Selling Cookies

You know when you go to the supermarket and there’s someone there with a little stand offering free samples of cheese or cookies or a new fizzy drink. Well, I kind of feel like this is what I’m doing here, offering cookie samples. I’ve been doing it for quite a while, and most of the customers I recognise by now, the ones that want to try a cookie, and the ones that just pass me by. The ones that glare at me and tell me I have stalked them through the shop and tried to force-feed them samples, even though I never left my stand. There have been some aggressive cookie sellers in the past, so I can understand, but they weren’t actually from our company.

By now it seems like everyone has either decided they want a cookie or they think they are disgusting. Some say they’ve tried this brand, but there are quite a few imitations that look almost identical, yet have a completely different taste.

I got into this cookie selling business (although we are all working for free here and even the full packs of cookies are free) because I’d tried a lot of different brands and believe these ones are the best. I’ve heard from many other people who agree. These days, I’m stood tapping my toes, wondering when someone’s going to come along to try. The supermarket has created a lot of confusing signage so it can be hard to come across the cookie stand. I don’t know how much longer I’ll stand here, I guess I’ll wait to hear what the great cookie maker in the sky has in mind. But I do like the occasional conversations with a customer or staff as I go about my day.

‘’So what’s so great about these cookies?’’ someone asks me, ‘’well they are made with the oldest recipe in the book, rescued from the depths of the deep blue sea, written at the beginning of time.’’

‘’The recipe has been altered,’’ someone else chips in. ‘’Archaeologists have found original copies,’’ I try to explain, but they’ve already left, wandering the aisles of the endless array of cookie brands. So much to choose from, a pic n’ mix’ of different varieties to tantalise every tastebud. Is it any wonder that it can feel like an impossible task trying to let someone know that this simple, humble cookie tastes the best?

‘But with God all things are possible.’