Parenting -- Girl (Scout) on a Mission
Fred Goodwin, CMA
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/nyregion/
nyregionspecial2/23Rparenting.html>
http://tinyurl.com/2jqkcw
By MICHAEL WINERIP
Published: March 23, 2008
UNIONDALE
"GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!" bellowed Ayazhia Lee, 11.
"THREE-FIFTY A BOX!" yelled Katherine Aanensen, 13.
Shanna Mena was rushing by at the Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City
when the words registered and she came to an abrupt halt. "Girl Scout
cookies?" said Ms. Mena, who works at Macy's. "Oh my God, Girl Scout
cookies."
She made a sharp pivot, hurried to the booth and started picking out
boxes. "I need one of these," she said, grabbing a box of Thin Mints.
"And you know what, I need these" -- Samoas -- "and I need these" -- Do-
si-dos.
Ms. Mena loves those cookies, but cookies aren't the half of it. "It's
those Girl Scouts," Ms. Mena said. "They just twist your heart."
They know it, they know it, and no Girl Scout knows it better than
Ayazhia, who sold 1,333 boxes last year for Troop 1077 of Uniondale.
This year her goal is 1,500.
"I'm very outgoing, so it's very easy to talk to people," Ayazhia
explained. "I go up to everyone, I take cookies everywhere. Sometimes
people say they're too fattening. We tell them they're not that big --
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!"
"THREE-FIFTY A BOX!" Katherine shouted.
Ayazhia's sales pitch? "I just basically say they're good for you and
they're only on sale once a year and they freeze well, so there's
never enough.
"To be a good salesman," she continued, "You have to talk clearly, you
have to look them in the eye. It shows respect. That way, they think
you don't care about anything else but them -- GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!"
"THREE-FIFTY A BOX!"
[excerpted]