TOTALLY GEEKED!

Lady Gaga Snerd · Guru

Dear Abby: Too Much Stuff for my Kid to Sell

Lady Gaga Snerd · Guru

We have never sold a thing. Nope. Not going to waste my time with that crap, no way. We have NO family in this town while others have entire generations of extended family. For me, I HATED to sell as a kid. Absolutely hated it. Obviously, I knew to not go into sales, lol. So, I buy whatever the miniumum amount is and am DONE. Here's a check. Now, leave me the Hell alone. Pay to play. It's the price of admission so I don't care.

Lady Gaga Snerd · Guru

BTW, you dont' HAVE to sell just because some Booster club tells you too. Selling or not selling has NOTHING to do with what your kids may be a part of in the School district. Yes, you may have to sell as a condition in a private organization like Little League or some other non school league. But if you are part of school events, the Boosters cannot force or require you to do anything. They often try to and they sometimes act like pushy Nazis and tell people what they HAVE to do when in reality, that is false.

Lady Gaga Snerd · Guru

Seriously lady, if you are worried about "gossip" over pizza coupons, you need to get a life.

flan327 · Itty bitty's Grammy

When my kids were in school, the company offered stupid trinkets as incentives for the kids to sell MORE MORE MORE!!

I hated that.

flan

ed11563 · Guru

"REAL selling" is different than selling the booster club garbage.

My last summer in High School I sold door to door for "The Fuller Brush Company" (anyone remember them?).

One of the first things the sales manager told me was,

You will knock on 100 doors, 7 people will answer the door, and TWO will buy something.

You can look at that as a 98% failure rate ...

or accept it as a fact of life.

The rejection is not personal. No answer or no thank you, just move on. There are a lot more doors to knock on.

And two out of 100 will buy something.

DS1 had a learning experience with selling candy bars for his HS band.

One girl asked if she could have a candy bar and pay him "tomorrow'. He said no, she wheedled and pleaded and he gave in.

It took him 5 weeks and getting nasty about it, before she paid him.

DS2 was ordered to sell wrapping paper (really cheap crap) for the wrestling team. The coach was verbally abusive, we gave it all back, and he quit the team.

I know what to do_sometimes · Frozen Sucks!

We don't participate in fund raisers anymore. I give a check each year to the PTO. They do help to fund the field trips and other events so I do want to support them. But the fundraisers are ridiculous.

Southern_Belle · Nothing's Impossible

I think the parents should get a full disclosure notice when the kids come home with an order form. It should state exactly how much the school receives for each dollar sold. I know when DD sold gs cookies the troops got 40% of each dollar.

I know what to do_sometimes · Frozen Sucks!

Southern_Belle wrote:
I think the parents should get a full disclosure notice when the kids come home with an order form. It should state exactly how much the school receives for each dollar sold. I know when DD sold gs cookies the troops got 40% of each dollar.

It's less than that now.

ed11563 · Guru

Southern_Belle wrote:
I think the parents should get a full disclosure notice when the kids come home with an order form. It should state exactly how much the school receives for each dollar sold. I know when DD sold gs cookies the troops got 40% of each dollar.

I thought it was more like 4% for the troop, 80% for the national organization, and the remainder paid for the cookies.

Southern_Belle · Nothing's Impossible

May have changed now Ed. This was 20 years ago. Our troop had a great cookie sale and we got a ton of money. We only had maybe 10 girls.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

In elementary school, it is sales for things like play ground equipment or sometimes computer stuff.

And the bribes are ridiculous. I'm talking things from the discount bin at the .99 store.

I tried to find out which group was selling and for what purpose.

If it was something my kids were never going to have anything to do with, I didn't bother.

And ALPHA, you just paid for everything. Every trip, experiment, and adventure came out of the parents pocket.

Thankfully, in middle and high school, the selling is dramatically reduced.

It depends on what the kid is involved in.

chef · Guru

I loved the fundraisers as a kid. I always had fun going door-to-door and had good luck with selling the stuff. I also took my cousins out when they had fundraisers. Once I was out with one of my cousins and one lady's door we knocked on opened my eyes to a trick. She was diabetic and didn't want the candy but she offered to make a donation. So we went with that. From then on, we would ask if the person wanted to make a donation if they didn't want whatever we were selling. Using that strategy, my cousin ended up being the top fundraiser.

