How to get me to buy something from you

The temperature was 0 at 7:00 yesterday evening. That's -18 Celsius. (See, sometimes Celsius does seem more impressive.) Even worse, the wind chill was -15.

There was a knock at the door. We weren't expecting anyone. Since a girl scout had shown up at a friend's door while we were visiting on Saturday, we figured it had to be one of them on their annual trip around the neighborhood.

Jamie answered the door and sure enough, there was the girl scout and her mom selling cookies.

I'm not afraid to turn someone away if I don't want to buy their stuff, even a kid. Kids have to learn rejection at some point, right? Right.

Okay, the truth is I have a really hard time saying no to a kid. If a kid has the guts to knock on a stranger's door - something I was and still am pretty much afraid to do - I'll buy whatever they're selling.

I like to think that we bought 4 boxes of cookies last night because the wind chill was -15 and we were feeling bad for them. I have to say, that was well-played, girl scouts, very well-played. Who can say no to a kid busting their butt in that kind of weather? That individual would have some seriously awful karma coming their way the next day.

But really, if you want me to buy something from you, it doesn't matter what the temperature is. Just send a kid. You're guaranteed to get at least 5 bucks from me.


Added at 12:30 PM, 2/8/11:

Here are the kids chowing down on the cookies at lunch today. It is their birthday week, after all...

Carson is a fan!

Keira's not complaining either.