Capitalism

So with the weather absolutely gorgeous, the kids are out everywhere. It's on days like this that I make my kids stay outside, the house is off limits! Anyway, all the kids were playing in the cul-de-sac and having a blast when a few of the neighbor girls decided to have an orange juice stand. Not to be outdone, Jake and Brenton decided to set up a lemonade stand in front of our house. Thus, the competition began.

It wasn't long until the girls' stand was moved across the street from the boys, a higher traffic area and better for business.

Then all the help arrived. There were about 10 kids manning the stands. All of them were yelling at the top of their lungs,

"Fresh squeezed lemonade, twenty-five cents"

or

"Fresh squeezed orange juice fifty cents!"

Never mind that with all the yelling and competition with one another, neither were getting a lick of business. Maybe, because not a single car had their windows rolled down to hear all the yelling - lucky ducks!

Then there were Annie, Hannah and Maddix who were happily trucking back and forth across the street wherever any action was.

Then rush hour hit and the competition rose. Soon there were signs made by the west side stand, then a bigger sign appeared by the east side stand.

My favorite, was when one west-sider was heard yelling,

"Fresh squeezed lemonade. The money goes to charity!"

That's when Jeremy and I looked at each other and started rolling. We asked,

"What charity is it?"

He gave us an honest response of,

"We don't have a charity, I'm lying to get more business"

Oh wait, now I get it, it's an oxymoron. An honest liar. A true businessman. Did his tactics work? No, not really, but I got a kick out of it.

My heart goes out to the poor man whose truck broke down this afternoon. He made the unfortunate decision to turn down our street to pop his hood. He nearly got attacked by some pesky juice salesmen. (He didn't buy any)

I'm not sure how the girls fared, but when the dust finally settled after a long day of work, and after some beloved neighbors bought from both stands, the boys' stand made a whopping $2.00. Of that, I was given a dime for the lemonade and cups that I provided.

Evidently, these boys are better businessmen than I am. I think I got ripped off. Maybe I should take a business class and then open my own stand on the other corner.