Get the Giggles: Unforgettable Valentine’s Day Card Messages from Florists

Episode 268: Flowers are known to speak the unspoken sentiments of love, care gratitude and sincerity, but sometimes the accompanying notes have a whole lot more to say – especially at Valentine's Day! In this episode, Lori and Vonda asked Flower Clique members to share the most unusual (and occasionally jaw-dropping) Valentine’s Day card messages they’ve ever received from a customer. Tune in to discover the sweet, the silly, and the truly unexpected ways people say “I love you”—and beyond.

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

All of these card messages that we've seen come in with these really racy messages, I mean that happens, right? That's something that it happens. And you're just like, okay, okay, okay. Welcome to the Business and Pleasure of Flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Good morning, Lori Wilson. Good morning, Vonda Su LeFever. How are you? I'm good this morning. Good, good, good, good, good.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

It's a pleasure podcast today. Okay, you're you're in charge, girl. So, what we did, we did this a few years ago, and we're doing it again. And people, a lot of people listening probably saw my posts. And Ellie posts them on Instagram. We were asking, what are the craziest card messages you ever received as a florist during Valentine's Day? And so we're gonna talk about some of the ones we got. But before we get there, I have updates for you. First of all, I need a Leonard update. Oh, a Leonard update. Well, the Leonard update is we had to send off the hearing aids. Yes. So we are sans hearing aids right now. So we have no hearing aid. Um, so we pay where he is extra for this nursing program to help him. Yes. Well, I found out on Monday of last week that this program is getting canceled.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Oh no. Yeah, there's always something.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Oh my gosh. Always something. This is what I'm realizing. Yes, there is. There's always something. Anyway, that's back to the drawing board. So we have to and by the end of this month. Okay. So I get to put another puzzle piece out in there. Something has to take the place of it. So that's my new thing. Okay, so you'll give us an update on that. I'll give you an update of that. So I don't know. I because I don't know what that's gonna be. But here's my other TikTok up a date.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Oh, TikTok.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

You were so happy that it didn't go away. It didn't go away. I'm actually learning a lot. I'm taking a learning all about Canva. I found a couple of ladies on TikTok that do great free Canva things. And then I also follow them on YouTube. I'm learning a bunch of stuff. Some marketing stuff. Anyway, but right now, what is just giving me life is there is an 85-year-old man named Doug who lives in like Bucks County, Philly area. Oh, that's where Renee lives. I know. I keep thinking of Renee, and I'm like, I have too Renee, too cheap. Renee, if you're listening, find out where Doug is. So here's the thing little sweet Doug walked around his little neighborhood with his little cane and he made some little invitations and he knocked on all his neighbors' door and handed out these invitations. He's having a party. And he invited them all to the party, and it got on someone's ring camera. Yeah. And he was coming up the stairs with his little cane and he has them in his little pocket and he hands them to him. And it's and it's on February 15th. Starts at four o'clock till the cops come. And it reminds me of your Ed. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Sweet old neighbor.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Sweet. Rest in peace, Ed.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

And you just anyway. That would be Ed. That was Ed. And the entire when I say the entire world, I mean the Netherlands, China, Japan, the world of TikTok wants to come to this party. I mean, Doug's not on TikTok, but his neighbors are. So potato chip companies, liquor stores, orange juice company, all of these people are sponsoring for Doug's party. And he was like, I just wanted some neighbors to come over. That is really sad. But like it's taken over TikTok. And so, you know, with everything going on in the world, all of the divide, this is what's bringing the world together in just love and community. And people now, you'll be scrolling, they're like, okay, what's everyone wearing to the party? You know, and none of us are truly going, but people are trying on their outfits what they're gonna wear to Doug's party. And oh my gosh, so adorable. And I just love it so much. None of his children live close, but his daughter has had to now create a TikTok account, which she didn't want. It'd be like you having to create it. Oh, yeah. Oh boy. Oh my gosh, because people keep wanting to donate money. And he's like, I don't really want that, but they have set up like a GoFundMe page, and all the money goes to breast cancer research because his wife passed away of breast because he's like, I don't want the money, but you know, we'll set up a scholarship that goes in honor of his wife's name. Anyway, it's just a beautiful, beautiful story.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

And I that is a beautiful story, I would have to say. That is just what old dog.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

So that's what's kind of giving me a little bit of life. That and these four boys that are building a fort out in the woods in Ohio, and they're going viral because they're just doing elementary school boys stuff. And again, our whole nation is in for it. Like, because they're not on their phones, not on iPads, and everybody's obsessed with it because they're like building stuff with sticks, they're not on their topic. We're actually doing something, build a bridge across a little creek and like doing kids' stuff. And I was like, I love this too. So, anyway, all right.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Are we ready? Well, I don't know, Lori. We asked for card messages, and I will have to say, these card messages I truly can't read.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

I know, I know. So I was reading through these, and I was like, probably one out of every four I could maybe read out loud. Like, I don't know that we could say these out loud. Here's what I will say in general. Okay. What surprised me when I sent this out and I was like, you can post these in our members-only Facebook group, which is a private group, right? Or you can email me, or a lot of people private message me. I am shocked, which you probably aren't because you ran a shot for so long. I am shocked at the amount of people that told me they had men buying sending flowers to their wife and another woman.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

