Online community for ornamental horticulture
Most interesting customer encounter
I would love to hear true customer stories as funny or funnier than I have heard in 37 years owning a retail garden center. Anyone willing to share a story?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Pawelek on -
Victor, I think anyone who has been in retail and has delt with the oddball attitudes of some customers could write volumes in a book on funny events with said customers. One that I remember from years ago still brings chuckles from my wife when I re-tell this story.
Remember years back during the era of the huge station wagon automobiles that had the air deflector on the roof above the rear slide down window? I had a couple come out and buy 5 huge hanging baskets filled with Swedish Ivy and Purple wandering Jew. As they were getting back into the station wagon I noted that the husband had hung all 5 hanging baskets off the wind deflector ON THE OUTSIDE. I told him that they were not going to withstand the drive and high winds and he replied that they would only be there a short time and that they only had to drive home back to Galveston, Texas. That's 80 miles away!!!! I just shrugged my shoulders and mumbled to myself as I went back to the greenhouse and wondered why I spent so much time growing a high quality product just to have it immediately ruined by some knucklehead Mr. Know It All customer. I doubt seriously there was any foliage left on the baskets by the time they drove to the front of our subdivision! Oh well.......
Michael Pawelek
Pecan Hill Nursery
www.pecanhillnursery.com
PS- Over the years I've also had multiple customers come to pick up Poinsettia orders in open pick up trucks and one time in a open flat bed trailer!!!
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Permalink Reply by Victor Flaherty on -
My manager, Kelly, got a phone call from someone in the area. He stated that there is a lake in his subdivision. He mentioned that he saw two geese in that lake and that one of them was dead. Then he asked "could you tell me why the goose died?" Kelly said "sir this is a garden center. Maybe you need to speak to a veterinarian?" He came back with "My neighbor said you guys know everything"
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Permalink Reply by Michael Pawelek on
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I had a woman customer walk into my main greenhouse and ask where the row of Swedish Ivy hanging baskets were that hung right near the main door the last time she came to shop. I told her it had been quite some time since we hung baskets in that location near the door and then asked her when she had last been here to shop and had seen them hanging there. She thought for a few seconds and replied, "12 or 13 years ago". I told her I was sorry but that we had sold them since she had been out to see us! :)
Michael Pawelek
Pecan Hill Nursery
www.pecanhillnursery.com
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Permalink Reply by Victor Flaherty on
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I had a manager named Bob about 5 years ago. A bald man walked in and had a baggie of small insects. Bob opened up the bag and looked at them. Bob didn't recognize these insects. Bob asked "What are these insects on?" The man said "my body! What do you suggest I do" Bob immediately closed the zip lock bag and said "you need to see a doctor!"
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Permalink Reply by Erik Friedli on -
So many stories, so little time!
I once had a Customer ask me where the '32-inch Squares' were. Trying to figure out what she meant by that, she looked at me like I was dumb. "You know! They're green!" Took a bit of effort, but finally figured out she was talking about a Yew clipped into a square shape. Thinking fast, I convinced her that a 48-inch Cone was much more pleasing to the eye; and hardier.
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Permalink Reply by Erik Friedli on
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Another Customer came in looking for bedding plants. I showed her a beautiful crop of Marigolds we just got in. "No, I want Palms" Palms? OK, I brought her over to the Palms. "No! I want flowers!" OK, back to the bedding plants. I showed her Wax Begonias. "No, I want flowering palms. I only want palms! This is Florida!" Showed her the "Impatien Palms". She bought 3 flats.
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Permalink Reply by Roger Bolger on -
I once had a gentleman bring me some plants in a paper bag. He said, "I think I know what this plant is, but I want to see what you say." I reached inside and pulled out a handful of poison ivy! I dropped it back in and told him what it was, and he told me, "that's what I thought." Normally I am very patient with customers because we are supposed to be the experts, but I loudly asked this man why he let me reach in with my bare hand if he even thought it was poison ivy!
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Permalink Reply by Zachary Stanifer on
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Let me preface this by saying that we do floral arrangements as well as being a garden center. We once had an order for an arrangement going to a nursing home and when we attempted delivery the staff told us that the recipient had died just the day before. When our delivery person relayed this story to us, our floral manager contacted the woman who was trying to send the flowers to her elderly mother. The manager told the customer that when we attempted delivery we were told that her mother had died only the day before. Upon hearing this the customer broke down into tears and was wondering why she had not yet been contacted. A few hours later the customer called us back and informed us that a woman with the same name as her mother's had died, but not actually her mother. We promptly redelivered a larger arrangement to her mother and refunded her money because of the mistake. My manager still feels bad every time this story is brought up, and for some reason the oddity of it kind of makes me giggle.
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Permalink Reply by Victor Flaherty on
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Back in the late 80's a well dressed woman in her late 40's and driving a nice car came in and angrily confronted us saying that my nursery's marquis sign, the kind with changeable letters, had a dangling letter that had slipped below the line. She said that she knew that this was a a tip to the CIA to have a hit man assassinate her. She claimed to be the wife of Kurt Waldheim, the former UN secretary general and president of Austria. She had a stack of letters that were stamped by the FBI who really were receiving her mail and passing it on to her. The employee that she was talking to was thankful that I was there to witness that conversation. He didn't think I would have believed it. He was right.
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Permalink Reply by Timothy Lamprey on
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This past Christmas, we had a run on small size trees. Normally we sell mostly 6 to 8 ft. trees, but this year, people seemed to want 3 to 5 ft trees. Being ever innovative, we would cut a tree down to size if a customer wanted a smaller tree. One weekend we had a couple come in asking if we had a shorter tree. I told them i could cut the tree down to the size they wanted. The wife looked at me and said " Doesn't that ruin the look of the tree? " The husband said to her" No honey, they cut off the bottom part of the tree, not the top part" Her reply" Oh, I guess that would be OK" And No, she wasn't a blonde!
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Permalink Reply by Tish Llaneza on -
On Valentines Day we had about 150 Red Hatters in for our Death By Chocolate party. I was busy as a bee but kept hearing ladies telling each other that they had to see our bathroom. We have grape vines twirled on one wall and around the ceiling with white lights, artifical birds and a few small birds nest. A guest approached me to inform me I had a bird in the bathroom. I replied yes I know and continued about my business. Again I hear, did you hear the birds chirping in the bathroom. Oh my God, a real bird must be in the store! To the bathroom I go. No bird in sight. Shortly again I hear, isn't the bathroom beautiful and Tish even has birds chirping. Now I'm really stumped. I ask the cashier what the ladies are talking about. She said they keep asking her if it is a recording. I'm getting to the bottom of this I thought. I told employees to let me know if anyone sees a bird in the store. Sure enough within a few minutes I hear someone talking about the birds asking a friend if she heard the birds in the bathroom and her friend says no, it is probably your hearing aid whistling. I know a lot of Red Hatter wear hearing aids but that was just too many. The day ends with no answer and me thinking about it all night. The next morning I'm turning on the lights in the bathroom and hit the exhaust fan switch. Low and Behold, our OLD fan sounds like birds chirping. I since had a new fan installed but now I have my Red Hatters asking what happened to the bird recording.
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Permalink Reply by Victor Flaherty on
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This happened today. A nicely dressed lady customer opened her hatch back to load her plants. My load up guy saw 2 dead roadkill skunks laying there. The lady picked them up by the tail and threw them over the seats. She was a biology teacher and her class is going to dissect them. They had been in an enclosed car for over an hour in the sun. David said the smell in that car was overpowering. The lady got in and drove off.
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