One of my fondest memories was for a jog-a-thon. A neighbor thought I wouldn't do more than a couple laps so he pledged $20 per lap. I forget the exact number of laps I did but it was in the double digits.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

I have to admit I buy fund raisers. I really do. But only ones I actually use. I buy an A+ card every year from SS. And sometimes we buy other stuff. But I don't buy crap I won't use just to fill up a sales slip. And I don't take it around for him. His mom doesn't participate in them at all.

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

I sent in a note at the beginning of the year stating we wouldn't sell anything but would make a one time $100 donation to the PTA for the year. It always went over well and the kids didn't mind not selling anything.

FNW · Guru

I hate those scholastic reading things teachers tell the kids to "be sure and have your parents order you some books so we can get some for our class." Ugh.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

The elementary schools here have created a trap with those stupid scholastic book fairs.

They do a "doughnuts with dad" and "muffins with mom" thing the days those things are at the school.

It's designed to guilt parents into buying things.

And recently they added a grandparents breakfast thing.

flan327 · Itty bitty's Grammy

I love Scholastic books fairs!

And one paperback for the classroom doesn't cost that much.

flan

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

We always spring for books for the book fair. If you spend money on nothing else you need to spend it on something that will encourage a child to grow their brain power. I sit on the fence about the donut and muffin thing. I think it's a nice gesture but there are many kids that don't have people in their lives to go with them and I think that probably reminds them of it.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

flan327 wrote:
I love Scholastic books fairs!

And one paperback for the classroom doesn't cost that much.

flan

I love books too. And of all the crap the kids bring home I'd much rather them bring home a book than some cheap toys.

flan327 · Itty bitty's Grammy

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
flan327 wrote:
I love Scholastic books fairs!

And one paperback for the classroom doesn't cost that much.

flan
I love books too. And of all the crap the kids bring home I'd much rather them bring home a book than some cheap toys.

And now that my kids are grown...I wind up buying from the schools when I go for outreach.

flan

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
We always spring for books for the book fair. If you spend money on nothing else you need to spend it on something that will encourage a child to grow their brain power. I sit on the fence about the donut and muffin thing. I think it's a nice gesture but there are many kids that don't have people in their lives to go with them and I think that probably reminds them of it.

It would have been a struggle for me to get time off to do that.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
We always spring for books for the book fair. If you spend money on nothing else you need to spend it on something that will encourage a child to grow their brain power. I sit on the fence about the donut and muffin thing. I think it's a nice gesture but there are many kids that don't have people in their lives to go with them and I think that probably reminds them of it.

I have ALWAYS bought books.

I bought books for the kids before I was ever married.

I've already bought books for my future grandkids.

But I won't buy them from scholastic.

I don't like the way the organization tries to pressure and trap parents into buying.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Mellow Momma wrote:
Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
We always spring for books for the book fair. If you spend money on nothing else you need to spend it on something that will encourage a child to grow their brain power. I sit on the fence about the donut and muffin thing. I think it's a nice gesture but there are many kids that don't have people in their lives to go with them and I think that probably reminds them of it.
It would have been a struggle for me to get time off to do that.

That is a school event that was designed to coincide with the book fair.

They also do holiday lunches with parents and grandparents.

K,2,4 get Thanksgiving, 1,3,5 get Christmas.

And you can't stop doing because someone else might not have someone.

FNW · Guru

Our doughnuts with dad did not coincide with any sale. But they do have an annual library book sale where the kids come home with a wish list. Ugh.

We have always bought the boys books, too. But now we go to the library every other week and they read books on "myON."

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Well then, don't buy the books. It's really that simple. And I didn't say the muffin and donut thing should be stopped. I said I sit on the fence on how I feel about it. It's wonderful that you were able to be a SAHM for so much of your kids lives but that's not realistic for most people. People like MM and I had to work when our kids were little. My parents didn't participate in the grandparents thing nor did they do the muffin for mom thing. Then there are people like LGS who live far away from family and don't have families to participate. If the school wants to do it then fine. I'm not going to argue and raise a fuss. I just don't think it's the most well thought out thing.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

FNW wrote:
Our doughnuts with dad did not coincide with any sale. But they do have an annual library book sale where the kids come home with a wish list. Ugh.

