Girl Scouts asking to keep the change?

[Sue]

Yesterday I approached the girl scout cookie booth outside Trader Joe’s and asked for one box of cookies ($6) and handed them a $20 bill. The girl replied to me “I can keep the change?” I was a little taken aback, asking for a $14 tip. I assumed maybe she was young enough to not fully understand how much money that was, and that it was a bit rude to assume she could keep the change without it being offered. I happened to mention this on my Facebook feed about the experience, and a friend said she had the same exact experience at Safeway (don’t know which one). Is this something they’re teaching the girl scouts now? Frankly, it’s off-putting.

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[TheNation1308]

It’s the moms who are encouraging this!

I was shocked when I, too, bought two boxes with a $20 bill, and when the girls asked one mom to help with figuring out change the mom looked at me and said, “Oh, it’s okay – she’s donating the rest!” which made the two kids so excited.

Um NO.

I said that I had been a brownie and a girl scout and we had to keep our cookie sales separate from donations, which adults asked adults for only. It was disappointing to the girls, so I said, “Here, I will show you something important – let’s count the change back. It helped with my math skills when I was your age.” The girls were fine with that!

The mom said, “No, they don’t have the change.”

“Okay, I’ll use the card option.”

“No, you started with cash, so you have to stick with cash.”

Both moms were really upset and the girls were getting embarrassed.

So, I whipped out an unexpected request:

“Okay – I will buy two boxes of cookies here and if you can tell me where there’s a Trans-supported Girl Scout Booth like Troop 43130 in Tacoma, I will go to them in person and donate the rest to them.”.

The one mom immediately returned my money.

I left, came back a few minutes later with $20 in singles, bought THREE boxes ($18) from the girls, and got two dollars back in coins, not bills, from the girls’ moms.

These moms are SO RUDE. My niece said the same thing happened to her! She didn’t buy any after that and said she won’t until the trend stops.

I don’t want these or other girl scouts to suffer this, so I am keeping the location anonymous for now.

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[aa]

I was asked if I wanted my change. Same idea different/ better phrasing. I can understand the ask, maybe they could get some direction from the adults when it’s larger than a few dollars.
I’d rather tip the Girl Scouts than have the machine shoved in my face at Starbucks with the employee holding on to it staring at me. Ridiculous.

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[scott]

The last time this came up, like ten years ago or so, the Girl Scouts of Western Washington confirmed that there should be no tipping at all, including tip jars, and that they would remind local troops of this. So maybe people have forgotten and continue with tipflation, or maybe some policy has changed.

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[aa]

Reading these comments, my own included, I realize two things that could help. We can stop calling this ‘tipping ‘ when we know it is a donation to the organization. And they could change the ask. Instead of asking to keep the money, or do I want my change, they should ask if I want to donate the remainder.

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