A Few Laughs for Valentine's Day Stress Relief!

Episode 007: Join Vonda and Lori as they share a few laughs as you prepare for the busy Valentine's Day. From unusual card messages sent with flowers for a special day, to delivery driver stories to sandwich board signs in the front of stores. Laughter helps make the day easier and release stress. 

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

[ Music plays ] .

Vonda 0:04

Welcome to The Business and Pleasure of Flowers. I'm Vonda LaFever.

Lori 0:08

and I'm Lori Wilson .

Vonda 0:10

We often get wrapped up into the day to day operations of our business and forget the pleasure flowers bring to everyone.

Lori 0:17

including us!

Vonda 0:18

Join us each week as we touch on important subjects that will help lead you to a more successful business.

Lori 0:25

And at the same time remind you that pleasure or just downright fun needs to be part of your everyday life. So thanks for stopping in today. We're so glad you're here. Hey Vonda.

Vonda 0:40

yes, Lori?

Lori 0:42

How are you today?

Vonda 0:43

Hey, good. How about you?

Lori 0:45

I'm doing well. The sun is finally shining, so I'm very happy. I have a question for you.

Vonda 0:50

All right , go.

Lori 0:53

I don't know if you know, but this week is a fairly busy, maybe stressful week for the flower shop industry.

Vonda 1:03

You really Lori, you think, I wouldn't know that? Shops h ave been processing flowers. Designers a re in action. I mean, there's a lot going on in the flower shop.

Lori 1:13

Yeah. One of our flower shop friends posted a picture of it's cooler last night. I thought it was an extra room until I asked him. He's like, no, it's a cooler, and it was just filled with boxes and boxes and boxes. I thought, now that you've taught me how to process flowers, I'm like, who's going to do that? That is so much work! So, but it got me thinking, what is going through the mind of a flower shop owner this week? Are they excited? Are they thinking I'm over this, I'm too old for this. I want out of this. What are they thinking?

Vonda 1:47

Well, there's so many things. For one thing, all those flowers that you saw in boxes in that cooler, they're already processed by now. I mean by the time people are listening to this, that is all done. They are ready starting to design. So what's going through their mind is dependent on the person themselves. If you're really organized and you have a great team, you're like, bring it on. Let's do this. This is going to be great. Others absolutely dread Valentine's day because it is so busy for, you know, three or four days. I have to say, man, it was my favorite. I love Valentine's day.

Lori 2:28

That doesn't surprise me because you're organized and you're a rally your team. I mean you, you like a challenge.

Vonda 2:36

Yeah. It was like, you're right. It was the bring it on, you know, and I was so excited about it. And you think in five days it's all going to be over with. And any of us can endure a lot of work and fast pace for, you know, let's call it three days, three to five days.

Lori 2:53

I think I, I'm such a team player in every job or even school oriented thing I've ever been on. And so I think I would love it. You would , it's kind of on my, not , I don't want to say bucket list, but it's on my want to do list someday to actually have a flower shop let me come and just participate. I need to learn a little bit more, but I think I would love, I love that chaos. I love the energy of what I'm assuming is happening in the flower shops.

Vonda 3:23

That's a lot of it. The key is positive energy. And that's why today we're going to talk about funny stories because two things, nothing speaks love more than flowers. Of course. I'm a little partial. But I do think that's the truth. And we all know how busy and stressful the week can be. So let's talk about things that could make us laugh because laughter relieves that stress.

Lori 3:48

Right, So when we were thinking what we were going to do this week and we both were kind of on the same page because we were like, what can people that are processing the flowers or designing or in the back room or your what is something they can just press play while they're working at midnight getting ready for Valentine's day, right? What can they listen to that's going to make them laugh? So we hope this brings a lot of joy to people. I got on our Facebook podcast group and I was asking people some questions like what is the craziest card message that you have ever had to write down for a customer? What is the your craziest delivery driver story, you know, what's your craziest Valentines ? And I have to say Vonda before we even get into them, over 50% of them. I can't repeat.

Vonda 4:42

I know that Lori, isn't it crazy what people think? Someone else will write on the card for them?

Lori 4:48

Well, and so is there any point as an employee you can just say, no, I will refuse to write this or do you just write it and deal with it?

