Who needs a haircut and is a natural when it comes to arraigning flowers?
This guy.
Just look at the picture on the right. Hair: Hamster-like. My first floral arraignment: Full and colorful.
The people at Pires Flower Basket in Norwich were so impressed they asked me if I had previous experience.
“Yes,” I said. “I’ve been full and colorful all my life.”
They actually meant experience with putting together flowers. Everyone there was amazed to learn it was my first time. At least they acted amazed. (I’m telling myself my mini-carnation basket didn’t get tossed in the can the second they saw that I was a safe distance up the street).
But after spending a morning in the cutting room, I know the folks at Pires wouldn’t do that. They’re very nice. They’re also professionals. If my basket was lousy, they would’ve made me fix it then and there (by way of a friendly suggestion, followed by some helpful words of encouragement). Because that’s how a job gets done right, the first time. And next week, Pires will have one of its biggest jobs of all: Valentine’s Day.
My job, like everyone else’s this week and next, was to get prepared for the big day. What’s there to prepare for? On average, Pires ships off 10,000 roses and 400 flower arrangements on Valentine’s. That’s ten times the delivery business the shop does in a normal week – done in one day. That’s not counting the assortment of balloons, bears and chocolates either, said owner Rick Williams, or the flood of walk-in business they have to get ready for.
“The madness really starts next week,” Williams said.
This was just the calm before the storm, I was told. Funny, I don’t usually sweat when things are calm (oh wait, yes I do). But it’s hard not to when you’re cutting flowers at a break-neck pace (they told me it was a slow day). Everyone was working feverishly – chopping this, moving that, watering this, making cooler space for that. I was so focused lopping off plant parts that most of the time I wasn’t even sure what was going on around me.
“The flower business can be pretty hard work, can’t it?” said Elaine Zimmerman, who taught me how to put together a carnation basket and arrange a dozen red roses.
There certainly is a lot that goes on behind the scenes. That was easy to see, after only a couple of hours. And it was hard to imagine it being any more hectic than it was (not to mention the phones that rang off the hook and bells that chimed steadily as customers rolled in). Apparently, I hadn’t seen anything yet.
“It can get pretty crazy,” said floral designer Christine Busa. “But it’s the kind of crazy that keeps you focused.”
Busa explained the Pires operation Valentine’s Day – from organizing deliveries to filling orders. She said it’s basically a delicate balance, a juggling act, of time and space management. They have no choice but to be focused.
“You can run out of room real quick,” she said, explaining that a key to whole day is making sure delivery drivers – sometimes they hire anywhere from 10 to 12 – get orders out the door quickly, or else it could jam up the whole system.
That’s when someone said, “We’ll have to make more room down here if you (referring to me) are going to be around.” It was Adam Bosworth, a wise-cracking friend of mine who’s a veteran employee at Pires.
According to Williams, Bosworth, who wears many hats at the greenhouse, is the grease that keeps this well-oiled machine running on all cylinders, especially on Valentine’s Day.
“Thank God I have Adam,” said Williams. “Without him we’d be lost.”
What else does Pires depend on on Valentine’s Day?
“The key to our success is to have our customers order early,” Williams added.