Birth of a Cookie Mom Czar

Because I have sucker written on my forehead I said I'd be part of a cookie team for my girls' Girl Scout Troop. The troop leader first asked if anyone would help, then begged, then laid on the guilt, then just threatened all the moms until two of us finally gave in "for our girls" and said we'd do it. Anybody that knows me knows it just pisses me off to have my Jewish mother guilt activated. So maybe they don't know what they've gotten themselves into by letting me be in charge of passing out the cookies. I have no idea how this is going to play out. I'm trying to keep that glass half full. Of course in the group of Girl Scout Mom's we have the two troop leaders, one who has an infant and one who is having a nervous breakdown over family issues. We have a mom who at first refused to have anything to do with the cookies because they contain trans fat and will kill us all, but gave in to her daughter after she begged to be allowed to sell them, we have the mom who stirs the cauldron of excrement, and the two moms who are like first graders giggling. I was grateful for the one and only sensible mom. Fortunately, the other half of this cookie team is someone I like. Somehow the two moms with the biggest homeschooling kid load wound up with this thankless job.

So today we have a safety meeting, it's mandatory if you want to sell cookies. The powers to be at GS HQ take this stuff very seriously. I'm not sure whether to be in awe of this GS cookie machine or terrified of it. So we split the group up. Mom's in one room, girls in the other. I take the Mom's (thank g-d, the thought of facing those excited pack of GS's sent shivers up my spine). All is going along well. I explained the rules, answered questions, gave them the rundown on how the cookie pickup will work. The two 1st grade moms are irritating me but I'm controlling my annoyance. The next thing I know we're done and the kids from the other room explode in and it's over. Or so I thought.

After the meeting the other cookie mom and I get together to go over the cookie pickup which is rapidly approaching. Both of us are a little nervous since we're new to this game and the one leader who said she'd help hasn't done the one thing we asked her to do. But after sitting down and making one of those lists I love we were feeling much more sure of ourselves. I head home feeling like we have this under control. We decided I'd send an email to the group just going over what we talked about just in case there were any questions. We only have one mom (other than my partner in cookie crime) who ever sold cookies before and she's always got her cauldron on her hip.

I log on getting ready to send my follow up email. And there it is; Subj: Questions!!!! It's from one of the 1st graders. My annoyance level immediately goes up a notch. I read her email, and the two responses, one from one of the leaders trying to answer her question and the other from cauldron mom doing what she does best. Of course her questions had been answered very clearly in the meeting. And on top of that, as usual her emails take on a condescending tone. After reading it a couple of times I realize that her pissy attitude is directed at her daughter, who she is apparently at war with over the cookie rules, not at us, which it first appeared to be. I called my cookie partner and dumped it in her lap. We talked it over and came up with a response which hopefully will answer her questions without escalating her attitude. The urge to respond with sarcasm was strong but being the mature adults we are (sound of throat clearing), did not stoop to her level. Of course all bets are off when it comes to blog fodder, but isn't that one of the points of having a blog. :-)