Vonda 4:58

I think it depends on the shop. I think some shops might say, you know what, I really can't write that. If you'd like that message, you could come in and write that yourself. But it's up to the discretion of the shop owner and that employee. But some of them are pretty, they were pretty bad, weren't they?

Lori 5:14

They were. And my daughter, my 24 year old daughter was in here with me and we're reading through them. We were laughing so hard and there was a couple of them. I'm sad to say she had to explain what I'm like, what does that even mean? I have never heard of it before.

Vonda 5:32

And we cannot say those on this podcast. Otherwise we will get thrown off.

Lori 5:37

No, no, because we have my great aunt Sandra who listens every once in a while and she would be mortified .

Vonda 5:42

There you go. And I love Robert Frost's quote, "If you couldn't laugh, we would all go insane."

Lori 5:51

Yes, yes. I think there's also a country and Western song that says something similar or a Jimmy Buffett song. It's a Jimmy Buffett song. If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane.

Vonda 6:02

There yah go. I love it.

Lori 6:06

Very similar. Something I always think is if you can't say something nice, at least make it funny, right?

Vonda 6:15

Because then people are not sure how to take the message. Right?

Lori 6:18

You don't know whether to laugh or be mad and if they start getting mad you can go, Oh no, I was trying to be funny. Okay. So I'm going to go through some of the craziest card messages. And, again, I'm keeping it clean so I can only use about half one of them and I'm not going to tell who they're from. Not that the people would really care. So the first one that she posted immediately after I asked this question, she said the craziest card message she ever got was, sorry, I slept with your sister.

Vonda 6:53

Oh my goodness.

Lori 6:55

That's a little crazy. Let me see the next one. I can't read the next one I can't read the next one I can't read you guys seriously, What is wrong with people?

Vonda 7:07

As you're scanning through those, let me just share one little story because I think so many times, you know, the message is there, but we almost have to be like a priest. Very confidential in what's going on, right ?

Lori 7:20

Yeah. Okay.

Vonda 7:21

So we had a customer, this was my customer who adored me of course, cause I always took care of him and he didn't care what he spent. So kind of customer we all love, but Al sent flowers to his wife and to his girlfriend.

Lori 7:36

Oh [ Gasp ] .

Vonda 7:37

And he would always say, do not mix up these cards. And Al would say to his wife, happy mother's day or happy Valentine's day. Love Al. And then of course to the girlfriend, happy Valentine's day. Can't wait til we're together again. Oh my. And so it was like, Oh, okay. It was like crazy. And he would bring in gifts that would go with his little secret person and one of them, like he said, this is just the softest bathrobe ever. You know? It's like, I know Lori!

Lori 8:13

He would show his face in there like he knew you guys knew?

Vonda 8:17

Yeah, he knew. I knew he would just like, he would come in , take me into the office because he was very careful not to let everybody else know. But Bud and I knew.

Lori 8:28

Oh Vonda, did he ever get caught?

Vonda 8:34

So one time he called me and he said, he said, you guys didn't do it, you didn't do it. But the place that he got the bathrobe sent the receipt to the house and his wife said, I don't think I ever got this bathroom. It's crazy. And I'm sure that the people listening have stories like that too. Okay. Did you find it hard ?

Lori 8:58

Well now I really do need to go take a deeper dive because I don't know how that whole thing ended up.

Vonda 9:08

Well, they were still married when I sold the shop and so I don't know what happened with the girl.

Lori 9:13

He needs some counseling he needs a talking to. So. All right . So , another one said that, and again, this could have been a funny joke or it could have been an affair. I don't know, but someone said, they said to write to my sex-etary.

Vonda 9:32

Oh Hmm .

Lori 9:33

I'm thinking, I feel like nowadays you could get in if it's a corporate thing. A lot of trouble.

Vonda 9:42

It couldv'e been to a wife who does all the work for you being home. Now Lori , just put that mind back in.

Lori 9:48

That what I'm going to pretend it was, that's what I'm going to thank you for that visual. I'm just going to pretend it was the wife. This one I think is funny. This was, I can tell you this was from a husband to a wife. She told me I got confirmation on it and it said, I love you. I hope you sleep with me tonight.

Vonda 10:10

Now that's not bad.