We have always bought the boys books, too. But now we go to the library every other week and they read books on "myON."

Our book fair is completely separate too. It's really just a brochure the kids bring home and they get to pick books and you return it with the money. Growing up we had books set up in the library and you could go all week and purchase the scholastic stuff. But back then we never had the donut or muffin thing. We did have this thing at Christmas where it was like a little store and our parents could send us money and they gave you a list. It would tell the helpers how much money you had and how much you were supposed to spend on each person in your family. I don't remember who ran it. Probably the PTA. But we would go from table to table picking out little nick nacks for people. We always thought it was cool.

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
We always spring for books for the book fair. If you spend money on nothing else you need to spend it on something that will encourage a child to grow their brain power. I sit on the fence about the donut and muffin thing. I think it's a nice gesture but there are many kids that don't have people in their lives to go with them and I think that probably reminds them of it.
It would have been a struggle for me to get time off to do that.
That is a school event that was designed to coincide with the book fair.
They also do holiday lunches with parents and grandparents.
K,2,4 get Thanksgiving, 1,3,5 get Christmas.
And you can't stop doing because someone else might not have someone.

Wow. Show me where I said they needed to stop doing it. Wow. A bit touchy today Lily? Sheesh. Cool your jets. All I said was it would have been a struggle for me to get time off for that.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
We always spring for books for the book fair. If you spend money on nothing else you need to spend it on something that will encourage a child to grow their brain power. I sit on the fence about the donut and muffin thing. I think it's a nice gesture but there are many kids that don't have people in their lives to go with them and I think that probably reminds them of it.
It would have been a struggle for me to get time off to do that.
That is a school event that was designed to coincide with the book fair.
They also do holiday lunches with parents and grandparents.
K,2,4 get Thanksgiving, 1,3,5 get Christmas.
And you can't stop doing because someone else might not have someone.

Wow. Show me where I said they needed to stop doing it. Wow. A bit touchy today Lily? Sheesh. Cool your jets. All I said was it would have been a struggle for me to get time off for that.

What the cuss!

Yours isn't the only post quoted.

Sue me for expecting the ability of reasoning.

I don't have a problem. For the second time today you are getting upset over nothing.

Maybe try some prunes.

And yeah. That was me being a B word.

flan327 · Itty bitty's Grammy

Prunes?????????

flan

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
We always spring for books for the book fair. If you spend money on nothing else you need to spend it on something that will encourage a child to grow their brain power. I sit on the fence about the donut and muffin thing. I think it's a nice gesture but there are many kids that don't have people in their lives to go with them and I think that probably reminds them of it.
It would have been a struggle for me to get time off to do that.
That is a school event that was designed to coincide with the book fair.
They also do holiday lunches with parents and grandparents.
K,2,4 get Thanksgiving, 1,3,5 get Christmas.
And you can't stop doing because someone else might not have someone.

Wow. Show me where I said they needed to stop doing it. Wow. A bit touchy today Lily? Sheesh. Cool your jets. All I said was it would have been a struggle for me to get time off for that.
What the cuss!
Yours isn't the only post quoted.
Sue me for expecting the ability of reasoning.
I don't have a problem. For the second time today you are getting upset over nothing.
Maybe try some prunes.
And yeah. That was me being a B word.

The only one who lacks reasoning ability on this thread is you. No one - and no one that you quoted - suggested stopping the muffins with mom. Not one person. So it seems that you are the one who cannot reason. Honestly, it's making me feel quite sorry for you. All your posts do is make you seem sillier and sillier.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
We always spring for books for the book fair. If you spend money on nothing else you need to spend it on something that will encourage a child to grow their brain power. I sit on the fence about the donut and muffin thing. I think it's a nice gesture but there are many kids that don't have people in their lives to go with them and I think that probably reminds them of it.
It would have been a struggle for me to get time off to do that.
That is a school event that was designed to coincide with the book fair.
They also do holiday lunches with parents and grandparents.
K,2,4 get Thanksgiving, 1,3,5 get Christmas.
And you can't stop doing because someone else might not have someone.

