Undergound Cookie Ring? I think not...

My oldest is in Girl Scouts.  She is a daisy and it's her first year so we are new to the whole cookie biz.  I'm just going come out and say it, it's crazy up in there.

Why? Here's why...

1.  You have to meet about selling cookies and then meet about the meeting you had about selling cookies and then receive an email about the cookie selling.

2.  The dates are so rigid that you would think they might come repo your 1st born if you didn't get that order in on time.  I fell asleep and woke up in sheer panic at about midnight on the day the orders were due.  I immediately emailed my order so I wouldn't forget, like I have a tendency to do.

3.  As if asking all of your friends and family to spend about 3 times as much as the cookies are worth for a single box isn't enough, you have to sign up to sell them outside of a local store (like a Walgreen's or grocery store).  I am not good at selling things at all.  My 6 year old better step it up.

4.  They offer these enticing prizes to the girls, which basically makes my daughter harass me to sell more (who is the damn girl scout here?) and then whine and complain when didn't reach the goal.  Well honey, newsflash, you were NEVER going to reach the goal of selling 2000 boxes, you were NOT EVEN CLOSE.  And selling $8000 worth of cookies to win a $124 American Girl doll hardly seems worth the effort.

5.  Finally, here is the real kicker.  They send a policy for accepting checks to all parents.  The policy basically states that all checks must have the buyer's name, address, phone #, and driver's license # on it.  Why not get a copy of their birth certificate, social security card, passport, and 2 proofs of residency while you are at it.  I mean, seriously??? Have they had a problem in the past with people writing bad checks in order to get their hands on a large supply of delicious girl scout cookies that they will then turn around and sell on some underground black market? I think not.  And last time I checked grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, and the nice old lady down the street were not in the business of writing bad checks to cover the costs of their cookie habit.  If that's the case, I feel bad for them.  Then it's my treat.  Here are your do-si-dos...have at it.

Has anyone else experienced this and thought that it has gotten out of control?  I was a brownie back in the mid 80s and I don't recall this madness.  But maybe that is because in the good old days you could go door to door and ask random strangers if they wanted to buy cookies? You would even go into their houses while they looked over their options on the order form or got you money.  And if you were lucky, they gave you a little treat like some Anisette Toast for the road.  Man, those were the days.

I can't be the only one who things this cookie biz is a little silly.  God help me if all 3 of my girls end up in Girl Scouts...