Extremely Rude Popcorn Sale Behavior!

[K1986]

So we are about five weeks into popcorn sales in our council and tonight, since we live on a rural road, I decided to take my scout and his friend who is also a fellow Webelos Scout door to door with product for about an hour after work and before dark in a subdivision about a mile from our house. We had sold to about eight houses and came to a house where a man yelled off his back deck "You are encroaching on our territory, get out of here!" I turned the boys around and headed back towards our car, the boys asked if we could sell to the last three houses before returning to the car and I figured since we were five weeks into sales and if someone else's kid wanted to sell to people in this neighborhood he should have already. So I told them yes, but just these three houses and we should leave the rest to the other kid to be polite. As they got up to the first house the two kids who had been playing basketball in the man's driveway zipped by on their bikes with their scout shirts un-tucked over basketball shorts and flip flops and ran up to the two remaining houses in front of my boys and sold to both residents.

 

My question, am I wrong for being completely enraged by this? My scouts were in full dress uniform and had taken the initiative to ask me to take them out to sell this evening.

 

I did not show anger in front of the kids of course, rather I told them that we should just get headed out it was almost dark. But as we drove home the two boys in the back were asking me if it was mean what the other boys had done and I told them it wasn't completely polite but we needed to remember that all popcorn sales got back to scouting so we should just be happy that people were supporting our organization. My son however said to me a few minutes ago while getting ready for bed "I know it all goes to the same place but I have to sell my goal to go to camp too, I still feel angry, is that okay?" and I told him he was entitled to feel however he wanted but sometimes we have to learn to be the bigger person. And promised him I would take them out another night to a different neighborhood.

 

I made sure to catch a glimpse at their pack number on their shirt and I know the cub master from that group quite well from round tables and such, would it be wrong of me to give him a call and pass on this rude behavior on their part?

[83Eagle]

No, just let it go and move on. Accentuate the positive.

[Scoutfish]

I wouyld have told rthe man you were passing out free $50.00 gift certificates to everybody on the stgreet, but since you didn't want to trespass...

 

As for the scouts..well, hard to say.

 

Boy will be boys, They may be punks, they may just have been caught up in the excitement of making a sell.

 

Could be they were trying to "protect" their turf.

 

You could mention something to the CM, but at the same time, we have to realize they may not have had malicious intent.

 

I have to remind myself sometimes, that the boys have a totally different mentality than I do and they may not be thinking or even aware of what I think they mean with the actions.

 

Know what I mean? At that age, alot of boys cannot see beyond the next three steps into the future , muchless comprehend the bigger picture of anything.

 

Benn a few times I would have liked to pich some scouts head completely off his shoulders, but then I realize that at 40, I have at least 30 years worth of being older, more expeienced and seeing things in a different light.

 

Notice I did not say I was more mature!

 

You already saw what a great oppertunity it was for a lesson. Totally like the "bigger person" point you made.

 

You can tell your son that he is completely right when he says he has camp to pay for, but point out that the other boy, and many, many more are in his same situation.

 

I think you handles it great! But you could still call the other CM and just say: "Hey,thought you might like to know......"

[kari_cardi]

I would not be at all surprised if the man on the deck encouraged the boys to beat you to the last couple of houses. And it is ridiculous to declare 'territory' over popcorn sales. I wouldn't say anything though, just use it as a learning experience for your scouts as you did.

[moosetracker]

It is a shame, but I would let it go..

 

Me, personally if I knew or found out while on rounds that it was the neighborhood of another scout, I would pack up and leave them their turf..

 

For all you know,these scouts may not have parents who will take them out. In which case, their turf is only the size that they can walk or bike, or only to houses of "known" people, as they are not allowed to go to a strangers house. In which case their turf may be quite small..

 

Also, it might be customers that they have sold to for several years, they already see them as their "clientel" so to say (I am sure that in the mind of an 8 or 10 year old, it is not quite thought that way.. But a possessive feeling still is in place.)

 

 

[SeattlePioneer]

Them's the breaks.

 

Go on to the next house and street.

[Basementdweller]

Oh fundraising turf wars.......It is very competitive.

 

Several years ago selling in front of a suburban, yea it was way out of our neighborhood, Krogers, we had a scouter told us to get back on the other side of the outer belt were we belonged. He proceeded to call krogers manager and complain, the DE and complain......so now NO one can pan handle out in front of Krogers.

