Obviously your kids so cute no one can say no to him, so they all hide.
I suggest you watch the *Everybody Loves Raymond *episode, “Cookies,” in which the character known as “Peggy Hitler” debuts.
What an incredibly shitty thing to say. How is not answering my door to strangers being selfish?
Many people work nights. You may be ringing their bell at what is, to them, the middle of the night. I used to work graveyard shift, and it was amazing how many people would ask me to do errands for them in the middle of the day, because after all, I had “nothing else to do” all day.
[Seinfeld]
“Why does everything have to be ‘us’? Is there no ‘me’ left? Why can’t there be some things just for me? Is that so selfish?”
“Actually, that’s the definition of selfish.”
[/Seinfeld]
I am so tired of hearing this. People are not necessarily friendlier down there. And people are not necessarily ruder up here.
Somehow wanting my OWN autonomy in my OWN house is now considered not being nice. Pshaw. I saw not ringing stranger’s doorbells is considered nice.
And it would be a different kettle of fish, wouldn’t it, if the family was just coming to say hi? Oh no, the first they want to talk to me is to ask me for money. Go away.
Cute but totally false in the larger context.
I very nearly did this, but since I’m a manager I decided it would be inappropriate to solicit (even passively) from people who work for me.
I lived in New England for 18 years, Chicago for 13, and Nashville for 13. Every region has friendly people and assholes – so no, people are not necessarily friendlier down here. But by and large, the population as a group is way friendlier. Often aggravatingly so.
I have two grown children. They belonged to Girl Scouts, soccer clubs, etc., and of course they also attended school. While I did participate in Girl Scout cookie booth sales, for a few reasons, anything involving door-to-door selling was verboten in our household. I absolutely refused to take advantage of my friends and neighbors. When I decided to have kids, I took full financial responsibility for them. Whenever a fundraiser packet would come home, I’d write a check for the minimum required and send it back in. Done.
I wish that all my relatives and neighbors had a similar attitude. One neighbor routinely sics their kids on us with their school fundraisers, even though I never ONCE knocked on their door. I also have one SIL who would take advantage of any holiday or even wedding to sell chances on behalf of her kids, which was tacky enough, but it was even worse because it was for her kid’s club soccer team. (Hint: Your kids’ traveling club team isn’t a charity. It’s tacky to ask other people to support your frivolity. If you can’t afford it on your own, don’t freaking sign up for it.) If she had any idea what people said behind her back…
So while I’d never slam the door on a child, I freely admit to simply not answering the door if it’s a child I don’t know very well. I can guarantee you that I’ll never knock on your door asking you for money. Please extend to me the same courtesy.
I assume that the benefits of popcorn sales are that the Scouts get it at a good price due to the scale of their operation (cheaper than baking cakes) and that it’s a known product. If I’m paying Scouts to rake my leaves, there’s a chance for me to get all upset that they did a “poor job” or showed up late or stepped on my tulips or whatever. With a product like popcorn, there’s much less liability involved.
I dislike the imposition on me when organizations want MY kids to sell stuff but I’ll give a fair listen to any kid who shows up at my door and try to give them a sale if I can swing it. They’re trying to be involved in something constructive with their time (Scouts, school, sports) and I support that.
Not really. For normal retail goods the wholesale is typically about half of retail. For cheaper goods, the markup is frequently higher percentagewise. But on “fundraiser” goods, the amount the organization gets to keep is usually pitiful, sometimes even less than a commissioned salesperson would make. I haven’t found any reliable information about popcorn sales, but from my daughters’ brief foray into Brownie scouting I remember that they only keep about 15% of the cookie price. Rather than buying wholesale and selling retail they buy at slightly discounted retail and sell at full retail.
What is this indignation about teaching kids that if they want something it may take work to get it? And the psychotic fury about someone knocking on your door - it didn’t used to be that way. Why is the currant generation so up-tight? (All the excuses above are absurd.)
What “psychotic fury”? The OP was “appalled” that people wouldn’t answer the door for her popcorn-selling children and others explained why they would rather not do so. I don’t see any “psychotic fury”.
The only work they learn about when selling expensive canned popcorn and stale cookies is flogging rug suckers door to door after they grow up.
Among the reasons it didn’t used to be that way are the obscene salaries going to the fat spiders disguised as “charity” CEOs.
My wife used to work for the Girls Scouts National Office and remarked that the whole cookie thing was very profitable for the organization, hence the emphasis on it. She didn’t work directly with the cookies (she helped lead Hispanic outreach) but the “cookie culture” permeated the entire office anyway.
But without hard numbers, it’s impossible to say and the economy of scale for GS cookies probably dwarfs that of BS popcorn anyway. I assume that, on a per unit basis, popcorn is cheaper than making cakes at home (time & materials).
Can’t speak for you but I always found the cookies to be nummy and as fresh as packaged cookies can reasonably be expected to be.
I’d never heard of Sarah Bernhardt cookies. I googled them and they sound wonderful! Does your Beloved want to send me a test batch? Decorative tin optional.
StG
That was prior to your losing contact with reality, for your understanding of “psychotic” and “fury” bears no relation to the posts in this thread.
Did you happen to check out how difficult they are to make? 
Thing about living out a bit from each neighbor, ignoring a knock on your door or someone driving up the driveway could be letting a lot of bad getting into your day.
Carrying a hurt child in your arms & having people who you can see are home refusing to even come to the door does incline me to think a bit less of them. ( This actually happened to me. )
So, do you live with that attitude in your own life. You will not get mad at anyone who refuses to come to the door when life & limb are at stake?
Or they are lost, or, or ,or because they just might be kids selling stuff?
If you won’t even check, how do you know that it is a waste of your time?