Strollerderby

Pingback from  Lion and Magic Boy  » Blog Archive   » it's all in the hips

I remember that there were certain sex ed films that required a permission slip. I really wish they had such a thing for the assemblies that promote these sales. They turn the kids into boosters and the parents into their lackies.

I'd even be willing to buy my kid out of these things. They can offer each family an estimated take based on number of working adults, job situations, number of offspring, and income. I'd cough that much up on a regular basis to keep my kids out of the line of fire for sales pitches.

(Ugh, I can't imagine the magazine drives. I just know they don't offer Mojo, Bicycling, or the Comics Journal.)

My husband and I don't have kids yet, but I got about a half-dozen or more neices or nephews who come to their CoolAuntieTina looking for a quick sale (The other half-dozen neices/nephews are still in diapers, thank god). Oh the loads of popcorn, smoked sausage and cookies we bought, and still have, from last year (minus the sausage tho. ew).

I won't do those crappy sales.  Period.  I'd rather support more worthwhile causes.

You think it's hard being a parent? Try being a teacher!  For years, I tried to avoid all eye contact with students hawking entertainment coupon books, wrapping paper, and seasonal tchotchkes. Ew, the worst was the catalog of vidalia onion products. Worst damn salad dressing I ever tasted (of course, it was fat-free, so what did I expect?)

I wonder if my daughter will do what I did:  Eat the whole box of candy bars myself and then ask mom and dad for a check.  Nah, not if I get my hands on 'em first.  But door to door sales? She's definitely not doing that.

My parents totally refused to take the sign ups to the office, and I completely hated them when I was a kid.  Now I understand 100% (I actually started understanding when I was a teenager, when I realized I wanted them to take the slips so I didn't have to do the door-to-door thing).  My dad said if he never asked anyone to buy my overpriced wrapping paper, he would never have to buy anyone else's ugly decorative candles.

My kids may hate me, but I'm probably going to say the same thing to them, especially if it's not stuff I would buy myself.

Thank God my kids don't have to sell stuff at school (private).  Personally, it's better to just donate the money you would have spent on the magazines to the school and cut out the middleman.

I decided long ago that when my son starts coming home with those things, I will send the borchures back with a check for $50 made out to the organization (school, soccer team, whatever) paperclipped to it. I have NO problem supporting those organizations, but I'd rather them get ALL the money and not lose any to the overhead of the craptacular wrapping paper/candles/candy/cookie dough company.  

When I was in the 4th grade, my mom left her job at a non-profit org and became one of the people that sells these programs as fundraisers to different schools, so I know how they work from the inside.  They screw not only the schools, but the people who run the sales as well.  All those fabulous prizes are bought out of the pocket of the account exec running the campaign at the school, so the actual company writes a small check to the school, a small check to the account exec who worked with the school, and keeps the rest of the money made from those crap-tastic tchotchkes for themselves.  Stupid.  

Though it was pretty cool as a kid to have the constant stock of samples in mom's closet.  Gummi Bears galore!  All the same, I'm glad she left that job relatively quickly...