Selling Girl Scout Cookies: Gave me the Skills I Need

This is a throw back in time recognizing the valuable lesson I have learned from selling Girl Scout cookies and why it has made all the difference in my Cambodian life. At some point I am sure we have all had some 10 year old begging us to buy cookies from her most of you have had to deal with me doing just that ps sorry they make you give up your new years resolution. I was one of those kids who thought every prize they offered was just the best thing under the sun so I just had to sell as much as I could to get a pair of binoculars (which I think broke in a month). By the way I do realize I was used for slave wages lol I made Girl Scouts 1,000 of dollars and if was lucky got a prize that was like 10 dollars. Never the less I will count my experience in sales as my pay I used to go house to house set up stands have my mom bring in the sheet to work to sell 1000 of boxes. To do this was no easy feat one I had to learn to say the right things to get people to listen to me of course its hard for people to slam doors in a 10 year olds face however a few people would give you a piece of their mind or talk your ear off due to loneliness while never buying a box sigh back then I thought how that person wasted my time how wrong I was. It also made me take action even though I can’t say at 10 I knew what I was supporting besides those prizes. It prepared me for failure and success when it comes to not only selling things but also dealing with the psychology of people. The interesting thing about selling to new yorks takes on a life of its own I might add when I talk to people form other states they have had totally different experiences when it comes to being a Girl Scout. Selling in New York you might only be 10 but people will ask you why they should buy from you, which is the best if they don’t like it what happens. I had to have answer for the product I was pushing and when I could not answer them met with angry faces and doors in my face. So the Girl Scout saying is always be prepared now I can say new york girl scouting is not so much always be prepared for the big out doors because I don’t think camping in the Hamptons on the beach counts for the wilderness experience. However when it comes to more of the arts cultural life selling things I learned a lot. Most of you might know me I have tried to do many side sales from makeup to personal training and I am not exactly to good at forcing the notion of you must have this or else however when I find the right thing that brings about change I seem to be pretty good at getting the funds. This past month I deiced that I wanted to do another take back the night (this is to end gender violence) anyways to do this I needed money but since you guys were also so awesome for my D.V workshop I did not want to hit you all up again so I thought hum how can I get money to fund this. The answer came to me just like when you want to sell cookies for girl scouts I set up a stand! This concept or tactic is not used in Cambodia hehe so there is 0 competition. It’s important to note though besides monks homeless people and young kids no “regular people ask/beg for money” particularly white people. In America it sometimes difficult to get the good spots to sell things because often people want something out of it that you cant offer or its booked for years in advance this is not so in Cambodia. The biggest supper market in the city is lucky supper market they have a mix of both Khmer and foreign clientele, which was perfect for my plan of action. I met with the head of marketing got the okay to set up a stand and offer information on gender violence in Cambodia explain about my project and collect money.  Pretty much all the Cambodians I told about this idea especially my family made fun of me for days they said no one would help they would laugh on me. My Khmer family sat me down trying to tell me how they think I will come back crying because no one will give me money. Turns out all of them where wrong so I had more people then I ever thought to be interested I ran out of materials which I had like 200 of 5 different pamphlets so many people donated it was amazing. Even better then money there were people who wanted to come all the way to my provenance for the event or just help out! One of the best things about all this is two people from my village came to help run the stand one being my host sister and the other being this girl across the street. Why this means so much to me well unless you have experience at a young age understanding how to sell and speak to people while standing out side takes a lot of courage, culturally when this is not done you have to go way out side your lines of comfort. When I first met my host sister Jentee I would have not been able to get her to do anything close to this and for her to have grown so much in a year I was like a proud mom that she came and helped from someone who had 0 self confidence to educating people on their way into lucky ment I might not fail as a volunteer because at least I changed one person for what I like to think is for the better. Fun little stories to share with yout before I tell you my sum of money =) okay well you would be shocked at how rude NGO workers can come off I had a few people just down right tell me that the work they did was better then mine and that they think they do enough already as if I am asking them for 100 dollars im begging for pennies. Then other people like I have to many charities’ support already once again I was taking 100 real, which is less then a penny. Some people just wanted to one up me on their work where you would think if this is work they are interested in they would want to help but it was like a pissing contest with some of them. I also learned a lot about how Europeans feel about Peace Corps and how French people feel about Americas. Either people worshiped the ground Peace Corps walks on or they would curse me out and tell me I am stupid for representing their organization how they destroy countries etc etc. you know ill give you my 2 cents well I get it now because multiple French people would give me 100 riel just to bitch about how much they hate Americans how we are always misguided in misdirected in all are work once again we destroy countries etc etc. Khmer people where funny to so like I said not used to seeing a white person ask for money so they did not know what to do they would look at me like o you want me to give you money how much money do you want and I am all like what ever you want they would ask if 2000 okay I am like yea that’s great! I also have my own observation and please feel free to comment but I think in America we are some how conditioned to think if we don’t have 5 dollars to give its to embarrassing to even bother where Khmer people would give me the penny and know it was enough. It is also funny because I know my self included I am just so desensitized to people selling asking for stuff that its pretty easy for me to just walk by it all and not think twice where Khmer people really would stop to read my sign etc. the last day of tabling this one little girl I would say maybe 9 or 10 came and was really curious about our work and both me and Liz got this feeling that one day she would be us so we gave her books and stuff she had to after words her mom came up to us thanking us and telling us that her daughter would really read it all and we just looked at her like yea we know. It’s never to young to get some little girl into thinking about her rights and how much she is up against the odds. Until next time peace out from the other side of the world!

Just for fun throw back to the Girl Scout Laws

Law

I will do my best to be
Honest and Fair,
Friendly and Helpful,
Considerate and Caring,
Courageous and Strong, and
Responsible for what I say and do,
And to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.