Has anyone worked in flower shops. True stories from the life of a seller

I have a friend who works in a salon cellular communication. He often tells stories that happen at his work. some of them are so funny and expose all our human stupidity that you are simply amazed. I will publish stories as they are replenished, as well as memories.

Story 1: Back there.
Day off, a lot of people in the cabin. The customer who bought the payment card is at a loss. He, apparently, had not dealt with them before, so he decided to contact one of the sales consultants. But those, as luck would have it, are all busy: there are a lot of people. But our persistent client still turns to one of the sales girls, despite the fact that she demonstrates to another client cellular telephone. "Tell me, how to activate the card?" he scratches the back of his head. “Everything is written there behind,” the busy girl throws, trying to hide her irritation. "Ah. Good!" - the client rejoices and leaves the salon. It would seem that everything is fine - and the seller served two customers at once, and both customers are satisfied. But after about 15 minutes, our unfortunate client appears with an ill-fated payment card in his hands, all at a loss and turns again to our girl - the seller: "You know, I watched and watched everything, but information on how to replenish an account through a card and not had seen". The saleswoman sighs: "Where did you look? I told you: everything is written there on the back." The client is indignant: “There is only a bare colored wall behind your salon, there is nothing there! Why are you fooling my head! My wife and I looked together, but we didn’t see anything!”
Laughter was - for 10 minutes exactly, if not more. Of course, they explained to the client that "back there" is back side payment cards. The girl - the seller simply expressed herself incomprehensibly, and the poor fellow - the client took everything literally. That's how people are.

Story 2. Intimate conversation
Evening. There are no clients: one, two - and miscalculated. The conversation between the cashier and the seller about phones, and the word "telephone" is not mentioned in the conversation. Cashier: "Which do you prefer: big or small?" Seller: "I'm big - if you feel them in your hand, then you really feel, more confident." Cashier: "And to me they are small: they are so neat, pretty, it's nice to look at and hold." Engaged in such a fascinating conversation, neither the cashier nor the seller notice a man smiling shyly near the display window, which is located very close ...

Story 3. A naive trainee
Interns belong to a particularly diligent category of store employees. But sometimes their self-forgetfulness borders on ridiculous naivety.
Mid-afternoon, lunch break. In fact, a break is for other people, those who ran into a mobile phone salon to replenish their account balance. The queue is huge as usual. And then a woman comes in with two huge bags. The trainee wastes no time flying up to her asking, "How can I help you?" The woman is not lost and hands him two of her bags. "Hold, please, my dear. And now I will replenish the account on the phone and take the bags back." And our poor trainee held those brick-filled bags until the visitor stood in a long line at the cashier and topped up her balance. He must have felt stupid. After all, such a service is not included in his duties. Our intern must have been humble.

Story 4. Celebrity
In the mobile phone shop we are describing, there is a sales assistant who looks like Angelina Jolie. Almost every working day she bathes in the compliments of young people and, of course, is very pleased with this. Perhaps her resemblance to a beautiful actress somehow affects the size of sales, but our story is not about that. One fine day, a middle-aged female client entered the communication salon. After wandering around the windows, then replenishing the balance of her account, and then seeing our "Angelina Jolie", she exclaimed: "Girl, you look so much like my favorite artist, I don't remember, really, what her name is!" Our "Jolie" with deliberate embarrassment answers: "Thank you" and then the woman recalls the name of her favorite artist: "Ah, I remembered who you look like! Elena Vorobey!" Colleagues of our "Angelina" laughed for a long time. And she herself, probably, was not laughing. What a shame! From riches to dirt!

Story 5. Our women cannot be deceived
A couple enters the communication salon. The girl looks alarmed, the guy - somehow either lost or confused. The girl immediately turns to the senior manager: "Could you help us?" and, without waiting for an answer, he talks about his problem: “Here, I can’t get through to my young man, and he claims that his phone is always with him and the battery is full and that he did not turn it off.” The seller, having rummaged through the young man's phone, returns it with the words: "Everything is in order" and to the question "what happened?", answers: "It's just that your number was on the young man's phone in the list of banned subscribers. Probably by chance happened". “Probably,” the girl sighs, happy that the problem has been resolved, and, grabbing the poor young man by the arm, leaves the salon. Here's the poor guy! It feels like he can’t get away from this girl anywhere! Probably have to get married.

