Yes, it’s lovely to get some nice flowers from one’s husband/boyfriend/girlfriend/whatever for Valentine’s Day. Thanks for the delivery. However, you might want to rethink a couple things.
First, while I was not personally offended in the slightest, I have to say it might be less than prudent to use message cards featuring this image when sending flowers to women of unknown size and body fat percentage. We tend to be sensitive about this subject, and I can just see certain women in certain circumstances wondering just what the sender was trying to imply, resulting in great misery for said sender.
Second, a sweet Valentine’s Day surprise loses something when the surprisee gets a call on 2/12 in which you identify your shop, state there’s a delivery for the surprisee, and ask if it’s OK to deliver today, because gee, we’re really going to be slammed for the next couple days.
Third (and least consequentially, but hell, we’re here already), when I’m twelve feet from the front door, and my kid is napping, I don’t really appreciate the triple doorbell-ring right off the bat. No, there’s no note on the door asking for silence, so I’m not too irate, but jeez, nothing says “I love you,” like insistent bell-ringing.
Apparently I’m not on the same page with you on any of this, sorry.
The florist offers all kinds of images on the cards, and presumably the buyer chooses one (I doubt whether they’re assigned randomly by the florist), so if the buyer chooses to send the potentially hurtful image of a girl pig to his light o’ love, seems like that’s kinda his problem. And not everyone automatically sees “girl pig” and thinks, “Fat lady”. Many people see “girl pig” and think only, “Oh, how cute!”
I can see the reason for the call-ahead: they wanna be sure someone’s home when they deliver. I agree that it does seem stupid to let the cat out of the bag, but then, not everyone wants to send “surprise!” flowers. And if I were sending Valentine’s Day flowers to someone, I think I’d prefer that she got the flowers because she was home when they were delivered, because the florist called to make sure when she’d be there, rather than have her miss the delivery because she wasn’t home, and then not get her flowers until “…late!”, even potentially on the 15th, when she and the florist finally made the connection.
Not really with ya on #3, either, sorry. The delivery guy doesn’t have any way of knowing you’re only 12 feet from the door. For all he knows, you’re down in the vault rearranging the gold bullion. Or else you’re 86 and too stubborn to turn your hearing aid up to anything remotely practical. And he’s got a lot of ground to cover today, a lot of flowers wilting in his truck, and he needs ya to come get these damn flars now, not in 10 minutes when your hearing aid finally kicks in and you realize the doorbell is ringing.
So I can see it from the other side. But I agree the fat girl pig image is, in some contexts, tacky. However, it is apparently only a portion of the card–what does the rest of the card look like? Perhaps it’s only a small graphic down in the corner, and isn’t very conspicuous?
I am with the OP (and not with DuckDuckGoose). More often than not, the purchaser calls in his or her floral order and does not see the card or sign it.
Valentine’s flowers are usually meant to be delivered on Valentine’s day. Fine, call before delivery ON Valentines Day. Today is Lincoln’s Birthday. Who sends flowers on Lincoln’s Birthday except for maybe Mrs. Lincoln, back in the day, and even then it seems unlikely.
And only assholes lean on the door bell or do the old triple ring the first time they ring it. Ring once. Wait at least 30 seconds and try again. Hurry or not, that’s really the only polite way to do it. I think people don’t go visiting enough anymore and have lost certain conventions.
When Brainiac4 sends me flowers (rarely) they always have some woman’s handwriting on a generic card that has the name of the florist on it. He calls in the order.
When he orders flowers for Valentines Day (once in thirteen years) he expects them delivered on Valentines Day. If the florist is going to be too busy, work it out with him at the time of order - discount it for Monday delivery - tell him you are booked. But don’t make it my business. HE’S the one the placed the order, YOU’RE the one that accepted it - I’m just getting the flowers. Overbooked yourself? - take it as a business lesson.
When you do deliver, ring the doorbell ONCE. Ring again after a minute if the door isn’t answered. Then leave the delivery on the step or whatever your process is. Don’t lean on a doorbell. I don’t let my kids lean on doorbells, and no one is paying them to be polite.
But, my father regularly sends flowers on Lincoln’s birthday, today is my parents 41st wedding anniversary.
That’s a very nice reason to send Lincoln’s birthday flowers!
My own sweet baboo works next to a florist so he usually picks up and delivers to my office himself, but we’re having a new building put up two doors down so parking is a problem. Never any pig cards, pbta.
I don’t know about this one…hmmmm…last time someone who loved me sent me Valentine’s Day flowers…wait, that hasn’t ever happened. A complaint about Valentine’s Day flowers, isn’t that a little off? I mean, isn’t that like complaining that you’re too beautiful, or too rich, or that have too many shoes or too much sex?
Thats why I always have the flowers delivered the day before Valentines Day. That way the florist isn’t too busy, and Mrs.Maxx can take them to work to make her [del]coworkers jealous[/del] desk smell good.
I got tired of complaining about all *those * things long ago.
(FTR, that girl pig is in the upper right corner, and in the lower left there’s another, slightly larger pig, that I think is meant to be her sweetie. It looks vaguely male and has a smooch-print on it’s cheek. So yeah, I’m not arguing it’s a card that unequivocally says, “Happy V-Day Fatass.” It’s cute in its own way. I’m just amused at the possible inferences that could be made.)
Not the florist’s fault, but I hate the recent trend of having automatic flower delivery. Every year I receive flowers on our anniversary, Sweetest Day, my birthday, Mother’s Day, and of course Valentine’s Day. Yes, yes, I should appreciate that my husband cares enough to send flowers at all. However, the meaning is kind of lost when all he has to do is supply his credit card number and the florist sends flowers automatically into perpetuity or until his credit card expires, whichever comes first. Now I do not mention this to my husband, lest it appear that I’m a shrew, but for the benefit of the guys on this board, please do try and do something for your wife that requires a tiny bit of imagination. It really does mean a lot more, even if it’s not as expensive.
“This must be so hard. “Oh, no! Two women love me. They’re both gorgeous and sexy. My wallet’s too small for my fifties, and my diamond shoes are too tight!””
My minor claim to fame - a “Friends” quote for all occasions.
I’m totally with the OP. And just those kinds of idiocies on the parts of florists (not to mention the insanely jacked-up prices around all flower-giving holidays) are one big reason Papa Tiger is under standing orders not to give me flowers on those occasions. But that’s okay, he gives me lots of other nice things at other times, when I’m least expecting it. Like out of the blue he gave me an iPod Nano, which I had been coveting. It was so much nicer than getting over-priced under-scented roses for Valentine’s Day!
I agree. I would rather have a home-made card or even a nice, well thought out compliment, than roses. Roses to me are a sop to convention and require no thought or emotion whatsoever. (sorry, but there is a history here that I’m not about to share).
Half of the roses will never open that are recieved on Feb 14, because they are so long in the cooler they are esentualy dead. The cooler just keeps the petals from dropping off when the should be discarded. Those roses cost a bundle, so demand new ones from the florist when a week later they didn’t open. Around the end of February the flowers are safe to buy again, because they’re fresh.
My sweetie is fine with our arrangement that I’ll take her someplace nice and fuss over her for Valentine’s Day, but I won’t get her flowers. On the flipside of that coin, she does get flowers periodically “just because”. She thinks it’s much better to get flowers just because I’m thinking of her than it is to get them because the calendar says Feb. 14.
My roses arrived at work today. I love getting them, pig card-free, because he sends them so I’ll feel like the special girl with the flowers, not because of a lack of imagination.
