Girl Scout cookie sellers as young as 5 are being harassed for selling unhealthy food

[cinematicdiversions]

Girl Scout cookie sellers as young as 5 are being harassed for selling unhealthy food and a conspiracy theory about cookie money funding abortion

https://www.insider.com/girl-scout-cookies-harassment-planned-parenthood-abortion-unhealthy-palm-oil-2022-2

Girl Scout cookie season is upon us, and young saleswomen in uniform are everywhere: holding court in office boardrooms for an afternoon, manning booths outside the local grocery store, or posting cheery video messages on social media, offering door-to-door shipping. You may even have a Girl Scout under your own roof, filling your garage with cases of the chocolatey, caramelly, peanut-buttery goods.

But Girl Scouts, and the women who lead their troops and volunteer with them during cookie season, say that the organization's tradition of face-to-face sales is increasingly accompanied by customer harassment.

From 5-year-old Daisies to 16-year-old Senior Scouts, girls are often forced to bear the brunt of angry tirades from adults who want to lecture them about healthy eating, moan about price hikes, or rant about the group's rumored (and false) link to Planned Parenthood.

In interviews with Scouts, Scout leaders, and parents, no form of cookie-related harassment appears to be more pervasive than that related to the healthfulness — or lack thereof — of the product.

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I wish this was just anti abortion Q loonies, but apparently the worst offenders are Palm Oil nuts and the anti-sugar brigade, which fit a different bracket of nut.

And for the record anyone who yells or screams at a girl scout selling cookies is a nut. I don't care how passionate you are or what your fucking cause is. Grow up.

[mcar]

1. WTF?

I love Girl Scout cookies. Is nothing sacred to these Q nuts?

[Baked Potato]

2. They have these little air horns for boaters...

The air horn can be useful when directed at threatening blowhards harassing girls.

[elleng]

3. Civility/Civilization is GONE.

[leftieNanner]

4. I could power through an entire sleeve of Thin Mints back in the day!

I know I will eat them if they are in the house, so I don't buy them. But I do make a cash donation to the troop when they have a table out front of my grocery store.

Geez.

[BlackSkimmer]

9. I never had a sweet tooth, but I was a Girl Scout.

I also donate to them at the cookie table.

My mom loved the thin mints too! I used to buy them for her, but now I just donate.

[3catwoman3]

16. My husband has the same talent.

We are awaiting delivery of our 4 boxes of Thin Mints.

[Diablo del sol]

19. They were really good this year

Might have been the best vintage ever.

Only made it through a third of a sleeve. But that was on top of a half sleeve of PB cookies. Afraid to jump on a scale.

Next up, Caramel delights. What can I say, bought one box, the kid said if I bought four it would help her achieve her goal. Who am I to crush the spirit of a 12 year old!

[abqtommy]

20. I bought a box of Thin Mints not too long ago. I gave my son one sleeve and kept the

other for myself. I divided my sleeve into 4 servings of 4 cookies each and ate them
with relish over a two-day period. I do have the ability to exercise restraint!
I don't trust anyone who doesn't like Thin Mints.

[FSogol]

32. I'd never put relish on my thin mints. I like them the way they are.

[sheshe2]

5. Oh FFS!

Such drama with some people. You don't like them because they are unhealthy, then don't buy them.

[MustLoveBeagles]

14. Ikr?

How hard is this? Just politely decline and be done with it. There's no excuse for yelling at these girls. I'm a diabetic and have to limit my intake but I'm not going to stop others from enjoying cookies.

[sheshe2]

15. Unbelievable.

I am sure they have the same outrage about non existent gun laws.

SMDH

[Aristus]

43. Right-wing hate radio.

Listen to it for any length of time, and you're yelling at everybody...

[Taylor Picker]

42. No kidding!

Do they rant to the grocery store manager because the store carries Oreos and Flamin' Hot Ruffles??

[BlackSkimmer]

6. Wow, no end to the lunacy that seems to appear every single day.

People must have very boring lives.

