Dirty Cookie Money
Okay, so my daughter belongs to a club. It's a quite famous club. Due to the nature of my feelings about this club, I am not going to mention it's real name. But you'll know who I'm talking about. This is a club just for girls. They wear sashes or vests bearing multiple badges of accomplishment. They are best known for their cookie sales. They sell your average cookie (in my opinion) at extremely high prices. Yeah. Now it's ringing a bell, huh?
Okay, so did you know that those wonderful women (I am not being sarcastic here at all) that volunteer their time to be the leaders of the troop have to PAY to do it? Yep. They have to pay money to volunteer their time. Nice, huh?
And those outrageously priced cookies? The girls' groups don't actually earn much money from their cookie sales. They earn less than $1 per box of cookies. And they are being sold for almost $4 per box! I used to be one of the leaders, but couldn't believe how much the club was driven by the almighty dollar, so I quit.
And the real victims are the girls. In some areas they have to go out in knee-deep snow to sell these cookies, in the hopes of earning "great prizes". My daughter has earned these prizes. She was so excited her first year to get the coveted pewter statue. Yeah. Oh my gosh, she turned into a little Cookie Terrorist, hitting up anybody she came into contact with....caught a horrible cold from walking outside in blizzard-like conditions....to earn this trophy. She sold aboutt 200 boxes. And she wasn't the highest seller in the area...not even close. But it was a lot to her. And she earned her trophy. She waited anxiously to get this trophy. Let me tell you, there were sleepless nights as she read & reread her "Prize Sheet". She had every prize she earned circled. She had big plans for these prizes. She had an area of her bedroom cleared out for her trophy. She was ready. She had earned it.
The day came when the prizes were delivered. I'm telling you, most of those prizes looked like they came from the Dollar Tree or Deals. But the biggest disappointment was the trophy. This trophy brought tears to her eyes. And not for a good reason. She was just in total shock by the size of this pewter "trophy". It was all of about 1 inch high!! Yeah. One inch. She worked her tiny little butt off for this?! Words cannot describe how angry I was.....and still am.
And this is supposed to be the best thing to happen to girls? The opportunity of a lifetime? Yeah, right. I can go buy some cookies at Sam's Club & let her sell them & then buy her prizes myself at the Dollar Tree. At least then she'll really see the profit. Heck, we'll even give it to charity. At least then we'll know where the money is actually going. Because this Girls Club nickles-and-dimes parents left and right for everything. Each group of girls, the leaders need to buy the art supplies themselves. That's why they have to have Club Dues in addition to Registration Fees (the individual groups don't see a dime of the Registration Fee, by the way). Plus, add in the vests/sashes and the badges. Yep. It all adds up. And where does it all go?
Like I read somewhere on the internet (On This Site), there is some dude out there in a hot tub, surrounded by dirty cookie money.
Okay, so did you know that those wonderful women (I am not being sarcastic here at all) that volunteer their time to be the leaders of the troop have to PAY to do it? Yep. They have to pay money to volunteer their time. Nice, huh?
And those outrageously priced cookies? The girls' groups don't actually earn much money from their cookie sales. They earn less than $1 per box of cookies. And they are being sold for almost $4 per box! I used to be one of the leaders, but couldn't believe how much the club was driven by the almighty dollar, so I quit.
And the real victims are the girls. In some areas they have to go out in knee-deep snow to sell these cookies, in the hopes of earning "great prizes". My daughter has earned these prizes. She was so excited her first year to get the coveted pewter statue. Yeah. Oh my gosh, she turned into a little Cookie Terrorist, hitting up anybody she came into contact with....caught a horrible cold from walking outside in blizzard-like conditions....to earn this trophy. She sold aboutt 200 boxes. And she wasn't the highest seller in the area...not even close. But it was a lot to her. And she earned her trophy. She waited anxiously to get this trophy. Let me tell you, there were sleepless nights as she read & reread her "Prize Sheet". She had every prize she earned circled. She had big plans for these prizes. She had an area of her bedroom cleared out for her trophy. She was ready. She had earned it.
The day came when the prizes were delivered. I'm telling you, most of those prizes looked like they came from the Dollar Tree or Deals. But the biggest disappointment was the trophy. This trophy brought tears to her eyes. And not for a good reason. She was just in total shock by the size of this pewter "trophy". It was all of about 1 inch high!! Yeah. One inch. She worked her tiny little butt off for this?! Words cannot describe how angry I was.....and still am.
And this is supposed to be the best thing to happen to girls? The opportunity of a lifetime? Yeah, right. I can go buy some cookies at Sam's Club & let her sell them & then buy her prizes myself at the Dollar Tree. At least then she'll really see the profit. Heck, we'll even give it to charity. At least then we'll know where the money is actually going. Because this Girls Club nickles-and-dimes parents left and right for everything. Each group of girls, the leaders need to buy the art supplies themselves. That's why they have to have Club Dues in addition to Registration Fees (the individual groups don't see a dime of the Registration Fee, by the way). Plus, add in the vests/sashes and the badges. Yep. It all adds up. And where does it all go?
Like I read somewhere on the internet (On This Site), there is some dude out there in a hot tub, surrounded by dirty cookie money.
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