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?

2 comments

2 Comments

aarons3614d agoMost Upvoted

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.

sage_perry14d 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.