[XanaDUer2]

28. I read somewhere that America is devolving

Into "complaint culture". Back in the day, an adult not thinking cookies are healthy, or on a diet, would just walk by and not buy. Now, adults are harassing kids. Go figure

[Ms. Toad]

7. Maybe don't turn children as young as 5 into door-to-door salespeople.

Because of stupid local girl scout policies, I never had to make the decision about letting my daughter sell cookies (her troop was disbanded, and she was not permitted to join a different troop). But I never let her hawk school wares. I made a donation to the school, but having children sell useless junk to raise money - which friends and relatives feel they need to buy - and which, by and large, ends up in the junk pile, is a lousy way to fund things in my opinion. Girl Scout cookies are a little different, in that they do have a following who would be sad to see the go. BUT there are ways to sell them that don't require turning small children into salespersons.

Not condoning the bad behavior of the harassers. Just supporting finding alternatives to sales for fundraising.

[Diablo del sol]

21. It does teach some skills

Five is too young. That being said, there was a 12 year old standing at table last night with her mother sitting behind her. Pulled out a five and said, I tell you what, you pick the box and it is ok if you pick a slow mover. Without hesitation she shot back, I tell YOU what, you by four boxes and pick your favorites. I get closer to my goal and you get four boxes of good cookies

Gave her a twenty, her mother tried to suppress her laughter, failed, and the young lady gained some confidence

Now, as for the Boy Scouts and that bullshit popcorn sales they are forced to sell. DO NOT BUY

It a Weaver Popcorn. Owned by an ignorant RW tool. Dickhead has a love Sean vanity plate. With a Sean Hannity frame. They make the Boy Scouts sell a $2 pack of popcorn for $10.

Weaver has a donate to the troops link. They take that money and ship the tins of popcorn to the troops, but only expired lots, and they only send tins, at full price, up to the level of donations. So if they have 3.1 million in expired popcorn but only 3 million in donations, the mother fucker owner only sends 3 million of expired popcorn so he covers zero cost of his expired product.

[Ms. Toad]

24. If children want to participate (for reasons other than winning prizes or avoiding being shamed)

and the products are good and not overpriced, I have fewer objections with older children.

But making being a salesperson mandatory for every child in school/girl scouts/etc. is inappropriate. Not all children are inclined to be salespersons. In addition, virtually every such fundraiser coerces children, parents, friends, neighbors to pad the pockets of manufacturers of junk in order to fund schools, the girl scout troops, etc.

[Hekate]

37. There is a social interaction involved in the neighborhood around buying from each other's kids

I don’t know if you feel you can’t afford to reciprocate — as was the case with a woman I used to know who forbade her own kids from door to door fundraisers. I used to think she was weird until I figured that out. But it really constrained the kids to be told that the CD the high school choir was using to raise funds for a trip was under no circumstances to be sold to the immediate neighbors.

To each their own. In your case it seems to be an ideological point. But as I said — there’s a social component.

[Ms. Toad]

39. That "social interaction" excludes a lot of people.

People with limited resources might (or might not) be able to make a donation equivalent to the profit the school receives from the sale - but might not be able to affording paying a company $10 for useless junk just to make a $2.50 donation to the school.

There is a fair amount of social pressure/shaming associated with children who do not or cannot raise the amount expected (whether by choice, or by lack of access to neighbors and relatives with means).

You can encourage your children to socialize with their neighbors without turning your children into door-to-door salespeople, without subsidizing the corporations which run these marketing schemes primarily to benefit themselves, or without coercing (by social pressure) children and families who cannot afford to (or choose not to) buy useless junk.

Throw a neighborhood halloween party. Invite your neighbors to the school to watch the annual choir, etc. There are far more (and better) socialization opportunities than pedaling junk to line the pockets of corporations which exist only to profit from your child's labor.

Bottom line: A child's ability to participate in school-related trips other children are able to participate in should not be based on their parents ability to pay - or the child's ability to coerce family and friends to pony up.

So yes - it's an ideological point, which I'm astonished is apparently not shared by most on DU.

