Trust Your Florist

Posted: May 13th, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Work | Tags: , , | 3 Comments »

florist reflection.jpgLast week, I ordered flowers for delivery to my mom on Mother’s Day. Most sites I checked basically gave you a choice between sending one or two flowers for around $40, or sending a reasonable bouquet for a lot more.

But I found, through Honest Florist, the reasonably-priced option of “florist’s choice,” i.e. you just let the florist supplying the actual flowers decide on the arrangement.

As soon as I saw the word’s “florist’s choice,” I had a vision of some overworked florist, buried behind plastic vases of identical bouquets. Hour after hour, repeating the same arrangement. An arrangement that was created by someone else, far away, at another company. The local florist in that case is reduced to a simple outsourced commodity.

I bet those florists grow to resent the big companies that design the pre-fab bundles. I bet they grow to resent the customers who order them. Because the whole system turns the florist himself into both a middleman and a marginally skilled laborer. The system reminded me of federal sentencing guidelines in courts of law. What good is a judge if you can’t trust her to come up with her own sentence? And don’t most florists become florists because, if nothing else, they have a high estimation of their own ability to arrange flowers?

All this goes to a deeper issue, which is: Under-appreciated people tend to excel when they are given the opportunity to do what they are really good at.

I chose the “florist’s choice” because I knew that the florist in question would be pumped at the opportunity to demonstrate that he knows what he’s doing. Just as I anticipate his excitement at getting a real job, he anticipates my excitement at the fact that he did it so well.

I didn’t see the flowers, of course, but my mom went on and on about how beautiful the arrangement was. And it’s not just because she’s my mom. Probably.

Fine, maybe that was the reason. I’m still right about the whole thing with the judges and the sentencing guidelines, though.

image by audreyjm529 (If you look closely, you can see a florist reflected in the dewdrop.)

  • http://Website Cherie

    I went the same route and my mother loved the arrangement she got!

  • http://Website Nancy M.

    Bonus: you seem especially prescient considering all of the FTD and 1-800 Flowers service delays reported last weekend.

    http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/11/ftds-mothers-day-mishap/

  • http://Website Paula

    Advice from an actual florist – look up a florist in your desired delivery area and call them directly to place your order. Calling through any other 3rd party means will just take more $$ away from the flowers you’re paying to send.

    And picking out flowers online is a bogus notion anyway. Every florist fills their fridge and supplies differently. And there’s a myriad of problems you can run into when you request an arrangement based on a certain picture online.

    So yes, Michael, I agree that under appreciated people do better when given the chance but even more accurate in this scenario, know how to buy flowers. Always place your order locally and go with your florist’s recommendation.