Heading out of the grocery store this morning I had my $4 ready for the girl scout cookie table waiting at the entry. It’s that season when moms and little girls wait by the chilly front doors near a table filled with overpriced snacks. Sometimes I plan my shopping for times I think there won’t be kids with big hopeful eyes selling stuff, but this morning I was on a mission.
It was early, and there was only one very young girl standing uncertainly in front of the table. She wouldn’t look at me and seemed shy, so I thought I’d engage her. As her mom smiled from behind the table I asked her:
“How much for one box of thin mints?”
The girl looked up, frowned and turned her back to me. I only realized she was pointing when she said.
“It says on the sign.”
And then she sighed.
I gave my four dollars to the embarrassed mom and scurried out of the store with my cookies.
Old people need the obvious pointed out to them.
Yes we do.
March 7, 2015 at 11:12 am
More often than I care to admit.
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March 8, 2015 at 3:22 pm
I know. How true.
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March 7, 2015 at 11:55 am
Ha! A few years ago, I declined to buy a box of Girl Scout cookies at a grocery store. As I left, one Brownie said to the other, “Sometimes OLD PEOPLE just don’t like cookies.”
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March 8, 2015 at 3:23 pm
If they knew how much most OLD PEOPLE really like cookies….just not expensive ones….
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March 7, 2015 at 12:03 pm
And kids are always willing to do just that.
I remember the days when girl scout cookies were sold door to door. My mom would drop me off in a neighborhood and pick me up in an hour. Girl scouts have it easy these days.
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March 8, 2015 at 3:23 pm
I remember that too. I only lasted in Girl Scouts one year. I thought the whole thing was no fun.
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March 7, 2015 at 12:46 pm
Chalk it up to ‘stranger danger’ mentality we have instilled in kids these days – they are either too scared to talk to anyone or so blatantly rude they have obviously never been taught manners. The latter was the one I en-counted, she grabbed the $5 from my hand and said the ‘cookies are $4.00 and it’s a $1.00 donation – news to me they actually force donations on people now.
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March 8, 2015 at 3:24 pm
Wow, I”d have been embarrassed for a whole other reason if I was her mother!
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March 7, 2015 at 7:53 pm
I’ve seen those poor dears shivering outside while trying to peddle their cookies, Dawn. Somehow, it seemed easier back in the day when they went door to door! Of course, we live in a more dangerous world, too. Sigh. At least you got your cookies!
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March 8, 2015 at 3:24 pm
Most of the time they do seem miserable.
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March 8, 2015 at 1:13 pm
Sometimes “old people” are on a diet, and then they feel guilty if they buy and guilty if they don’t!
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March 8, 2015 at 3:25 pm
I like when there’s just a jar for donations and I can drop in a dollar and avoid the whole thing.
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March 9, 2015 at 8:48 pm
I’m not sure to laugh or feel frustrated. While I am amused at her frustration at your lack of seeing the obvious (duh, C’mon Dawn! 😉 ), it seems like a great teachable moment. My mom would’ve made me apologize right there and try again the nice way.
PS – all statistics point to the world being more safe for kids than it was even when I was growing up. Maybe because we protect our kids more, but crime overall is down even if we are more sensitive to sensational news stories.
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March 10, 2015 at 1:09 pm
Yep, if you want to hear the truth in answer to a question, ask a kid. And yes, my mom would also have corrected me for being rude like that – as someone else commented, a teachable moment! So funny, though….but hey, when it was all said and done, you got your cookies. 🙂
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