I told you that last week. That's what we talked about is you know, that's what happened, and you just like keep your butt in your mouth. It's all you can do. I don't know that I could keep my mouth shut.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

I just don't know. I feel like I would have to go, sir. Listen, are you sure you want to risk this? Like, are you sure this is a good choice? Lori, you probably would say I would.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

That's why I'm like, I would probably lose a customer because I it's a great sales opportunity, though. Think about that. Put on your sales hat, Lori.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

I really struggle between my sales hat and my counselor hat and my Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

But maybe this hat, maybe this girlfriend is truly just a friend who is a girl who doesn't have anybody to send her flowers.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Then the card would say, Love me and my wife. Oh, there is no way of swinging that around. I just don't know. I'm I'm just saying, I don't know uh how I would be able to, I don't know what I would do. It would be hard, you know. But uh you're right, as a business owner, you're just taking the order and keeping your mouth shut and moving on. Plus, you know, you don't want to get into the middle of it. It's and because you don't know the situation. And maybe the wife's doing the same thing, you know, maybe they have an open marriage, or maybe it's whatever. But I just could not believe how prevalent it is. I just live in a bubble. I just live in a little bubble world.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Well, it we have the exception here, right? I think people gave us the most shocking. The shocking because the majority are not what we're seeing here. They're not very worried. Most of them are send it to the wife, send it to the girlfriend, send it to the family members, you know. Yeah. I think that's most of it. Yeah. This is a shock factor to us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I the one that I received in an email, and then I forwarded to you was it truly could be a movie.

unknown 10:00

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

It was it was a message that was sent. This one of our members sent sent the message to me and to you, and it was a letter that the ex-boyfriend sent. Right. Here's the short of it. The woman was getting married, and the day before her wedding, the ex-boyfriend came into the flower shop to send a message with flowers to the new bride. Bride. Right. His girlfriend was getting married to a girl. And they had been going out for years, it sounded like.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Long-standing relationship. Right. And then also a letter to print out that they weren't supposed to read. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Which tells me immediately, I'm gonna read it.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Of course. No way. And so they talked about the whole relationship. I mean, my gosh, you just need to take these three people and take them to a counselor, don't you? Just like, hey guys, you guys need to figure this out.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Well, that letter was scandalous because not only was he saying, Hey, good luck, you guys. I really think you, but can I be a part of this? Like he was wanting to be a part of the couple. It was so bizarre in how it was written and gross and just, I don't know. And it makes you wonder, is this for real? I know, right? Is this for real? Like how is in the day before the wedding? Right? Like, what?

SPEAKER_00 11:39

I know people as a whole have no idea what florists go through. You know, this type of thing. I mean, this is an unusual one. I've never had anything like this, but all of these card messages that we've seen come in with these really racy messages, I mean, that happens, right? That's something that it happens, and you're just like, okay, okay, okay. But yeah, thank goodness the computer prints out most of them and you don't have to handwrite the cards anymore.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah. I I'm looking through some of these. One of the ones, the only ones in the first section I can even say out loud is one from Heidi, one of our members that says, Happy Valentine's Day. I can hardly wait to see your feet pressing against my windshield. Because it doesn't have anything more holding in it. But I'm like, mm-hmm. What? Another one, I do think this one is hysterical. I remember Judy. She said this wasn't a Valentine's message, but she said it makes her giggle every time she thinks about it. Flowers were from the employer, and it was called Foot and Associates. Okay. The designer who took the order, it was from Foot and Ass. And she said every every time she thinks of it, she giggles.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

That is cute. That is really cute. We used to have somebody who would do an abbreviation years ago of funeral home, and it was the fun home. And we're like, you really, you really can't do that. You have to write out funeral home on that one. Yeah. I like that though. That's funny. It's the fun home.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

I like the card. I know I'm an asshole, but I'm the asshole that loves you. That's a good card.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Yeah, that is cute. Yeah, there's just so many. I'm just like scrolling, going, mm. Yeah, I look this one. We used to have a guy who sends to two girlfriends, a boyfriend, and a wife.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

See, that just is crazy to me. I think I told you Mark was out of town all the last week and this morning. We were having coffee, and I was telling him that we were doing our podcast and we were talking about some of these. And this was so.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Oh no, here's Mark.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

This just shows you. Remember, we've been married 34 years. And he said, you know, he said, because he got home at like 9:30 at night. And he used to, when the kids were small, uh, he traveled even more than he does now. He would go to New York like two weeks out of every month. And get him had some really late flight coming back. Anyway, he goes, When I was driving in last night, I was thinking, I remember those days when I would come home, the kids would be in bed, it'd be like at 10 at night, and I'd come up the stairs, and you were waiting up for me, and you had like a real pretty nightgown on. You were like had lip gloss, like shiny lips. Like I always think about that, and I come in and do you even have nice night clothes? That's hilarious. And I just about spit out my coffee, and I'm like, first of all, night clothes? What are night clothes? You know, like silky stuff.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Like even like lingerie.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

