Girl Scout Cookies As Learning Experience
Every year around this time, but usually at the end of the month when it is almost too late, I get the Girl Scout cookie jones. Thin Mints, those are my favorites, and everybody else’s too.
And it’s about this time of year that I start posting to the SFWOW email list to see if anyone has spotted a Girl Scout with a cookie stash.
This year though, as March 3rd or so rolled around I came down with a flash of a green box and a faint taste of mint. Ah! Girl Scout Cookie month!
In this neighborhood (Elmwood in Berkeley) I have consistently found the Girl Scouts selling outside of Wells Fargo Bank on the corner of College and Ashby. So today, I went looking for them.
There they were just as expected! Customers were crowded around the table. Luckily there were enough Thin Mints to go around. When the people in front of me collected their stack of boxes and went on down the street I asked “Who is going to wait on me?”
One of the girls piped up, “I am!”
So I got my three boxes of Thin Mints and asked how much were they per box.
“Four dollars per box,” she replied.
“Hmmm, let’s see, four times three is … hmmmm, what is four time three?” I asked.
Her little gears turned and she said “Twelve!”
I had twelve dollars in my wallet, but instead I took out a twenty and two ones. “If I give you this,” showing her the bills, “how much change will you give back to me?”
She replied almost instantly, “I don’t know.”
I looked at her for a second and she flashed her Mom a look. I said “Yes you do. If I give you twenty-two dollars, and the cookies cost twelve … what is twenty-two minus twelve?”
She hesitated for a minute, tried guessing, and then started writing out the math on the table with her fingers. She did her math problem out loud and then said “Ten!”
“Yep!” I said, and then she ran off and got me my change.
This may seem like a silly little thing, making a nine year old figure out how much change I need when her mother is standing at the other end of the table clutching the money bag. But these girls are not just trying to raise money. They are learning about business. They are learning about how to treat customers, sell their product, and yes, do the math!
Every time you allow a girl, or a boy for that matter, to get away with “I don’t know” for an answer, you are doing them a disservice. I’m not a parent, or a teacher, but it’s important that I teach the youngins’ whenever I have the opportunity. And Girl Scout Cookie Month is a great opportunity to be mentor that way.
So make those Girl Scouts use their Customer Service and Sales skills and don’t forget to make them do the math!