A buyer appears at the door of a flower shop with an unusual request: he asks to pack and tie with a bow ... chicken legs. “I want to make my friends laugh - I just work in a butcher shop. The richer, the more I rejoice! the visitor says.

Florist Victoria is not surprising.

“As you say, we will do everything! You know, once a guy asked us to tie a kitten with a bow. It was very touching!”

Chicken under a bow. Photo: AiF / Alina Menkova

But most often they buy flowers from Victoria. In a small shop all year round cool - no warmer than 15 degrees - such a climate is ideal for storing them. The florist has to adapt: ​​dress warmly, constantly drink hot tea. Victoria Pyanykh has been a housewife all her life, then she decided to become an artist, and now she has found her calling in floristry. All day long she makes and sells bouquets - most often to men who need to apologize beautifully.

Morning florist

“Maybe today there will be a free hour, in the late afternoon, when there will be fewer buyers, and I will draw a local cat - a guest of the store, she often drops in on us. I even brought paint with me,” says Victoria, opening the doors of the store.

Victoria hurries to her flower shop by 9 am. Photo: AiF / Alina Menkova

Victoria puts the keys on the table and starts the day by taking care of the flowers. He opens the chamber with roses, cuts their stems - holds the scissors slightly at an angle so that there is an oblique cut, then changes the water in the jars. He says that even the time of cutting flowers is very important for a florist. It is better to cut the stems in the evening, because the plants accumulate nutrients during the day, which help them prolong their life.

Victoria is trimming the chrysanthemums, the petals of one of them are slightly withered. If the flower fades, then this is a reversible process. A wilted flower, after proper care, can be fresh again.

“But each flower also has its own “withering point”, when it can no longer be revived,” Victoria collects fallen leaves from the floor and throws them into the trash can. She remembers how she got into the flower business:

“At the age of 36, I suddenly felt the need to draw. But this is not surprising. My dad is an artist, and my uncle. Then I entered the evening art school. I studied and drew, it was a hobby. My husband provided for me. But at the age of 39, just when I graduated from high school, we suddenly broke up. I don’t want to talk about it, ”Victoria hangs up her coat and turns on the receiver.

I had to adjust to my new life. Victoria understood that you cannot feed yourself with painting alone. Income from paintings may come only after much work, or it may not come at all. Decided to search creative work to combine both the passion for drawing and earnings. She realized that she wanted to be a florist, that this was “her”. Victoria graduated from the courses, worked for a year in a flower stall, got acquainted with this cuisine, and then got ready and decided to open her own store.

Couple with sister

This is family business. Victoria works together with her younger sister Elizabeth. Parents often help with the delivery of flowers to the store. It is difficult to maintain one store - this is a mobile, energy-consuming business. Everyone has their place in this business. Liza keeps track of fashion trends in the flower industry, manages accounting, delivers goods, while Victoria creates compositions, cares for flowers, and receives calls with orders. Parents replace the flower girls when they no longer have the strength. After all, there are no holidays. The most profitable days are romantic holidays: March 8, February 14. Birthdays, anniversaries and "apologies" from men to their beloved women are the most stable source of income.

Victoria shows the novelties of the flower industry. Bouquets wrapped in hard paper with the image of the pages of old newspapers; huge armfuls of roses tied with a scarlet ribbon, and boxes of various shapes with flowers inside. Such unusual bouquets can stand for several days - in them the flowers are attached to the sponge.

Flowers hidden in a box. Photo: AiF / Alina Menkova

“Recently, “translations” came: we translate the inscription on a rose petal, and we get a declaration of love. Interestingly, often men cannot admit their guilt and apologize out loud to women, so these “translations”, believe me, will come in handy. As well as stuffed bears, and postcards with the words “sorry”, which are in great demand,” explains the florist.

The latest novelty is “transfers” to flower petals. Photo: AiF / Alina Menkova

Victoria reaches for the air conditioner, then for the kettle. She says she started to freeze.

“The usual temperature here is 15 degrees. Nice for flowers, cold for people, so I dress warmly all year round and drink hot tea so as not to catch a cold.