Wow. Show me where I said they needed to stop doing it. Wow. A bit touchy today Lily? Sheesh. Cool your jets. All I said was it would have been a struggle for me to get time off for that.
What the cuss!
Yours isn't the only post quoted.
Sue me for expecting the ability of reasoning.
I don't have a problem. For the second time today you are getting upset over nothing.
Maybe try some prunes.
And yeah. That was me being a B word.
The only one who lacks reasoning ability on this thread is you. No one - and no one that you quoted - suggested stopping the muffins with mom. Not one person. So it seems that you are the one who cannot reason. Honestly, it's making me feel quite sorry for you. All your posts do is make you seem sillier and sillier.

There. I bolded it for you. The suggestion that it may make someone feel bad.

And I said you can't stop something just because it might make someone feel bad.

That's a natural line of thought.

-- Edited by lilyofcourse on Saturday 10th of October 2015 08:22:45 PM

I know what to do_sometimes · Frozen Sucks!

Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
We always spring for books for the book fair. If you spend money on nothing else you need to spend it on something that will encourage a child to grow their brain power. I sit on the fence about the donut and muffin thing. I think it's a nice gesture but there are many kids that don't have people in their lives to go with them and I think that probably reminds them of it.
It would have been a struggle for me to get time off to do that.
That is a school event that was designed to coincide with the book fair.
They also do holiday lunches with parents and grandparents.
K,2,4 get Thanksgiving, 1,3,5 get Christmas.
And you can't stop doing because someone else might not have someone.

Wow. Show me where I said they needed to stop doing it. Wow. A bit touchy today Lily? Sheesh. Cool your jets. All I said was it would have been a struggle for me to get time off for that.
What the cuss!
Yours isn't the only post quoted.
Sue me for expecting the ability of reasoning.
I don't have a problem. For the second time today you are getting upset over nothing.
Maybe try some prunes.
And yeah. That was me being a B word.
The only one who lacks reasoning ability on this thread is you. No one - and no one that you quoted - suggested stopping the muffins with mom. Not one person. So it seems that you are the one who cannot reason. Honestly, it's making me feel quite sorry for you. All your posts do is make you seem sillier and sillier.

I can certainly see where Lily was coming from MM. you said "It would have been a struggle for me to get time off to do that. " I really think Lily was responding to that and not in a snarky way. Just saying she understood not everyone could take the time. She wasn't be judgmental. I am pretty sure you were being too sensitive to not being able get the time to attend events and took Lily's comment as a dig. That is not the way it came off to me. Many of us cannot attend all the events, some can. No biggie.

For me, it weighs on me that I can't attend all the events. But that is my life.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Yes. Thank you IKWTDS.

I didn't go to all the events.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Please go reread my post. I NEVER said to stop the event. EVER. I said I sit on the fence about how I feel about it. That means I have mixed feelings about it. THAT IS ALL. I never said I wanted it ended. And yes, I do feel bad for kids who are in single parent families where mom can't take off and/or there is no extended family to jump in and help. Just because I feel compassion for those kids doesn't mean I want the whole damn thing to end.

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
Please go reread my post. I NEVER said to stop the event. EVER. I said I sit on the fence about how I feel about it. That means I have mixed feelings about it. THAT IS ALL. I never said I wanted it ended. And yes, I do feel bad for kids who are in single parent families where mom can't take off and/or there is no extended family to jump in and help. Just because I feel compassion for those kids doesn't mean I want the whole damn thing to end.

Exactly! Neither one of us said to end the muffin thing. Make it every damn day if you want to. I never said I didn't like the practice, I never said it should end and neither did NJN. We just commented on it. Which apparently now means that we want to abolish it and that we are sensitive to having been working parents. Nope. None of that was true. Just made a comment that I would have struggled to get time off and all of a sudden I am trying to abolish the darn thing. Whatever.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

You two are looking for drama where there is none.

Have fun with that.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
We always spring for books for the book fair. If you spend money on nothing else you need to spend it on something that will encourage a child to grow their brain power. I sit on the fence about the donut and muffin thing. I think it's a nice gesture but there are many kids that don't have people in their lives to go with them and I think that probably reminds them of it.
It would have been a struggle for me to get time off to do that.
That is a school event that was designed to coincide with the book fair.
They also do holiday lunches with parents and grandparents.
K,2,4 get Thanksgiving, 1,3,5 get Christmas.
And you can't stop doing because someone else might not have someone.

