Saturday, August 17, 2013

True story, what would you do?

A elderly man in his late 70's was in town and was passing a flower shop.  He decided to go inside and buy his wife some flowers.  She liked yellow flowers and he saw some yellow freesia's.  He thought they would be perfect but had one concern.

Man:  We are going away for five days next week, will they last longer than a week.

Girl: Yes they should last a couple of weeks no problem.

So he buys them, but he was a bit concerned how she just shoved them into his bag, but he got them out to make sure they weren't broken.

Got home and his wife was in the kitchen busy doing something.  He told her what he had done and she thanked him and asked him to put them down on the counter and she would put them in water when she had finished what she was doing.

As she was finishing up she looked over at the flowers and thought the leaves looked funny.  On closer inspection, the leaves were artificial as were the flowers.  He had bought her a bunch of artificial flowers.  He had no idea they were artificial and went on to tell his wife the conversation he had with the girl in the shop and how she had told him they would last no problem.

So my question to you is, if you were the person serving this man would you had told him the flowers were artificial?

I personally would have and think it was very dishonest of the girl not to mention they were artificial to the man, after he questioned how long they would last.

15 comments:

Dc said...

I agree. Presumably she thought he was a bit odd, maybe she was too embarrassed to tell him or couldn't be bothered.

Evelyn said...

I would definetly have told him, seems a bit dishonest not to

Anonymous said...

She probably figured he knew they were artificial and was just being sarcastic. Who knows to be honest. Bess

Meanqueen said...

She should have explained to him exactly what he was buying.

Jane and Chris said...

It would be dishonest not to.
Jane x

Piece by Piece said...

She should have explained they were artificial, I would have.
Patrcia

Lena said...

I wouldn't be surprised if she was thinking she was funny. Since they were artificial, I would take them back!!

Angela said...

Yes she should have said they were artificial.
Older people with poor eyesight do not always realise, because silk ones can look so realistic these days. We sometimes have silk flowers in our arrangements church, and I have to warn the distributors to check and only give out the fresh ones.
My aunt was once given a silk carnation to wear as a buttonhole at a wedding and telephoned to tell me she had kept it fresh in water for 6 weeks!!
blessings xx

Anne said...

Yes she definitely should have told him and then he could have made the choice himself.

ChrisJ said...

I would have said, "They are beautiful aren't they? You'd never think they were artificial". That way she would have told the truth and he would have saved face.

Anonymous said...

My FIL (84) is always straight faced when he asks things like the gentleman you mentioned. My FIL though knows he is pulling someone's leg. thing is sometimes people respond like the young clerk assuming their leg is being pulled.

Many clerks don't know when he is joking.

Would like to give the clerk the benefit of the doubt , that she thought he was joking with her and truly realized they were artificial. Possibly what they were in (vase type container)misled the man to think they were "real"?

Anonymous said...

Teresa here again, I just remembered one of my friends gave me an " orchid" arrangement I kept watering for about 18 months till one of my kids told me to look closer, it was artificial.I was embarrassed , I had wondered why visitors to my house had looked strange when they saw me watering it one day.

Unknown said...

Yes, he should have been told. That clerk was dishonest.

bonsaimum said...

Yes, I would have told him.

Rose said...

I would have told him...wonder if the clerk could have thought he was teasing?

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