When You're Being Watched.

So. Today our observers came. Apparently the whole thing was legit! Who knew, right? These representatives actually did come just to our shop out of the all the shops in the state to observe us! (My conspiracy theories still make more sense. Nonetheless, legit.) Apparently, the combination of our being 1) recommended by our representative 2) a shop over a century old and 3) large enough to have a ton of standing orders with them was enough.
That's actually pretty cool when I think about it.

So when I arrived back from lunch there were about ten of them and this frenzied energy had taken over the shop and it remained that way until they left. They were constantly firing questions running the gambit from what product of theirs came in, what it looked like, was it consistent, what could be fixed, how can work best with us, etc. etc. Thankfully, my bosses had them the bulk of the time, although eventually they wandered back to our desks and suddenly four of them were asking me questions and watching me design like a hawk.
But we weren't that busy today, so there was little for them to observe and they left early with a vacuum of energy in their wake. And I was socially weary.

Meanwhile, after this occurred, Fat Rick called. And Fat Rick is my bosses' buddy and loves to tease the girls at the shop and make us fall for pranks in fun and I'm gullible. So he calls and asks if his fifty dozen roses are ready for pick up. And after a short conversation, I just stuck him on hold.
"Is it Fat Rick?"
"I have no idea. I think so."
"You didn't ask?"
"No."
"You just put him on hold?"
"Yes."

And it was Rick. Haha, Rick. Haha. An hour later I went to wait on a man who just walked in, "Hi, I'm Rick and I'm here to pick up my roses."
And thinking it was Fat Rick I was this close to forming a less-than-amused response, or decide whether to just jump into him when I checked myself.
"What's your name again?"
He told me. It was not the same Rick. He was picking up a dozen roses. Which I had made myself, earlier in the day and No problem sir, be right back.
Rick. You're going to get me in trouble one of these days.

Now you may think it should be easy to determine the legit calls from the prank calls. But that's not true. Today alone I received a call from a lady asking if we could make a prune bouquet. And as I scrambled onto the internet, thinking this must be some term I was just unfamiliar with...
I'm sorry, I've actually never heard of that.
Oh, you know, a bouquet of prunes...
....
True story.
So no. Sometimes the strangest requests are actually the most serious. :)

I've actually had a request for some photos of work I've done at the shop... which means I lied and you're actually going to have to see some more flower photos soon. :)