Two NY Girl Scouts Are Selling Insane Amounts of Cookies

The Daily News has the rundown on a cookie-selling contest that is simultaneously adorable, terrifying, and quintessentially New York. Two scouts, 11-year-old Manhattanite Olivia and 12-year-old Queensian Najah, are trying to outsell each other this year. Last year, Olivia, the reigning selling champ, managed to pawn off 1,800 boxes of cookies, earning her a reputation among dentists and dieticians as “The Windfall.” Najah only sold 1,111 boxes, which means she’ll have a wonderful sales career someday in a second-place city like Philadelphia unless, of course, she can out-sell Olivia this year.

That’s a tall order, though — Olivia’s parents work at the financial firm Axa, and have instilled some fairly creepy values in their daughter:

“I think I have a presumptive close that hooks people,” she said, the financial term rolling off her tongue with ease. “I tell them, ‘This year five boxes only costs $20. Can I help pick out your five boxes?'”

Olivia may have picked up some of her savvy from her parents, Cynthia and Robert, who both work at financial giant Axa. (Their office is also a fertile ground for cookie sales.)

Meanwhile, Najah’s parents do what all well-meaning scout parents do — they harangue their friends and colleagues about buying more Girl Scout cookies.

Let’s be real with ourselves, though — selling thousands of boxes of Girl Scout cookies is impressive, sure, but it’s not that impressive. People like cookies, and people really like Girl Scout cookies, especially the Caramel deLites. It’s not like Olivia and Najah are trundling wagonloads of second-hand Furbies bristling with used syringes door-to-door in the city. A single dedicated, well-heeled customer in Manhattan could easily buy 2,000 boxes of cookies, just to brag about it at cocktail parties.