Pictures of Victoria. Photo: AiF / Alina Menkova

"Don't draw a war!"

The flower shop is decorated with paintings by Victoria. They are often bought - houses are built in the area, families move into new apartments, they make repairs, they buy for the interior. There are still lifes, drawings of animals and, of course, flowers.

“I draw cats, and crows, and ducks ... it’s not like drawing a war!”

Victoria admits that she began to draw because she experienced strong emotions. He says that at 20 you can also draw, but at 40 you can better convey your feelings.

“Creative professions require life experience, you know,” Victoria opens the chamber with roses, cuts the stems, changes the water, then waters the flowers in pots - they are very demanding to care for.

The phone rings, Victoria takes the first order. Victoria's ringing voice is Garik Sukachev's unobtrusive voice, although unobtrusive melodic music of the 90s is playing in the store.

“People love it, it’s so retro. And I listen to both jazz and blues and I love rock, ”Victoria makes the receiver a little quieter and proceeds to place an order.

Victoria takes the first order by phone. Photo: AiF / Alina Menkova

“The roses have been ordered again. They are always in fashion with us. Especially red ones, ”Victoria takes 5 chic burgundy roses from the refrigerator, picks up scissors and carefully cuts off the withered leaves.

“Probably saves on lunches”

While Victoria is preparing a bouquet, she tells who chooses which flowers. She is sure that some buyers can guess which flowers they will choose. Elegant women in high heels with good perfume and with their husbands on hand will definitely take large expensive bouquets - it is clear that they go to anniversaries, weddings. Young mothers always take small bouquets for some holidays at school, in kindergarten.

“For some reason, young fathers also take bells, freesia - elegant delicate bouquets,” says Victoria. Maybe they associate flowers with children. Young girls love something small, cute, "cute" in their slang. And no matter what flower and what color it has. The only exception is yellow. In our country they do not like him, apparently, he is associated with yellow tulips- the messengers of Natasha Koroleva's separation. Although it is the color of gold, wealth. Older ladies prefer pompous roses or long standing chrysanthemums. Often women buy their own flowers. And they are not ashamed of it."

When Victoria sees that a person doubts the choice of a flower, she asks how much he expects.

“Then picking a bouquet is easier. We have one economical buyer who always asks for three roses for the price of two. He is a fifth grader, buying three roses for his classmate, so touching! Probably saves on lunches.

Victoria's favorite roses. Photo: AiF / Alina Menkova

Victoria does not understand why men give her flowers so rarely.

“One buyer takes bouquets for his sister, wife, mother for the holidays and always buys for us. It's nice. But you won’t believe it, as soon as the men I meet find out where I work, they don’t give me flowers anymore. Why - because if I'm here, then I, on the contrary, love flowers! Here are my favorite roses - Victoria shows me light orange Dutch roses with scarlet edging. - I was so sorry when my favorite flowers were bought by one guy - he asked for a girl's hand. So, he bought about a hundred roses, fresh, just cut, and asked them to sprinkle a lot of sequins! He just killed them with it."

A flower for every day lived without a wife

A customer appears at the door. She carefully examines the bouquets for a long time and stops at a basket with a bouquet of lilies.

“They say that a lily is a flower of love and happiness,” the girl smiles and hands Victoria 600 rubles.

The customer chooses a bouquet of lilies and alstroemerias. Photo: AiF / Alina Menkova

The skin on Victoria's hands is a little dry, there is no manicure.

“It’s difficult to work with gloves - you don’t feel the colors. And so you often keep your hands in cold water, work with tools, chemicals - all this is reflected in your hands.

Half of the work day is over. Victoria took a few more orders and put the kettle back on.

“Of course, it happens, and I bring food with me, sometimes I buy it in a supermarket - it’s nearby. Once in 12 hours of work, in any case, you need to fully eat. If you eat only sandwiches, not for long and earn gastritis. Now I don't want to eat at all. Here I was treated to a cake today - will you?”

Victoria pours tea into cups, cuts the cake and remembers with a smile what men think about flowers.

Victoria at work sometimes indulges herself with a cake. Photo: AiF / Alina Menkova

"To us different men come. Often guilty, as I said. Once a regular customer said confidently, buying another bouquet: “Give a woman flowers - and everything will be fine. Right everything!” Another admitted that he would no longer give his girlfriend flowers, because she did not react to them at all.

