Free Cookies Anyone?
One thing to remember when giving out free cookies to a bunch of freshman collegiate band students is that the approach makes a big difference in their reaction. I handed out the twelve packs of cookies before my band rehearsal Monday afternoon. You may be thinking, that’s cheating because I already know the band students since I am in band; well you are most definitely wrong. I am a senior in the percussion section so I rarely have contact with the rest of the band, especially the freshman which I tend to try and avoid.
When passing out the twelve bags of cookies to these unsuspecting students I tried a couple approaches to see the different reactions that I would get. My first victim I caught right before she was heading into the bathroom. I walked up to her and asked very simply, “Would you like a bag of cookies?” With a suspicious look on her face she replied, “Sure”, and cautiously took a bag of oreos.
Then I decided to get a little more aggressive to see what would happen. I walked up to a group of freshman standing outside the band room and said, “Hey! Take some cookies.” They all looked at me hesitant at first but once they glanced down at my box of cookies they all succumbed to their hunger. Each of them grabbed a bag of cookies as they hurried away and mumbled their thanks under their breath.
For a minute or two after the freshmen grabbed the cookies it was almost a free for all as the students realized that I was giving away free cookies and started coming up to me and taking some from my box. After two or three of them successfully grabbed a bag of cookies thanking me for my hospitality I ducked into the room trying to avoid the other band member’s eye contact.
Afterwards I made my way to the Eppley auditorium. There I walked up to two freshmen standing by the door. I went up to them and asked them if they wanted some cookies. The one replied, “Um, no I’m good.” The other girl followed suit as they both walked away from me like I had just offered them meth. That was definitely not the reaction I was looking for so that was a little disconcerting.
The last couple of people that I offered the free cookies to all took a bag hastily searching through the box avoiding the Nutter Butters. All thanking me for my hospitality and walking away. As one girl walked away I heard her say to her friend, “This makes me so happy!” As she dug into her bag of oreos.
After rehearsal I was walking to my car thinking to myself how nice it felt to perform random acts of kindness on people. It’s funny how a simple bag of cookies can brighten a person’s day. Even though I had to resist the urge to eat the cookies myself, it was nice making people smile. And then while I was walking I saw something blue in the distance. I walked a little further and realized that it was an empty oreo bag laying in the grass. Typical.
September 13th, 2018 at 12:05 pm
I like the title of the article, drew me in right away. Who doesn’t love free cookies. My first reaction was that you were cheating, but it is crazy that not everybody on the same team knows each other. I can’t believe how scared people were of free cookies. This day and age everybody is scared of people they don’t know and everybody is afraid of dumb stuff.
September 16th, 2018 at 8:13 pm
“Hey! Take my cookies,” has to be a euphemism for something.
A random act of kindness is how I should approach this assignment.
The understated ending is nice. You offer your assessment, but at the same tie you leave the interpretation up to the reader.
You may have completed this a bit sooner than others, since you used your access to a large group. The idea of forcing the cookies on people is interesting.