Lori 10:13

It was funny and she wrote, at least it was direct and to the point. Exactly. Oh, this is one of my favorite ones cause it's clean. It says, sorry about not loading the dishwasher this morning.

Vonda 10:25

That is cute. That is really cute.

Lori 10:27

I could see my husband sending me flowers because of that. Or sorry, I didn't unload the dishwasher. Let's see. The best mother's day card this person ever had to write was from a husband to his wife. That said, I enjoyed making you a mother.

Vonda 10:44

Oh, that is sweet actually.

Lori 10:46

That was cute. Again, this next one, I can't read it. I don't know what it means, but I'm sure it's not something appropriate. I just I have a feeling , Oh the next one. I can't either. Here's what you're as cute as a baby shoes. I don't know what that means. This was a guy sending to a girl and he called and said, I want to send flowers to . He goes, either Bree or Brit . He's like, I don't remember what her name was, so he put two , either Bree or Brit , you are cute. Hit me up for a good time and put his phone number.

Vonda 11:22

Well there you go. That's really nice.

Lori 11:24

You know what, at least these people, here's the thing, people like that. They understand that flowers are a beautiful thing. Flowers are something you give to someone you care about.

Vonda 11:33

You do and that they bring a message not just on the card, but the flowers themselves. Are making a statement.

Lori 11:40

Okay. I can't do that one. Oh, this one. I don't know if it's funny or sad. Sandy says that someone called her shop and said, I want to send flowers, I want the card to say happy birthday from your only friend. So they did, but when they had the delivery, that recipient called the shop and wanted to know who they were from because she said, I don't have any friends.Isn't that sad?

Vonda 12:09

That is sad. Wow.

Lori 12:10

Can't do that one. Oh , this was from a husband to a wife. Happy birthday. Sugar boobs. Love man Bear husband.

Vonda 12:18

Well, that's creative. That's creative.

Lori 12:21

I always like when the person says, listen, they were married or you know. Can you remember any cards?

Vonda 12:29

Nothing stands out as far as cards. We were talking earlier and you were asking me if there was anything memorable about any Valentine's days that had gone through our shop. Um, being there for so long. Of course I have some delivery drivers stories to tell, but as far as Valentine's day in itself, you know, I told you it's like having a baby, you know, you get through it. It's been crazy, but it's like, I don't know, I look back and go, I, I don't think I could really remember that.

Lori 12:57

Yup. And about six months later you're like hm I might want another one, I can't wait for another baby or another Valentine's day.

Vonda 13:06

I take another Valentine's day at this point. No baby.

Lori 13:08

That's true. So funny because yeah, you're through it that week and you're exhausted maybe the week after you're exhausted too and you're still not getting sleep. All those things. And then closer it gets to the next one. You're like , I'm excited.

Vonda 13:26

Well that's why it's so important to take notes and to have that point of sale system that shows what you actually sold. But we did always note the weather and how many employees we had. So you could look back on that the next year. Cause it was helpful. You know , I don't have those notes. So that's my excuse today.

Lori 13:43

Oh cause you don't have the notes. We've talked about that before in a podcast. And I know this has nothing to do with flowers, but I spent 10 years volunteering with youth ministry in our church. When my kids were younger, I did middle school and high school. I was that personality type of, when it came to doing a weekend retreat, I loved the planning, but I loved even more when we finished. Like two days later we all, the adults would get together and debrief and say, okay, what can we do better the next time? You know, where , what were our hits, what were our misses? And not saying we did bad, but how can we build on this and make it even easier?

Vonda 14:26

And that's what everyone will do after Valentine's day now is this is what we did right. This is what we can do better. And we had that, like you mentioned in a podcast. That was good.

Lori 14:35

Okay. So let's move on to, and I know you have some of these, I've even heard some of them throughout the years, some funny delivery driver stories.

