to work an agreement where I did the receiving of the 10 boxes of inventory in exchange for him buying 10 boxes of cookies.
I sold a box of cookies to some guy because “you know what goes great with ice?” Radio Shack kept coming out to watch me work. My personal best today? 8 boxes. The girls just cracked up. Apparently their last troop stood around quietly asking people if they’d like to buy some cookies. I’m a little more in your face. And even if you don’t buy them, you’ll walk buy laughing.
Toward the end, we couldn’t feel our toes or fingers. Things got a little desperate then. Imagine a woman and three girls looking pitiful, saying, “Please buy a box of cookies so we can go home and get warm.”
We gave up with 45 minutes to go. I came home and walked into a bubble bath. Then I fell into a glass or two of questionable wine and I reasonably good omelet.
As you face the girls in the coming weeks, please remember that $4 a box gives your local troop $.56. The rest goes to things like providing Scouts and camp to girls around the country. It provides opportunities many girls would never otherwise have.
Oh, and if you’re diabetic, I sympathize, and you don’t have to buy a box for yourself. But don’t be surprised if some enterprising young thing suggests you buy a box to send to our military troops. I’ve trained the girls well.
