Wednesday 27 April 2011

Flowers

Still in my pyjamas, ironing school uniform and admiring the precise angle on which last night’s left over washing-up had been stacked tight in the sink, I heard the doorbell. It was 7.30am.  I suspected it would be one of my eldest’s daughter’s friends at the door, asking with a text-book politeness whether we had any porridge oats for the domestic sciences’ flapjack baking later or nail varnish remover for fear of those pink, chipped nails attracting a negative.
But it was better than that, sweethearts that my daughter’s friends are, it was a tiny woman carrying an enormous bouquet of flowers. They were mainly gerberas, happy flowers, I call them; my favourites.  I really didn’t deserve any but gosh, I’d welcome them with open arms.
‘Thank you,’ I said. “You shouldn’t have!’ Granted, it wasn’t my wittiest line but I hadn’t yet had my three cups of tea.  The lady didn’t even flinch, merely continued to search for something in the delivery note.  “Can’t believe they’re for me,” I tried again.  It was a rhetorical question really, my husband not being prone to receiving mysterious bunches of flowers and my children also yet to discover the delights.
The small lady didn’t speak, simply shook her head. ‘They’re for number ten, will you take them for her?’ she asked eventually, more than a little gruffly.
“Oh, right,” I said, “Didn’t think I’d done anything to …”
“Is that alright then?” she asked again.  “I’ve got loads of deliveries this morning,” and thrust a pen and flimsy note into my hand to be signed.
I did take the flowers.  Miranda at number ten was very happy to receive them.  She gave me a single gerbera for my troubles which now has pride of place in an especially rinsed milk bottle on my kitchen window sill.
As I walked back over the road, I thought about the delivery person who was clearly having A Bad Day.  Part of the flower giving is surely to complete the process of making the recipient feel special, rather than wondering why they bothered to get up that morning.  And I decided that, whilst I’d hate to criticise when untold disasters could have befallen the lady before she left her house, there are certain jobs where Bad Days are not allowed and delivering flowers is probably one of them.  Grumpy holiday rep? Not what you signed up to.  Presenters? There’s only one way Chris Evans is getting out of bed at 4 every morning. I’d think I’d feel short changed if the midwife had delivered my babies into my arms and spoken about how fed up she was with the awful place the world was, these days.  And then there are motivational speakers. You never see them in a bad mood, chance would be a fine thing.
Thankfully, I have a job where I can get away with being incredibly grumpy.  I can be absolutely foul to myself and nobody but the study walls and the pc needs to know.  In fact, I’m quite regularly terribly rude to my computer but that’s another story.
How about you? Can you get away with your smile slipping?  Or do you have to wait until you get home for it to droop a little?

13 comments:

  1. Aw! I love gerberas too jax. I had red ones in my wedding bouquet. I am mostly cheery but when I wporked in a shop, I found people really ground me down. I work at home now and today I am writing an article about Happiness so I can't really be grumpy doing that, can I? x

    ReplyDelete
  2. How disappointing that the flowers weren't for you!

    Some people are only happy when they're grumpy. If I am having a bad day I usually find being at work takes my mind off things anyway, and I'd never take it out on the customers. And when I get home I've usually forgotten whatever was annoying me in the first place :o)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Firstly i think a complaint is in order to the flower shop! Secondly you in a grumpy mood - never! That's not me being sarcastic by the way!
    Thirdly that was a great read!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sheena, I love the thought of your wedding bouquet and the people in the shop must have been unbelievably awful if they managed to grind you down. Where's the article on Happiness going?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Karen, yep, I think we all know a few of those happily grumpy people, don't we?! Thanks for reading :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Antonia! Ha ha! Glad you liked it and it's very sweet of you to pretend I'm never grumpy - either that or I cover it up very well... ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. This does lead one down various interesting avenues of thought, how cheerful do we want our undertakers to be for instance?? Cheerful workmen are always nice though, definitely preferable to those who give sharp intake of breath accompanied a disbelieving look when you suggest that whatever it is you desire would really be quite an easy job and would take no time at all! Not pointing any fingers you understand but there was a time when I used to work with a few who had advanced level NVQ in the above!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Exactly! If you spot any cheerful undertakers, persuade them to swap with the flower lady :) Did those workmen shake their heads sagely, announcing, 'it's gonna cost you.'??

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a great blog!! :) This was a fun read and so true! There's just certain times that you absolutely should NOT be grumpy and I think handing flowers is one of them. I tend to be grouchy in those alone moments, waiting in the grocery line or driving. When I'm at homw is when I fake the smile, at least arouind my child. My husband might tell you differently! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Sycamoremeadows and thanks for popping over to my blog! I think grouchy moments in grocery lines or driving are acceptable - although you might want to keep any gesticulations to yourself behind the wheel ;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love the voice in this. It's so wonderfully light and authentic. a really nice piece of narrative essay that made me smile "yet to have my three cups of tea"

    I too am a tea drinker so I can relate

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks Thea, it makes me very happy to know people enjoy reading my scribbles! Am raising my (fourth) cup of tea to you!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I love to hear your thoughts and always respond :)