[FSogol]

33. They don't go door to door here. They set up a stand by the park and at shopping centers.

There are few better organizations around the the Girls Scouts. We buy a box of thin mints and a box of Tagalongs each time we encounter a troop selling them.

[Hekate]

34. When a Brownie is the seller, Mom stands at the end of my driveway while the transaction goes on

We used to love it — loved the cookies, loved the girls, loved supporting a good organization.

[Claire Oh Nette]

8. Frozen thin mints. Mmmmmm

FFS, it's a fundraiser for girl scouts.

Palm oil enthusiast, the anti-Sugar brigade, Qnutters and anyone else attacking 9-12 year old girls over cookies is a bully.

[SoCalDavidS]

10. Americans Have Become Real Assholes

I don't care who tells me I should be proud. I'm deeply ashamed Every Single Day.

[lpbk2713]

11. They're just cheap.

They're just putting on a performance to make people think otherwise.

[BannonsLiver]

12. Unlike some killjoys I enjoy the cookies and am not offended by their sale.

Why am I not? Because it would be weird and dumb to be offended by kids selling cookies.

[Ocelot II]

13. Oh, FFS, if you don't like GS cookies or think they're unhealthy, don't eat them.

Anybody who'd yell at a little girl selling cookies is an irredeemable douche. I guess these days people with a "cause" feel free to reveal their inner dickwad to the entire world, whether it's masks or vaccines or cookies. Seriously, one of these days I'm going to move to a cabin in the north woods where I don't have to have anything to do with other people. Bears, wolves and bobcats can be my friends; they might decide to eat me but at least they won't be rude, entitled asshats about it.

[SoonerPride]

17. I think this is fake news.

Sounds like more right wing faux outrage.

I smell bullshit.

[xmas74]

22. It's been that way for years.

We had someone attempt to lecture my daughter nearly 15 years ago about how selling cookies was "whoring" out girls, which in turn made us pedophiles.

[Hekate]

36. What. The. Hell.

[xmas74]

38. I'm in Missouri

Are you that surprised that we have screaming idiots?

[Hekate]

40. When I was a little kid in the San Fernando Valley, we had a neighbor who raked me over the coals

… for doing a summersault and showing my panties. She had 2 little boys about my age — I think life with her must have been hard, since she was so on the lookout for the temptress wiles of 6 year old girls.

But on the plus side — we knew she had a screw loose. My mom told me there was nothing wrong with summersaults.

[cinematicdiversions]

25. I have certainly met people like this of all political stripes.

The piece is balanced pointing out both the Planned Parenthood truthers and the anti-cookie brigade.

The real problem is the fact that people seem emboldened to share their opinions no matter the appropriateness of the circumstances. The Palm Oil argument is actually a sensible one if you were not saying it to an eight-year-old dressed in green.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

18. People should wait until their victims are at least 12 before they shame them for what they eat.

[flvegan]

23. Agreed, nobody should be going after Girl Scouts, regardless.

I think everyone already knows that the cookies are "unhealthy" as are any cookies like them. I've always found it interesting the folks that choose a particular product to be "unhealthy" but then you see their diet and go, oh yeah, idiots.

However, I'm interested in hearing more about these "Palm Oil nuts" and "anti sugar brigade" as these sound like interesting topics notwithstanding, especially being "worst offenders" than the Q loonies.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

26. Just think of it as a good opportunity to earn their Pepper Spray Badges.

[MineralMan]

27. First We Had Carrie Nation. Now We Have Karen Nation.

Why any adult would yell at a child for selling cookies I cannot understand. Don't want cookies? Don't buy cookies, but leave the kids alone.

[Vinca]

29. All the incentive I need to buy thin mints and Samoas.

[Happy Hoosier]

30. I can't have the sugar. Ya know what I do?

Nothing. Oh that's not quite true, I buy them for some folks who can.

[Celerity]

31. a conspiracy theory about cookie money funding abortion

[Captain Stern]

35. First they came for the Thin Mints.. nt

[Emile]

41. Right wing made up bullshit to get people angry over the libs destroying America.

Fake news!