ADMIN'S WEEK FLOWERS

Administrative Professionals Day Flowers: A Day in the Life of an Expert Florist

It's 8 AM. Jamie Caruthers walks up the sidewalk to her floral shop on Main Street, turns the key, opens the door, and turns on the light. The phone is already ringing before she can hang up her coat.

It's sure to be a busy day ??? sales from administrative professionals' day flowers are one of the few days a year that allows her shop to stay open through the slow summertime season.

Jamie's lifelong goal was to be a florist and to own her own shop. Her mother and grandmother had been florists, and she learned all the tricks of the trade from them. Now that she's been running the shop, she's seeing her dream come true. Even the busiest of days don't get her down ??? she's doing what she loves.

At 8:30 her assistant Maureen comes in for the day.

"Hey Mo, good morning. We've got about 25 deliveries all over the city already lined up for today. The phone's been ringing since I got here and we're going to both have to make deliveries starting around 11 to make sure we get them all done. You stay here on the phones and for anyone who come through the door, and I'll go to the back and start making up these arrangements. We've got to work fast."

"Sure thing Jamie," she says as she makes eye contact with a customer coming through the door.

Jamie heads to the back, keeping her clipboard of orders organized in one arm while opening the cooler to grab as many flowers as possible with the other. She gets to the production table and lays out orders as they came in ??? first in, first out.

Each arrangement has its own glass vase, some of them beautiful keepsake vases, all of them elegant.

As she begins to work, she remembers her grandmother's words: "Every bouquet is a work of art." Each single stem she adds is the like individual brushstrokes of a world-class painter. And when it's all said and done, it becomes more than just a collection of flowers. It communicates something more than just the sum of its parts.

Jamie loves this work, and it never really even feels like work. She gently and methodically goes through each order, arranging beautiful fresh tulips, roses, gerbera daisies, hydrangeas, lilies, carnations, stock ??? whatever the recipe calls for, and always adds her own sense of artistry and personal touch.

She takes pride in writing the card message by hand for her customers. Her grandmother had also taught her how to write in a beautiful calligraphy script to add the special touch that makes the recipient say "wow." Her last step is to tie a satin ribbon around the vase, and fill the vase with fresh water. She then sets it at the end of the long table near the back door of the shop, ready to load in the delivery van, and starts all over again with the next arrangement.

Before Jamie even looks up, it's 10:45! Where had those two hours gone? She pokes her head out to Maureen who is already locking the front door and turning the sign on the door to say "Out for Deliveries ??? Back at 8:00 AM."

"How many orders did you get, Mo?"

"Oh, there's five or six. A lot of people came in but after 9:30 or so I had to tell them we were already maxed out for the day. I didn't even get a chance to drop off these orders in the back for you."

"Whew, okay. We can get through that many. You take two and I'll take the others and we'll get out of here by 11:30. We should still be able to get them all done by 5:00."

They quickly finish the remaining orders and carefully load up the two delivery vans. Jamie takes the east side of town and Maureen takes the west. They make their deliveries to banks, hospitals, doctor's offices, law practices, ad agencies, accounting firms, and schools. Every time, they get the privilege of bringing an administrative professionals day flower surprise and earning a big smile from the recipient.

Then they have a few everyday deliveries as well ??? two birthday bouquets to a home, a balloon delivery to an 50th anniversary party and a funeral spray easel to a church.

Finally, by 5:30 it's all said and done. Jamie sends Maureen home and comes back into the store, tidies up a bit and reflects fondly on how much she cherishes her work and the joy she was able to bring into the lives of perfect strangers today.

All in all it's a successful day of bringing joy through administrative professionals day flowers; all in a day's work for one of GiftTree's expert florists.