January 19, 2013

  • Everything I Learned About Being Cynical I Learned Selling Girl Scout Cookies

    For the second time this week, a young girl came knocking (with a parent!) to sell Girl Scout cookies…and for the second time, I took a pass.

    I could blame it on dieting…or the fact that I really don’t like them anymore.

    I could blame it on the fact that they are horribly overpriced…but…no…That’s not it.

    I was a girl scout for a year in grammar school. It was the first time they offered “prizes” for sales—other than the pizza party they used to throw. I did my best. I sold about 70 boxes, and really felt good about it…until I was at the meeting where the girls with the huge families, or extensive  social circles toted up their sales—high triple digits. Worse…the prizes were things there girls already OWNED…that kids like me could only sort of imagine.

    I remember the first time I saw a mom set up a table by the supermarket…which I guess made sense from a marketing standpoint. But I was pinching pennies for my family—and being solicited by the earnest young things bothered me. Worse…some girls were barely willing, clearly bored, and doing it only because their moms were there. Now you could accuse me of lacking entrepreneurial spirit…but the girl scout cookie has changed over the years. Once it was a group undertaking—and now it’s become a competition with no clear goal in place.

    I think the girls could better spend the time, both with their parents, and each other. And lest we forget, there is the whole “girls sell cookies” while boy scouts clean abandoned lots, do recycling drives, and actually get out there. It’s just a little too precious…and a little too sexist. Once, you learned things in Girl Scouts that your parents didn’t know to teach you…genuine skills you actually might have need of. But now? Is the best we can do for them the demand that they spend one month a year pushing trans fat, and carbs?

    And I am sure other people will tell me I am wrong…which is fine. But if there is more to it, observe…the message is NOT getting out there.  People still equate girl scouts with COOKIES. Juliet Lowe Would not be amused…

Comments (13)

  • I’ll have to rethink this. I always buy Girl Scout cookies. They stand at the entrance to the supermarket and CVS. I never even open the boxes. Eventually I throw them out. I don’t like them either. I can understand your perspective and insight you got from participating. It’s something for me to think about. 

    I hated my stint in the Boy Scouts. I never went on a jamboree or camping because I heard the hazing stories. I think back then we did sell Boy Scout cookies. I sold cookies for school. That I do remember. I would have been thrilled to sell 70 boxes haha. I think 10 was about my norm. My mom bought whatever was left of the case of boxes I was given to sell.

  • I have noticed in my own life that being a Girl Scout (or even a Boy Scout) is less and less popular these days among people in my generation and those younger as well.

    What do you think might be driving that shift?

  • @Nous_Apeiron - Hmmm…interesting question.

    The Boy Scouts keep getting caught up in controversy. Atheists and Gays notwithstanding, finding out they had a database of pedophiles dating back 40 years did them no good.

    Girl Scouts…I’m going to get seriously controversial. We started telling girls “you can do anything you want” when I was a teenager. This did not include lessons, or instructions, of course…just permission. Boys are not born KNOWING how to change oil, or spark plugs…someone showed them how—or correctly assumed that someday they would need the skill. But we still dole out information in terms of pink and blue…and that is not useful.

  • I think selling Girl Scout cookies is a reasonable fund raiser.  All of these organizations need fund raisers and it is better than standing outside the supermarket with “give-me” cans.  I agree it can be a difficult experience for kids especially when people turn them down for reasons they don’t understand.

  • @RushmoreJ - I hated it. I felt it was rude to go knocking on people’s doors…and I had a smaller family—so there was no “relative” kick in to help.

  • @galadrial - I understand but what is your funding alternative.  Without money these organizations disappear 

  • @RushmoreJ - Actually no.

    The “funding” was supposed to be for special trips, camping and the like. Membership dues covered the rest. And if your parents didn’t have it, you were not allowed in.

    I have no idea WHAT they use the cookie money for now…

  • @galadrial - I can certainly see the bad PR being a problem for the Boy Scouts.  I remember a few cases offhand, and I’m sure there are more I don’t know about.

    So if I’m understanding correctly, the problem for the Girl Scouts is related to girls being given permission to do what they want and a lack of helpful direction as to what would be productive things to do and learn?  So in essence girls weren’t getting anything of substance or real utility out of it?

    I know that if I weren’t getting anything useful out of being in a group like that, I’d probably leave as well.

  • I think the experience a child has with Girl Scouts is going to depend on the people that lead it. However, I agree with you. People equate Girl Scout’s with cookies.

  • @Nous_Apeiron - The problem is that in the last 30 years, to be an adult, (male or female) you need a practical skill set. Frankly, many lack that. I remember when I was a kid…there was no “jiffy lubes”. The Guys changed their own oil. Women didn’t usually own cars, so no one considered it important for us to learn.

    Things have changed. Now cars require computers to due diagnostics. A chip the size of your pinky nail can screw up your whole electrical system. But basic maintenance? Anyone who drives should be able to handle that. I was shocked back in July when I took my car for a checkup, and they “offered” to top off my fluids…for a cool THREE HUNDRED dollars.

    Man…did I look stupid? In any event…we lack some basic skills, and it is to our detriment. There isn’t an “app” that sews on buttons, or fixes tears.  The Girl Scouts could be focusing on things to ENABLE women…but it’s still stuck in “cute.”

  • @galadrial - I have the same worries about the lack of preparation for adulthood on the part of many in my generation.  I saw and continue to see a lot of them struggle to just do basic life management.  It makes me glad for my parents, and helps me to be committed to properly preparing any children I might have for life in all its difficulty.

    My mom taught me how to knit and plant corn and use a pocket knife when I was a kid, and I doubt many in my age group could honestly say that.

  • actually, the Boy Scouts in my city sell gourmet popcorn.  it’s not as popular as the Girl Scout cookies, but just as expensive.

  • @flapper_femme_fatale - Interesting…but you still don’t think “Boy Scout Popcorn”.

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