And recently a sailor came to us, he just returned from the autonomy and bought his wife 183 roses - for each day of his absence. Another man constantly bought hydrangeas for his wife. The first time he came to us, I said: “In order to pick up a bouquet for her, we need to know what your wife is - is she modest or a vamp?” And he: "Now I'll show you!" He took off his jacket and sweater and showed us his wife's tattoo on his arm. So we found out what she looks like and chose delicate pink hydrangeas for her, ”Victoria laughs and puts the cups in the sink.

Victoria begins to finish the bouquet. Bright yellow chrysanthemums were added to scarlet roses. She puts on the finishing touches - tying a scarlet ribbon and spraying greens with varnish.

"This is for beauty, to give marketable condition. See how immediately the leaves shone! the florist explains.

Victoria finished the bouquet. Photo: AiF / Alina Menkova

“In general, chrysanthemums are an autumn flower. Each flower has its own season, time of sale. People take roses in winter, and these flowers themselves love the cold. They last longer in winter. In the spring they buy tulips, lilies of the valley, snowdrops. When flower beds begin to bloom, tulips abruptly stop buying. In summer, they mainly take gladioli, bluebells, wild flowers, large-headed chamomile.

Victoria is back to work.

“I won’t have time to draw today, and our kitty is not visible today. I'll leave the colors. Maybe tomorrow will come!

Having settled down as a seller, the Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent learned how to sell withered roses and stale lilies. I wanted to learn about the tricks of flower sellers for a long time. After all, when buying a fresh bouquet of roses with drops of morning dew on the petals, merchants assured me that the flowers were cut just an hour ago. But for some reason, almost immediately they lost their presentation, and the next day they completely asked for a trash can. To comprehend all the wisdom of florists, I decided to work in flower shop. One day was enough.

It is not so easy to get a job as a rose seller

In order to get a job as a flower girl, I had to travel around the city. I immediately visited the Kholodnogorsk flower market, then specialized shops on Alekseevka and flower stalls at the Universitet metro station. Only after that it was possible to agree with the owner of a flower shop in the Central Market.

My first working day started at 7:00 am. The night before, I met the owner, Michael Samvelovich. Said I was looking for a job. In broken Russian, he asked if I had a Kharkov residence permit and a passport. I said yes, and the flower shop owner offered to give it a try.

You will train for a day. No more. The main thing is to see at least once how an experienced implementer works, and you will immediately understand everything, - Michael Samvelovich summed up.

It was a little scary - I've never had to sell something on the subway before. Moreover, it was about such a delicate and perishable commodity as flowers.

Dry petals are not a reason to lose money

At seven in the morning I was at work. The day started with cleaning. The seller changes the water and treats flowerpots with bleach.

Doing this is undesirable. Flowers do not tolerate bleach, but without it, the store will smell of musty water, - said an experienced saleswoman Snezhana.

Here the owner brings fresh flowers. I asked where the withered roses and lilies were going, but they didn’t answer me - they showed me in practice.

Stale roses are given a marketable appearance with a slight movement of scissors: the craftsman-seller cuts off the "spurred" petals, cuts off the wilted leaves and sprinkles the rose with a special solution with an unknown composition, which does not allow the bud to crumble for some time. "Updated" roses are placed in one flowerpot with fresh addition the same variety, and, it is hard to believe, but it is simply impossible to distinguish one from the other! So it turns out that if a fresh rose costs from six to twenty hryvnia, and standing for a week - from three to five, then processed and fresh roses cost exactly the same! And to make the flowers look more attractive, the seller sprinkles the buds with water from a spray bottle, creating a dew effect.

Of course, it is undesirable to do this, - says Snezhana. - From this, the buds can begin to rot.

When the rose begins to dry out (the tips of the petals darken), this, too, Snezhana claims, is not a reason to lose money. The dried edges are sprinkled with sparkles and filled with ordinary hairspray, and lo and behold: the cost of the flower doubles!

We put broken roses in the bouquet

From about nine in the morning, the store becomes crowded. The first customer asks to make a bouquet of 11 red roses.