Vonda 14:45

I love delivery driver stories. Lori and when I, when I'm at conventions and am asked to speak, oftentimes then I ask for delivery driver stories from other people too because they are hilarious. You just can't make this stuff up. You know, one of my favorites, and I know I've shared this with many people and that was our driver. Kenny was the happiest guy. He was retired. Just to set your mind, he worked at a cement plant and so he was this really masculine man, but he was out delivering flowers and absolutely loved it. And so he'd be, you know, the happy kind of guy. He loved to work on Saturdays and deliver the flowers to churches because he got to deliver the altar flowers to his own church. And he would come back and he'd say, now I don't have to go to church tomorrow cause I went to church today. And he truly believed that, that was his personality. Kenny came back one day after delivering the flowers and he said, I had a little problem. And I said, what was the problem? Well, he said, just a little problem with that last delivery. He said, ah , the flowers fell over. I said, well, you brought him back, right? You know, that's the policy. Usually just bring it back. He goes, no, no, no Vonda. I fixed it. I said, Kenny, what do you mean you fixed it? And he said, I found some scotch tape. And I taped him up. Carnations had broke. He thought, Oh, I'll just tape these up with his church. And he thought it was all fine, but needless to say he had to go back and get them and, and there really were the two carnations that came out the side had broken off and they truly were tapped up.

Lori 16:25

Awh bless his heart!

Vonda 16:30

I know, I know.

Lori 16:32

That is something that I probably would have done though.

Vonda 16:36

Thank goodness he told us otherwise. The church ladies would've called us on Monday and said, I don't know what happened to these flowers?

Lori 16:45

Flowers, et cetera. They use scotch tape. Did you know that? And t hen good thing t hat the internet wasn't real big at the time.

Vonda 16:53

Right? Exactly. Oh that is good. That's very good. And okay, let me share this one from Julie. One with us, the delivery driver for Valentine's day, they take the roses and they put them in square buckets. You guys all know there's square buckets that you can use for your flowers. And they use the square buckets because they can put them side by side and the dozen roses are delivered perfect in them , cause they don't fall over in the big vases. So he had taken the flowers in the, in the buckets and when he delivered the flowers he delivered the bucket in and all.

Lori 17:28

Why? What , what? He delivered the whole bucket?

Vonda 17:31

It was just easier instead of taking the flowers out, he took the bucket cause he came back and they're like, we're all those buckets so we can put the next batch in and he was like oh I left them there.

Lori 17:41

Oh he had more then one, so he delivered alot of buckets.

Vonda 17:47

So you just never know, communication is key.

Lori 17:51

again, I have to know the end of the story. How did she go back door to door and get the buckets or?

Vonda 17:57

O h n o, they did not. The people kept the buckets.

Lori 18:00

and nobody said anything to her.

Vonda 18:02

No.

Lori 18:04

We lost money on that deal.

Vonda 18:05

She said that the buckets had been donated from someone, so just said that she needs to make sure she has a lot of buckets next time she has this guy back in the delivery room.

Lori 18:14

That is so funny. Oh my gosh.

Vonda 18:18

All right , so go ahead and read. What do you got?

Lori 18:20

Oh, this guy's delivery driver got chased by an attack rooster. There was a house and every time, I guess instead of a dog, it was like, be aware of rooster.

Vonda 18:30

A Rooster? Oh my gosh. Not heard that one.

Lori 18:36

Same guys . Years ago, my dad was out on a delivery. The house had beware of dog signs everywhere. So not a rooster, but a dog. This time, and he opens the van door and a Doberman Pinscher comes charging at him like into the van, knocks him over and just starts licking his mouth.

Vonda 18:58

All right . Well at least it wasn't biting. You know, it was like.

Lori 19:00

Let me see, three blocks from the store. He was making a delivery and he recently, they got this, I know this, I've had new vans and they had them wrapped so like their shop names all over and phone number, you know he goes to make the delivery. Nobody was there or no one was answering apparently while he was trying to make the delivery. The neighbor like a little Mrs Kravitz type of neighbor, called the police. They thought somebody was trying to break in even though, and he also had a sweatshirt on that had, you know the label of the flower shops . So he said people know the neighborhood called the shop to see if they were really getting the delivery or if you are actually breaking into the house because they were very suspicious. That's what the phone call said.

Vonda 19:49

Oh my gosh.

Lori 19:51

See what else we have. Oh, so this is the same guy before he got the new vans, those were about 10 years old, he was making a delivery. He knew he needed a new van, but you know, vans costs money. So he pulls up to the front door of the hospital and he goes around to the sliding door, pulls it open, it falls off the track and like lands at his feet. The whole door falls off.

Vonda 20:25

How embarrassing. You just go. Oh.

