Vocal Voices

a colleague of mine came in this morning with some flowers for me; from him and his wife as a thank you for some advice I'd given them with their new cat. It's a service he said they'd never used before but the flowers are boxed and each flower is individually wrapped and has a little vial thing at the end with water and then posted to the recipient. So of course I said thank you etc and tootled off to get a vase. When it came to 'unwrapping' the flowers however, only some had the vial thing and not a single vial had water in it. The roses were the only ones that had and 2 of the 5 were completely mouldy and rotten on the bud. The rest of the flowers are in a rather dire state, but I salvaged what I can and put them on my desk (on the furtherest corner so you can't look too closely). The colleague who gave me the flowers walked by the office door not too long after, saw the flowers and smiled and commented / asked: nice flowers !? to which both I and the girl I sit next to smiled and said yes - a blatant lie obviously.

But what else can one do - I don't know when the flowers were bought and how long they've been in the box and wouldn't want to embarrass the colleague that gave them to me; but on the other hand I'd also rather he never buys flowers from them again if that's the norm of what they send.

Oh well, I now have these 1/2 dead flowers on my desk. It's Friday tomorrow so they can be binned then

Oh, how embarrassing for you.

I wouldn't know what to do if I were in your shoes.

Still, it's the thought that count's, isn't it?

Oh well, as you say it's the thought that counts

Kaz wrote:Oh well, as you say it's the thought that counts

SNAP !!!

Ria, you say that he brought them in. From that I am assuming they were delivered to his place...... If that is so I am going to take a different view.

If they went to his home both he and his wife must have seen them and noticed the state they were in - even most men can tell the difference between a beautiful rose and a mouldy bud. If they were in a "state" I would have sent them back rather than upsetting the recipient or putting them in an awkward position by handing them over.

On the receiving end I would have no problem with something like "Oh what a shame, they must have cost a fortune! It was a lovely thought and I love the effort you put in, and thank you so much, but I feel sure that you wouldn't be happy......"

I would normally agree Frank, but they came boxed, and then wrapped in cellophane and then the buds of the roses and chrysanthemum's were wrapped with this elasticated foam wrap (if you know what mean?) as well. So the only way you'd know about the state they were in was when you got to the unwrapping stage

I wouldn't worry too much Ria, he wanted to make a gesture for your kindness and the gesture was made. If you say anything there is the potential for upset, and after all it was his money spent rather than yours

I would leave well alone TBH

I will Kaz, not to worry

if they came boxed is there a name of the florist
if so give them a ring
its a shame bet the people who brought them would be upset as well
i hate being riped of