I'll leave you the money, and I'll come back in ten minutes, the man says.

Snezhana nods in response to him with a sweet smile. As soon as we are alone, she immediately gets down to business: she chooses roses and begins to pack them. I notice that the stem of two roses is damaged. Seeing my bewilderment, the enterprising saleswoman explains:

He still won’t notice, he will give it to his woman and forget. And I, if the owner sees broken roses, - to pay for them! Don't worry, you'll soon get used to our little tricks! - encourages Snezhana. - Here sometimes a couple comes - the bride and groom - order a huge bouquet of fresh roses, and ask to pick the petals from each bud (so that they are sprinkled at the wedding). This is a very good order! You can make good money on this if you pick petals from cheap roses, for example, those that cost five to seven hryvnias (newlyweds often order Dutch roses that cost 15 hryvnias). You'll take the difference. Believe me, neither the groom nor the bride will notice the substitution.

I also noticed that on the top shelf of the display case there was a packed bouquet of lilies, which was obviously two weeks old, and on it was a price tag: 70 hryvnias. The leaves turned yellow, the saleswoman tore off the stamens three days ago. I decided to be smart:

Michael Samvelovich, the bouquet is a spree, but the price is not small.

The owner, hearing this, began to grumble at Snezhana.

I told you a week ago: bet 30 hryvnias! And you are all thirsty! And now we won’t even get thirty, we’ll take it to the landfill!

Snezhana calmly replied that they would take the bouquet for 30 hryvnia even now. And I was not mistaken. In less than two hours, she handed this bouquet to a smiling Negro.

We deceive the natives

The man took the bouquet with a surprise, thanked the saleswoman and left. After some time, a young Chinese woman came to the store, who obviously does not know the language and cannot explain what she needs. Without hesitation, he points his finger at a yellow rose for seven hryvnias. Snezhana gets up unhappily and wraps the rose in transparent cellophane (the cost of such packaging is two hryvnias). The Chinese woman is trying to show with gestures that there is no need to pack.

We do not ship flowers without packaging! - the saleswoman shouts angrily.

The Chinese woman silently agrees. Having packed the flower, Snezhana names the price - 15 hryvnias! This is despite the fact that the rose together with the packaging costs nine hryvnia! The buyer pays and leaves. I remain silent, holding back with all my might. Snezhana herself begins to be frank:

I can't stand these Chinese! We came in large numbers, I won’t save them from them! And I can't stand blacks either. That's how a native comes to me, I'll definitely rip off at least for coffee.

So, gaining "experience", I spent my first working day. In the evening the owner came again. He treated us to coffee.

Tomorrow you go out. Do not be late. Anything you sell, write it down. Put the money in a pencil case, near the notebook. In general, tomorrow morning I'll still bring you fresh. And I will explain that you will not understand, - Michael Samvelovich admonished me.

I refused. One day as a saleswoman in a flower shop was enough for me. Now it is unlikely that sellers of roses, lilies and orchids will be able to push me stale goods.

Important!

Smell matters

1. Before you buy a rose, smell it. The fresh flower has a tart, fresh scent.

2. In a fresh rose, the bud is always elastic and bright.

3. Having decided to buy a bouquet, choose each rose yourself. Pay attention to the length of the stem: the longer the better.

4. In order to select fresh lilies, pay attention to the stamens. Freshly cut flowers are bright in color and covered in pollen, while standing ones are dark and dry.

5. Don't buy lilies without stamens. In order to hide the "age" of this flower, enterprising traders tear them off.

The stronger the smell of lilies, the longer they can not be sold.

Everywhere you look, everywhere they only talk about the prices of food, meat-fruits-vegetables. Whatever one may say, these are the sad realities of our time, and this issue is of most concern most our population. But still, there should be a place in this life for the beautiful. So we decided to find out how things are in the flower business in the South of Russia. We met Natalya, who works in a flower shop in Novorossiysk, breathes in the intoxicating aromas of roses, lilies, gladioli all day long and, like no one else, understands all the intricacies of the flower business. True, at first the saleswoman was set categorically.

The bouquet did not give a ride - give it back!