Lori 20:29

So at that point, what do you do? You know, you still have to make the delivery, but you see it's not street legal anymore, you can't drive it. So he said he managed to set it back upright, locked it. He goes through the back door and like climbs over everything. And he said, needless to say, he bought a new van the following week.

Vonda 20:53

Ah, yeah. That's a good one. That is so funny.

Lori 20:56

I'm trying to see what else we have here. This one's kind of scary though. He had to deliver flowers to a woman. Her kids had sent to her, but she was married to a guy that had some mental problems and so basically pulled the gun on him.

Vonda 21:12

Oh my gosh .

Lori 21:13

I can't , so that wouldn't , that's not a funny one. All I can see here. What else do you got Vonda?

Vonda 21:20

I used to work at Everts flower shop in Ames, Iowa and we would take deliveries to Iowa state university. It was, you know, there was a lot of deliveries that went from Valentine's day to the dorms. We were supposed to take the deliveries to the post office there and they will verify that the student was there and we'd leave them at the post office and then the student would pick them up there. Well we had a delivery driver who was having a hard time understanding that I guess because he took the load of flowers that were going to two different dorms and was gone literally all day long. And when he finally came back, we're like, you know, this was the day before cell phones, so you had no idea. He came back and I'm like, where have you been? And he said he took every one of the flowers to the rooms instead of taking to the post office. And yet I couldn't believe he'd even got in the dorm rooms. But he found somebody to let him in the dorm room. And then if he couldn't find the girl at the, in that room, then he'd found a neighbor who was willing to take flowers, all day long. So again, communication. Unbelievable. That was a crazy one.

Lori 22:38

I am still trying to figure out how the heck he got up. And I mean normally that door to get up into the dorms you have to have a key or a code.

Vonda 22:47

So he, I'm sure he waited until somebody let him in. Who knows? But then there's just one other funny one. Let me say two funny ones. One, we had a driver who was taking a delivery out of town, so it was just like 10 miles out of town and she had all these balloon bouquets she was taking for a party and she was driving down the road. One of the balloons burst and she just like all lost control, went over to the side of the road, finally stopped cause she, she thought she blew a tire. Really, truly it was that loud and she just got out and walked all around the van . But it wasn't just the balloon that broke.

Lori 23:27

That is funny, I can totally see that happening though.

Vonda 23:32

Sure.

Lori 23:33

Especially the bigger balloons.

Vonda 23:35

Yeah, for sure.

Lori 23:38

And what's your other one?

Vonda 23:39

So my last one on the delivery drivers story is actually about wholesale. I was talking to my friend Jeffrey the other day and he said that he had gotten a call from South America farm from one of the growers and said that the snapdragons were going to be late and they weren't even sure if they would make it. And I'm like, Ooh , you know, we always hear about all the excuses the farms have, it's too much rain. It's too hot, it's too cold. This one was the driver that was taking the snapdragons to the airport was pulled over for a DUI. I'm like, well, I don't think I ever know that story before that.What an excuse. So the snapdragons didn't make the plane, so which made it , didn't make them here. So long story short, there's the excuse for the Snapdragon problem, were experiencing that at Valentine's day.

Lori 24:36

You know, you just, I don't know. I don't even know how embarrassing too , for the poor guy. Oh gosh. And just everything. All right . So those are good. I'm looking, I did a Pinterest search for funny flower shop signs.

Vonda 24:53

Yeah, right.

Lori 24:55

And there's some , you know how a lot of cute little flower shops have chalkboards. Those chalkboard stands right outside of there and it changes.

Vonda 25:05

Sandwich boards.

Lori 25:07

Yeah, yeah , exactly. So this, our shop just put like today's special at the top and it says today's special. And so are you.

Vonda 25:17

That's good.

Lori 25:21

Thats funny. And again, some of them, I can't say on here, I think I've said this one on another podcast, the favorite one I have. It's again, on one of those chalkboards, it says, come on in and hate us on Yelp. Just like Eric L did.

Vonda 25:36

There yah go. I know. Crazy. Finding something to go on your sign is a big challenge. And I'm sure everyone who has a sign knows that. And have been struggling to put on things and it was summertime and we had, we had a big marquee outside in our drivers pull up. And this was my sweet, Stephan, who I adore. He was supposed to put on the sign, come in and look at our new stuff.