Wow. Show me where I said they needed to stop doing it. Wow. A bit touchy today Lily? Sheesh. Cool your jets. All I said was it would have been a struggle for me to get time off for that.
What the cuss!
Yours isn't the only post quoted.
Sue me for expecting the ability of reasoning.
I don't have a problem. For the second time today you are getting upset over nothing.
Maybe try some prunes.
And yeah. That was me being a B word.
The only one who lacks reasoning ability on this thread is you. No one - and no one that you quoted - suggested stopping the muffins with mom. Not one person. So it seems that you are the one who cannot reason. Honestly, it's making me feel quite sorry for you. All your posts do is make you seem sillier and sillier.
There. I bolded it for you. The suggestion that it may make someone feel bad.
And I said you can't stop something just because it might make someone feel bad.
That's a natural line of thought.

-- Edited by lilyofcourse on Saturday 10th of October 2015 08:22:45 PM

And I bolded what YOU said. You told me I couldn't stop something that might make someone feel bad. I NEVER said to stop it. I never even suggested it.

-- Edited by Nobody Just Nobody on Saturday 10th of October 2015 09:41:44 PM

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Ok. Read this slowly.

No. You did not say stop it.

I didn't say you did.

You has more than one use.

It can be either singular or plural.

You when used as plural is usually meant in general.

So.

When I said you can't stop, the you isn't you. It's you in general.

I am really sorry I assumed that you, and I mean generally you, could figure that out and NOT take things personally.

AGAIN.

Now take time to let it sink in.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

You can talk to me like I'm an idiot and hope you can goad me into calling me a name but it won't work. Your whole post didn't make sense. But feel free to try and back track all you want and explain why you didn't mean what you said. Also please insinuate again how ignorant I am to not be able to see it. Maybe if you actually meant general you or all that nonsense you posted you might have thought to post that in the original post. I mean, since you're dealing with all of us lesser smart people and all that.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

I didn't realize I needed to.

flan327 · Itty bitty's Grammy

GO AWAY.

flan

Lady Gaga Snerd · Guru

You all need to chill out.

Fort Worth Mom · Mod/Penguin lover/Princess!

Good grief!

This has been blown way out of proportion.

Just stop, please.

Thanks!

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Sorry.

Fort Worth Mom · Mod/Penguin lover/Princess!

lilyofcourse wrote:
Sorry.

No problem, Lily.

I think you were misunderstood.

No parent, can make it to every event. Every time.

We all know that.

Right?

The sniping, gets old.

All the way around.

(And on a football Saturday, no less! wink )

Please, Good Geeks, get back on topic.

I sure would appreciate it. smile

Tignanello · My dog name is, Sasha!

Wow! This escalated quickly!

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Fort Worth Mom wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Sorry.
No problem, Lily.
I think you were misunderstood.
No parent, can make it to every event. Every time.
We all know that.
Right?
The sniping, gets old.
All the way around.
(And on a football Saturday, no less!)
Please, Good Geeks, get back on topic.
I sure would appreciate it.

Thank you.

And about those games, who won?

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Tignanello wrote:
Wow! This escalated quickly!

attachment.php?attachmentid=177356

Fort Worth Mom · Mod/Penguin lover/Princess!

lilyofcourse wrote:
Fort Worth Mom wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Sorry.
No problem, Lily.
I think you were misunderstood.
No parent, can make it to every event. Every time.
We all know that.
Right?
The sniping, gets old.
All the way around.
(And on a football Saturday, no less!)
Please, Good Geeks, get back on topic.
I sure would appreciate it.
Thank you.
And about those games, who won?

It was a pretty good day for my teams, Lily.

Ohio State won.

Notre Dame won.

Texas A&M had a bye week.

My Penguins lost a close one, 31-29. That was sad. cry

There were some exciting games yesterday.

TCU came back to win their game. That was a barn burner.

And Texas stunned Oklahoma. That was the upset of the day, in my opinion.

I enjoyed my day. wink