March Madness

March Madness has begun.  No, I'm not talking about the NCAA tournament, which will cause a major loss of productivity in businesses and companies all across America as people fill out their picks in the brackets.  I'm talking about true March Madness -- Girl Scout cookies. 

Let me preface by giving you a piece of Girl Scout cookie trivia: Girl Scout cookies are made at a cookie factory less than a mile from the Zoeller Company.  The factory is called Mother's Cookies.  But for a few months each winter, it becomes Little Brownie Bakers.  All of the Girl Scout cookies sold are made in this factory.  In fact, this year marks the 25th anniversary of Little Brownie Bakers making the cookies. 

I'll repeat that Girl Scout cookies are the true March Madness.  For four weeks beginning at the end of January, we're subjected to countless order forms stuck on bulletin boards at work, school, and church, and passed around the office through inner-office mail. Then the first week of March is that magical time when the boxes of cookies start to appear.  Boy, do they appear.  For the entire month of March, we can't go to the bank or grocery store without passing by a group of Girl Scouts selling their cookies.  The scene is fairly universal -- there's usually a half dozen Girl Scouts, with 2 or 3 moms, selling the boxes of cookies stacked on a card table.  I will say this year's Girl Scout cookie experience has been easier to deal with then in years past.  This year, the Girl Scouts I've encountered have all waited until I was leaving the bank or grocery store to ask if I'd like to buy any cookies.  And they've all been very polite and mannerly; that goes a long way with me.  The Girl Scouts that been selling cookies at our Kroger's are some of the best little salespeople I've seen; Circuit City could definitely take lessons from them.  They have 2 of the girls planted at the doors and they ask if you'd like to buy any cookies.  When you say yes, they step aside and with a swoop of their little arms, they direct you over to the card table to pick out your cookies.  As soon as I picked up the boxes I wanted to buy, another girl was running over to the cases and filled up the empty spots almost as soon as I'd picked up the boxes.  Another girl was the official counter, and looked atthe handwritten chart to find my total.  And yet another girl put the cookies in a bag for me.  How's that for service?  I didn't get treated half that well at Kroger's after dropping $60 on groceries. 

I had a box of Tagalongs last week, and I polished off my first box of DoSiDo's this morning, so I guess I'll just have to go up to Krogers tonight and buy some more.  If you haven't bought any, time is running out - you have just two short weeks before the sales end.  While you're out, pick up another box of DoSiDo's for me.