We're halfway through cookie season, so Ann is regaling us with her own story of selling cookies as a Girl Scout:
Ann von Dehsen
02.08.2022
Cookie Time
When I started writing this, I was eating the last of my Thin Mints, still my favorite Girl Scout cookie so it took me back to my brief time as a Girl Scout. I did not enjoy cookie selling season. Back then cookies were sold door to door in January, and, in North Jersey, there was usually a good 3-6 inches of snow on the ground throughout the month. So, I’d bundle up in many layers, trudge through the snowy and often icy walkways to my neighbors’ front doors hoping I wouldn’t drop my pen in the snow or lose my order sheet to the cold winds.
Some of my fellow scouts told me their fathers sold the cookies at work. Great idea! Of course, my father would happily do it too! Wrong! When I asked him about it, he said “absolutely not, this is your job, it’s not my job. Sorry but it’s your responsibility.“
Wow, I was really not expecting that reply! So, at our next Girl Scout meeting, I was felling a little dejected as I listened to some of the girls’ (or fathers’) sale totals so far—my totals were far behind. Walking home in my Girl Scout uniform, I saw Mr. Esposito’s trash truck near our driveway. He always said hi to all the kids but today he stopped me and said “Wait, are you selling cookies? Me and the guys, we want some!” No problem I said as I whipped out that order sheet and within 5 minutes I had sold about 30 boxes to Mr. Esposito and his two workers. “My family, we just can’t get enough!” said Mr. Esposito as he hopped into his truck. With that shot of adrenaline, I walked right past my house and into another neighborhood where I sold several more boxes.
When it was time to report our final total sales, I was still behind the father daughter duos, but felt like I finally deserved my seat at the end of cookie season pizza party.