Lori 26:02

Okay, come in and look at our new stuff.

Vonda 26:05

So we had somebody come in right after Stephan had put the sign up and come in and is just looking around and , and we're like, hello, what are you looking for? And he says, I'm just looking at your new staff and what am I supposed to be saying ? And we're like, who's new here? And , and we are just like, what ? And we had went out and look at the sign instead of the U . He put up our new staff.

Lori 26:31

Our old staff was really ugly. Our nose really pretty.

Vonda 26:36

Right. What's the difference?

Lori 26:38

Well, I'm impressed that he actually came in to take a look. This one also in front, you know how there's specific parking spots. If you're in like a little retail mall or something. This one said flower shop employees only parking all others will be replanted.

Vonda 27:02

There you go. That's clever.

Lori 27:05

Uh , there's a lot of them.

Vonda 27:07

All right . Well in the light of keeping it short, we kind of gone to our limit and we need to wrap this up for today, Lori .

Lori 27:15

Yes we do. And so Vonda my, my normal wrap up. Is there anything that has given you life right now making you super happy?

Vonda 27:25

I t is. You know, I have a sign in my office, which probably many of you have seen, if you've ever been to a webinar that I've been on and it is just a little plaque that says do it with passion or not at all. And today I'm looking at that thinking these things that I need to complete today. A ll r ight. Find the passion and do them otherwise back away.

Lori 27:50

or don't do them at all. Right. And I think that's why when I asked you at the very beginning how you felt about Valentine's day or week when you owned a shop and you said you loved them , you loved them, every one of them, you look forward and you considered it a challenge and it's because you were passionate about it.

Vonda 28:09

Right? Right. So true. And so Lori , what is giving you life right now? You know, I was looking around this morning cause I'm like, is it my new nail Polish? Is it, what is it that's giving me life, and I got to say, what's giving me life right now is my oldest child who is 26 he's not a child anymore. My son Davis, is on a mission trip right now. He goes to Ethiopia, he's been like four times and he loves it. And there's an orphanage there that he visits and there's people that he's really built into and he just loves it. But the coolest part about it is there is a little girl named Hannah that we as a family sponsor and he got to meet Hannah. She lives in the orphanage. And he sent me a picture, which I posted on Facebook. And when he sent that to me, I could not stop crying. I just, just so many emotions, you know, came through and he texted and he said, she calls me brother and it melts me. Oh my gosh. Like, and he went on to say, and I'm not trying to get people to sponsor a child, I'm just, it reminded me that little amount of money every month, it literally saves her life. Wow.

Lori 29:32

And for my oldest child to be able to meet her face to face and to share stories with her about us, who she thinks, you know, we are her family, she believes, and I can't get that out of my head. So that's given me life and it's makes me very happy. He comes home in a few days , and I know he'll be exhausted, but the memories always, always will outweigh the exhaustion. Totally worth it.

Vonda 29:58

Absolutely. That, that's a great thing to give you life. And not just today, but for many days to come, you know? Right. Right. And you know what, who knows? Maybe someday I will be on an airplane with him and get to go meet little Hannah .

Lori 30:11

There you go. That's right.

Vonda 30:14

Well, we need to let these people get back to work, don't we? We do. So let's end on a dr Zeus quote. From there to here, from here to there. Funny things are everywhere.

Lori 30:26

they are and you know what I , this is my little bit of advice and I don't know anything, but what I know is when you are in those stressful moments, Valentine's day or whatever holiday, be sure and laugh, look at the funny, find the humor in it. It just makes everything a little bit easier if you take that time to just crack up every once in a while . So we appreciate you guys taking 30 minutes to talk with us or listen to our our stories. We never take your listening for granted. We're always so grateful. If you enjoy it, we would love if you would hit that subscribe button that always helps us. Not only encourages us but helps us keep going. And if you have specific topics you want to talk about or you want us to research and talk about, shoot me an email post in my Facebook. Whatever you want to do. That is, that's our goal, right? Vonda to bring information to this industry that is helpful and that's going to help you reach your goals, whatever those may be.

Vonda 31:33

That's great. Lori , thank you. And we will see you guys another time. So we hope you come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mind can take you to new levels in life and business.