Here you write about the prices of products and you are doing the right thing! - Natalya said, sorting through the multi-colored ribbons. - Alas, no one takes a hundred roses for loved ones now. True, today a guy gloomier than a cloud came in, said that he had a strong quarrel with the girl. I made him a bouquet of roses. An hour later, a sad one with my bouquet trudges, says, the beauty sent me away, your bouquet did not help. And I think to myself, it would be better if you bought a full bag of products for a beauty, look, and you would be kinder by tasting delicacies. By the way, even if they gave a “lapel-turn” with a bouquet, no one now throws out bouquets in annoyance, as they show in films, some even try to return the flowers back. Muscovites came by the other day. We were surprised that the prices are the same as in the capital. For some reason, they naively thought that in the south the flowers were cheap, they could be collected in armfuls.

Flowers that are delivered to the Coast from the regional center, no one is going to give for a penny. So, a tall rose costs a hundred rubles apiece, smaller beauties are sold for eighty. That is why stories about bouquets of a hundred roses for loved ones have long gone into the realm of legends. But life is life. People get married, give birth to children, bury loved ones and flowers are indispensable. Therefore, they still take and will take. And of course, it is very disappointing when the newly presented beauties wither before your eyes, thereby, as it were, hinting that the donor may not be as sincere in his feelings for you as he is trying to show. But the point is not at all in him and not in his feelings, but in the fact that you, most likely, got the flowers of not the first freshness.

Crumpled flowers are the freshest

Imbued with confidence, Natalia shares the secrets of flower sellers.

Do you know which roses are the freshest? - the girl asks, taking out a burgundy rose from a vase, - those whose lower petals are slightly crushed. Here this flower, which arrived this morning, they are crushed, but at the same time it looks gorgeous. Then these lower petals are peeled off, as they fade first. You see, a rose with perfectly smooth petals - its lower petals have already been peeled off, as it began to lose appearance.

- And if it is not sold just about, then the fading beauty will go to the trash ?!

What a fast you are! Natalya laughs. She won't go anywhere! You've probably seen ornate bouquets where pretty cuffs adorn the bases of the flowers.

- I saw it more than once. They, by the way, as I noticed, are in demand. I have always been sure that the sellers, the creators of these compositions, dream of being florists, so they spend their days creating small masterpieces.

“My dear, everything is much more prosaic. When the rose is completely bent, its head tilts sadly to one side. I understand that it's rubbish. And then a toothpick is taken and inserted into the bud, forcing him to victoriously hold his head again. A colorful cuff is put on at its base, which hides a toothpick and a rapidly withering bud. And, of course, all kinds of grass and tinsel are inserted into the bouquet in order to divert attention from dead flowers. No matter how funny, well, sometimes such elegant bouquets really “push” more expensive than fresh roses that are ready to please the eye for a week. My friend bought the lady of the heart a gorgeous bouquet, and when he went to her house, he awkwardly touched him on the jamb. A flower head with a protruding toothpick fell to the floor. The lady turned out to be humorous, suggested that he use a toothpick after a romantic dinner, which will take place on condition that the bouquet is sent to the trash ...

My red rose, getting used to the pain ...

The rose is considered to be the queen of flowers. But, interestingly, other flowers are not inferior to her in price. The lily season has now begun. So, for one flower they ask for a hundred rubles no less. The same is worth one sprig of chrysanthemum. For a beautiful lush bouquet, you will have to fork out at least nine branches. Bouquets of meadow flowers appeared on the shelves. A thin bouquet of blue, yellow, white flowers will cost 200 rubles. So even the romantics will have to fork out here.

- Natalya, how to understand that the flower is fresh, - I ask the question on the forehead.

“Fresh flowers smell like greenery,” Natalya inhales the air noisily. - This fragrance lasts the first two days. Well, everyone knows how fading flowers smell.

- I like your work, - I confess to Natalya, - sit like a queen with air conditioning, all in flowers, people, mostly joyful, come to you. Lovers…

- Do you like it too?

Oh my God! Natalia holds out her torn hands to me.

- Apparently, you are a happy owner of a reed cat?

- No, just this morning they brought the freshest roses. I have to process hundreds of flowers, peeling off the extra leaves on the stems of each. Oh, and those prickly roses! How the hands hurt after them! But for this I get seven hundred rubles a day. As you can see, beauty requires sacrifice...