 

We sell flower bulbs, so we went to a rich suburban neighborhood and was told by a scouter who answered the door that this was his neighborhood and we should immediately leave. He did call Law enforcement, but I had applied for the door to door sale permit and we were complaint. The officer was polite and checked our paperwork and thanked me and left. Last time we ever did that. Just don't need the hassle.

 

Again, Our Troop, Crew and Packs only way to fund raise is to leave our neighborhoods and go to the suburbs. There are NO stores in our area, None, everything closed and moved.

 

There are a lot of adults who are jerks, idiots and tools in scouting. Seems I meet my fair share, but I attribute it to the fact that I am involved in scouting 5 day a week, so my immersion factor is easily twice that of the typical scouter.

 

What that fellow did was wrong. What I would do is next year, I would bring the entire troop or Pack and hit that neighborhood day 1. The reason I say the entire Pack or troop is that the entire neighborhood would be covered before they could react.

 

Far as calling the CM, it is a wasted call.

[83Eagle]

What that fellow did was unscoutlike, but so would be descending on his neighborhood purely as payback. Two wrongs don't make a right. That's just my opinion.

[Basementdweller]

As a scouter who has been stepped on by fellow scouters who believe they are superior to me for far too long it ends.

 

Payback.....No.

 

But the OP mentioned he was doing the right thing by leaving that for someone else to sell till a long time after. I would make sure that it was covered much sooner in the sale.

 

BTW had it out with the District Committee last night. New people same old rhetoric. I mentioned no FOS presentation this year......

[BS-87]

"I mentioned no FOS presentation this year."

 

Were you disappointed that nobody came, or were you threatening to not allow a presentation to your unit?

 

If you were threatening, you probably don't realize how little they care and have only become more successful in alienating yourself from the District leadership.

 

My wife is the same way and gets uppity about people oppressing her, but doesn't realize it's because she comes off as mean and unpleasant sometimes. Have to remind her often that you'll catch more flies with honey than vinegar...

[raisinemright]

That's prety sad. A few years ago, I saw a scout hitting our neighborhood. I stopped and chatted with him and his dad and told him that my boys had just been through the neighborhood so I didn't want him to waste too much time there. I also told him where we had stopped and that the neighborhood was pretty suportive of scouts and to have at it.

 

We got double booked at a Wal-Marth this year, so we worked it out and each took a door. We got triple booked at another store so we did a neighborhod blitz instead. Ya make it work.

[Basementdweller]

ya know BS......

 

Last FOS presentation they set a goal for us. it was $1k, this is what they said a pack our size needs to donate. We had no input on that $$$ amount.

 

Well we didn't and he came to me and expected me to make up the difference out of my pocket. Heck I already donated half of what the Pack collected.

 

Then the phone calls and emails started. We needed to meet our obligations.

 

We only collected a couple of hundred dollars. So the threat is irrelevant.....

[moosetracker]

Basement - your district/Council sounds more absurd by the minute.. FOS is a donation .. DONATION .. what you want to/feel you can offer.. It is not a fee.. They can project all they want, they can't force you to comply to a projection.. Although you might not get a pretty ribbon, something I know would devastate you.

[CalicoPenn]

I didn't realize that the BSA started assigning territories to units. I wonder how these folks peeing on the corners to mark their territories would react to a family with Scouts who lived just a couple houses away.

 

When I was a Cub Scout, my den mates came from a 2 block radius - heck, one lived right across the stree from me - how do you determine "territory" then.

 

And if you take an order form to work and there are 3 other parents with Scouts from 3 different units who also have order forms, how do you determine territory then?

 

Part of the lessons of salesmanship is the first one out with the product is going to be more successful than the last guys out there. You sold to 9 out of 11 houses in that guys alleged "territory" - I'd say that's pretty good. I'd probably be feeling a bit angry too but I think my anger would be because I was disappointed in the actions of a fellow scouting parent and so-called adult.

 

You've done the right thing by your son and his friend. If you decide to talk to that Cubmaster, I'd suggest coming at it from a point of being disappointed in the example that was set for your son and his friends, rather than from a point of anger.

[BS-87]

What kind of goofballs are on your District Committee?

 

It sounds like you're in bizzarro-land.