Kool-Aid Stands and low traffic areas

Admit it, at least once in your youth you had a Kool-Aid stand. However, having a Kool-Aid stand in the country was not such an easy task. As usual, my cousin, Tanya, was visiting for the summer and we decided we wanted to have a Kool-aid stand to make some pocket money. (I mean, what kid at the ages of 9 and 6 didn't need a few bucks for whatever?) We had visions of becoming young entrepeneurs and being able to afford everything we wanted. Our own swimming pool, clothes and all the candy we could eat. Who didn't dream of all the wonderful things one-hundred bucks could buy?!? So, we decided on a strategy. This generally was a discussion on which kind of kool-aid to make and who was in charge of the sign and who was in charge of the money. These would be the titles of Product Specialist, Marketing Manager and CFO, repsectively. I was put in charge of making the Kool-aid. Cherry packet, scoop of sugar (this was before the world became health concious and actually put a crap-ton of sugar in everything) and water. Well...my job is done. Tanya was put in charge of the sign. She had some pretty fantastic artistic abilities and we left it up to her discretion. Giant piece of tag board, Crayola markers and concentration. Her completed sign was a masterpiece "NICE REFRESHING CHERRY KOOL-AID- 25 cents!" I think that will get attention. Big sister was put in charge of the money. She found a box to put it in. Done. So, grabbing some plastic cups, we loaded the Kool-Aid and the money box and the sign into the Radio Flyer wagon and headed down the quarter-mile to the end of our lane and set up shop (as it were) and waited for our customers to come pouring in. and waited.....and waited....and waited....(did I mention it was a humid 85 degrees outside that day?) Heck! We have been here 15 minutes and hadn't had one single car stop for our delicious, ice-cold beverage yet. We would wave our sign when cars went by, but no one even gave us a second glance. This was much more difficult than we thought. WE had better try a new strategy because this one certainly wasn't working for us. Suddenly, we saw a milk truck heading in our direction. Ok, this guy has been sitting in a hot truck all day and I am sure he will want a drink. Let's wave our sign and see if he stops. We started waving our sign and jumping up and down so he saw us. Uh-oh...he was going to drive by. He rounded the corner and started driving by. In a burst of PR genius, Tanya screams out at the passing truck "HALF PRICE!!" The truck slams on his brakes and comes to a screeching halt. A mustachioed face with thick lenses, sticks his head out the window, "How much?" With a toothy grin, Tanya blurts out, "25 cents, but we are having a sale! For you 10 cents!" (which I don't think is exactly half price, but how do you charge 12 1/2 cents for something?) The guy disappears back into the truck apparently to grab some money, "Got change for a dollar?" (Change?!? We didn't have any change, we were relying on people paying exact price with their own change.) Tanya grins, "I can run back to the house, Mister, if you don't mind waiting!" The bespectacled gentleman peers at us thru his thick lenses, his blue eyes twinkling, "Nah, you girls look pretty warm and you deserve a little extra for your time on this hot day. Keep the change!" I hand our customer his glass of Kool-Aid, thank him and wave as he drives off. We pocket our dollar and then look at each other. In silent agreement we start packing up our stuff and make the long trek back to the house with our measly dollar, dreams of amazing gifts we could buy shattered. However, that single milk truck driver taught us a valuable lesson that day...never carry change, you will get more than the price you are asking.