Flashback Friday #33

I was a sixth grade CEO

With the recession, the clamour about Wall street, and the financial mess that is our economy, I thought it good to reminiscence about my days as CEO. That was the days before golden parachutes. The only parachute we ever came in contact with was the one you played with in gym class (remember that?)

My sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Zodiac (her name was one of the zodiac signs, you've got 12 guesses), planned a lesson on finances and how companies run. Our class was going to make snacks and sell them to the rest of the school after lunch. We needed to determine what we were going to make, how much to sell it for, how to package it, and even what to call our venture.

All of our class was to bring in a recipe for submission. After all the recipes were read, two were chosen. We would be making fudge and caramel corn. Now that we knew what we would be making, what would we call our "company"?

Most everyone had an idea, with some of them incorporating their name into the company name. Mrs. Zodiac wrote all the names on the board, and we would vote on which one we liked best. After she had written about 20 names down and we were getting ready to vote, inspiration flashed through my head. My arm shot up, and she asked me if I had yet another name to write down.

"How about we call it the acronym C.A.N.D.Y. which stands for Classy And Neat Delicious Yummies?" She was impressed. The rest of the class was impressed too because that name won in a landslide.

Our company had a name and products to make, but no cash. Where do a bunch of sixth grade kids get money. No, we didn't go digging through the furniture or ask our parents, we went to the bank. Our teacher must have called ahead, because Mr. Bankmanager was waiting for us with the loan papers in hand. He asked my teacher, who co-signed , who the CEO of the company was. The CEO needed to sign the papers too. She said since I had come up with the name, that I should be CEO. As I signed, he said, "Now you know that if you don't make enough money to pay off the loan, you are responsible for paying back the rest." I thought"What have I gotten myself into". I had visions of the bank coming to my house and shaking Mom & Dad down.

Well, we now had "capital" to work with. We walked to the grocery store to price the ingredients and packaging. Since I lived in such a small town, we were able to walk everywhere. The class was split up into groups to get prices of various items. you needed to find at least two different prices for each item. When we returned to the class, we discussed the pro & cons for each item. The one that sticks in my mind is the baggies in which we were going to put the caramel corn. One young man was a Ziploc zealot. "They would be better because if a kid is bouncing the bag like ball in the air, it won't come open", he said. The Ziploc bags were twice the price of the "generic" sandwich bags (remember when ALL generic products came in black & white packaging?). Much discussion ensued. Mrs. Zodiac ended the discussion by saying, "I don't really care how durable the bag is AFTER we sell it. What they do with it is not our concern." Ralph Nader would not have been impressed.

All ingredients were purchased, and we began making the goodies in our classroom. (gasp) You know how sterile sixth graders are. I'm surprised we didn't give the school dysentery or something. Everybody took part. Some stirred, some popped, some packaged, while others worked in advertising. Posters were hung throughout the school announcing our endeavour.

The big day finally came. Those wishing to drop a dime (yes, a real dime, not the slang) on a piece of fudge or a baggie of caramel corn formed a line at the art room. Since the art room was one of the few rooms that had two doors, kids would go in one door, choose their product, and pay at the other door. It was a smashing success. We sold out everything.

We had lots of money, but now we had to take out what we owed to our creditors. I got to personally pay off Mr. Bankmanager in cash. (I'd love to do that now) The money that was left was our profit. We voted to buy some new games for the class to play during recess when it was rainy outside (a sixth grader can only play "Chutes & Ladders" so many times in his life).

I've never been CEO again. In this day and age, that seems to be a perilous occupation.

Check out the Flashback Friday Carnival at "My Tiny Kingdom".