No Bake Cookies?

“Do you wanna buy something? My school is selling stuff and….” the little girl pressed the cookie catalogue into my confused arms.

I took it and inwardly groaned. It seemed like I dealt with kids selling stuff on a weekly basis. Just last week I forked over $15 for air freshener from a JROTC member. I was about to tell him no, but as the word formed on my lips I saw his shoulders slump and immediately felt guilty.

I guess it surprises me when people actually do the fundraisers. Truth be told, I throw all of Tommy’s out that he gets from school. I’d rather not knock on doors and beg people to purchase magazines. Instead I just send a check to the PTO.

But other kids come out in full force. Last year I bought a sausage from a boy who claimed that they tasted, “pretty cool.” (It didn’t taste cool at all, it tasted like wet bark.)

Maybe I’m too nice. It’s okay to say no, after all. I didn’t have to say yes to the overpriced cookies.

Only, I did.

I told the girl that I’d buy some sugar cookies and scribbled out a check.

See, I assumed the cookies would already be made. In the catalogue it showed perfect looking sugar cookies and I thought, yum, a Friday night snack. Or, you know, a whenever I felt like a cookie snack.

Imagine my surprise when the girl dropped off this:



“Um,” I said. “What is this?”

The girl blinked up at me. “Your cookies?” She stared at me as though Charlie Sheen were doing a jig on top of my head.

I stared at the container. “I thought they’d already be made.”

“You cook them.” The girl definitely thought I was a complete idiot.

“It’s just, the catalogue was a bit misleading. It showed the cookies already made and—”

But the girl wasn’t listening. She turned and started walking away, probably thinking that I was a complete nutter.

Fine then. We’ll see if I buy anything from her again.

I really need to learn to say no to the neighborhood kids. The next time someone bangs on my door asking me to buy an overpriced candle, I’m saying no.

If I’m asked to buy cookies, I’m going to—well, probably say yes, because HELLO who can say no to cookies? Especially Girl Scout cookies. Mmmm…but I’m going to make sure that they’re already MADE before I fork over the money.

So mark my words.

I’m going to remind myself that it’s okay to say no to things.

And I’ll do it.

Unless the kid is really cute.

Or starts to cry.

I don’t deal well with sobbing children.