Now That's A Girl Scout

It's Girl Scout Cookie Season, in case you weren't aware. This is the time of year where young girls wearing sashes adorned with badges and buttons (unless they're like I was, and not a super go-getter in the Girl Scout department) try to sell you the most delicious and exorbitantly priced cookies ever. And you will buy at least one box because A) they are delicious and B) you have a heart.

Seriously, I dare you to walk past the little Girl Scout table that is staffed with three little girls with pigtails and Brownie outfits on who sweetly implore you to buy some cookies and try to refuse them twice. I say twice because, like me, you might be able to scurry past unnoticed on the way into the grocery store, but not out. They will find you and you will pay. You will pay at least $3.50 for a single box of about 12 cookies. You will do it because they taste fabulous and those little girls were too sweet and innocent to ignore and they're Girl Scouts for heaven's sake. And it's okay if, in your mind, you think "dammit, Girl Scouts, now I'm going to have to buy cookies", because I'm right there with you. But no one needs to know you thought that; as long as you leave with some Thin Mints, everybody wins.

Today, I heard a knock on my door around 4PM. A young girl who lives down the street was going door to door with her dad selling cookies. I invited them inside while I filled out the order form, and I noticed her looking around the living room. She looked up and said "Um, I see you have a lot of toys in here. Are these your toys?" She asked it nicely, but with kind of a confused tone. I explained that yes, my baby girl has a lot of toys but that she wasn't here at the moment to play with them because she was spending time with her grandma. What comes next blew my mind.

"Oh", said the girl, "I see you outside a lot with a baby but I thought you were the babysitter. I thought you were a teenager."

I almost flipped the clipboard over and dropped the pen. I gave her what I imagine was a half-crazed look of amazement and bewilderment. And then I promptly added three more boxes to my order.

Kids her age don't typically tell white lies. They tend to be brutally honest. This makes me think she was being totally up front about how old she thought I was. But then again, her mission this afternoon was to sell some cookies. So in summary, either this girl was the nicest little girl I've ever met who just paid me a compliment that I will hold in my back pocket for a very long time OR she's the most brilliant businesswoman-in-the-making. 

Well played, Girl Scout. Well played.

~Stacy