Had the worst Valentine's Day rush of my career last week

I prepped 80 arrangements and still ran out of roses by noon. A guy actually offered me $50 to take the display hydrangeas off my hands because his wife loves purple. Has anyone else had a customer get weirdly intense about a specific flower during a holiday rush?

3 comments

3 Comments

aarons365mo ago

Funny you mention lilies... I had a lady last Christmas demand poinsettias that were "exactly 14 inches tall" because she measured her table runner and had it all planned out in her head. She got mad when I couldn't pull the exact plant from the back like I was some kind of flower warehouse. I think you're being a little too generous though. These people aren't building deep stories, they're just panicking because they waited too long and now they're projecting their problem onto us. The guy with the hydrangeas was probably just trying to save face after showing up empty handed. When someone gets weirdly intense about a specific flower during a rush, nine times out of ten it's because they're embarrassed they forgot to plan and they need someone else to blame.

hall.ruby3mo ago

Nah, I'm with aarons36 on this one. Three out of five customers who throw a fit about specific flowers are just covering for their own screw up. Had a guy last Valentine's Day swear up and down his wife would divorce him if he didn't get her the exact shade of pink roses from our display. I pulled three different pinks and he still wasn't happy. Turned out he forgot to order anything until 5pm and needed someone to yell at. @sage_perry's white lily lady might have a nice story but the truth is most people don't show up on a random Tuesday with a deep flower meaning. They show up on Christmas Eve with a phone full of Pinterest screenshots and no plan B. The ones who actually care about symbolism order ahead or accept substitutes like adults. The intense ones are just panicked and embarrassed, plain and simple.

sage_perry5mo ago

Yknow, I had a guy last Mother's Day who got legit mad I was sold out of white lilies. He said they were the only flower his mom would accept because she believed white lilies meant her soul was pure or something like that. I think the weird intensity comes from people building up this whole story in their head about what a flower means and then the universe doesn't deliver. Roses are such a basic go-to for romance but hydrangeas can actually carry a lot of personal meaning for people, purple especially stands for royalty and admiration. The real kicker is those guys are usually the ones who forgot to order ahead and then get mad at us for not having a crystal ball about their specific flower needs.