And now keep in mind, as he's asking me this, I have on ratty old pajama pants and one of his old t-shirts that I slept in. At that moment, felt very, very vulnerable. And I was like, I'm so sorry. He goes, would you like some for Valentine's Day? And I go, no, I don't. I go, those things are comfortable. And he's like, well, maybe we could just get you some nicer pajamas. Anyway. Well, that's hilarious. It made me laugh because I was like, this is why I don't tell you what we're doing on our podcast. Little boy. It's like, you a much better wife back then.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

No, he didn't say you were a better wife.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

No, he was like, and uh, but it made me laugh. He thinks about that every time he pulls in from a late kind of one, maybe, just maybe, and no, no hope. Never getting ever classes reading my book with my dog in my ripped sweatpants.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

It just is what happens when we get old.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

I was gonna say, it is what it is.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

It is what it is. Yeah, so this year, as everyone is writing just some common cards, just think one's coming. Just be ready for that next one because you just never know if you're gonna get one like we're seeing here that we can't read.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Yeah, yeah. I don't remember the first time we did this not being able to read this many out loud.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

I agree.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

And so the question is are these the ones that they're still like in their mind that they can't get rid of or are they just getting worse?

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Yeah. No, that's that's a good question, Lori. It could be that there are more people who are ordering online, right? Or sending the orders in because years ago, people would come in and they'd write their own card, even the last five years, right? People come in, they write their own cards, so you wouldn't see these. Now they're calling on the phone, and the board salesperson has to type them in. Yeah. Or they're coming in from the website where they're they feel like, oh, I can write whatever I want. Yeah, you're not as subconscious about what you're writing on that card. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

I do have to share the one that Audrey and Christoph, our co-workers, shared. I think this one is hysterical. Her girlfriend sent her this. It's a picture of a card. Her husband had flowers sent to her, and the flower shop didn't quite get the card right. Her husband said, put a smiley face on the card with love David. And the card says, Deliver deliver with a smiley face on David. Right. Well, there you go. So it makes me wonder, I wonder if that was online or verbal. You know?

SPEAKER_00 18:48

Well, because if even if I was an employee writing that, I have to put it in the computer, what to put on the card, and then I would probably write, draw a smiley face. Yes. Yeah, and so then draw smiley face, please. Let's save. So then you would write, but you would have to say, we have to handwrite this card, draw a smiley face. I mean, you have to have more specifics. Yeah, and somebody just printed it out and didn't pay attention to what it said.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

So that leads me to this question. And I've never asked this, and I don't know. When you when you print those out, when whoever's in charge of printing those out and adding them to each thing, is there a proofreader?

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Um, not really. You, as the person who's tagging that order, will need to look at that because two things, I guess. When you print the order, you should double check that, right? So you should look and make sure everything came off the way it should be. Things were spelled correctly. A lot of times you're going so fast you don't have time to do that. Yeah. The second one is as the designer does the order, it's called a super ticket. And so the card is all there. So it's perforated, you you take it off and it folds. You don't really put it in an you're just folding it. And so usually they do look at it, and that's why they know what these cards say, right? Everybody knows. Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

And so at that point, somebody should have gone, oh, that's can they reprint it or at least grab another card and put it on there?

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Or they could just go and on that one, they'll need to get one of the little cards, yeah, and just draw right something. So somebody should have looked at that and go, Oh, I guess we got to do this. Or hey, somebody go take care of this.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Quality control. This this is the most difficult time of the year to be able to put everything together. We talk about selling packages, yeah, and it's always the balloon that gets left or the teddy bear. And so that's why on our members' site, there's so many people who are like, hey, don't forget, try to do this, this, this, and yeah, and giving some great suggestions about making sure that everything is together in that package. But yeah, this is a hard one. I think you talked about this.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Uh you really do during these times need a full-time quality control person. Yes. With everything going out, like to make sure, especially the bundles right.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

You know, yes, to make sure the bundles are bundled correctly. If I have a candle and a bear and a and a flower or a plant and a flower, all of those are are hard to coordinate. They're easier to sell, you as a salesperson. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

No, you want to sell them, but what if it's a specific type of candle or a flavor, you know, a scent, or a pink bear, but not a blue bear? Like all of those little things.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Yeah, those are usually taken care of now. If you have sold a package that has specifics like that, that's going to be set up and ready to go. And then it'll just have a note on it with the name and all that, and it says add whatever fresh. So those type of organizations are happening right now. That's when you're just crossing your fingers, like, oh gosh, I hope the driver gets all this. I hope you know we get this. So we don't have to take another delivery out for just one of the things that was supposed to be in that package. So yeah. Yep. This is it. It's the countdown week, Lori. It's almost here. I know, I know.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

It's it it is, it's coming. It's coming.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

So keep the good attitude and we'll just pray that it all goes well, that the weather is good.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

The weather is good.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

And keep your spirits up. And you know what? Don't let people get to you. Don't let bad attitudes get to you. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

If people come in or people call and look at each one who comes in as a challenge and an opportunity. Yep. That's what we always did is like, oh my gosh, okay, here comes one. We'd almost have this little competition going on. Okay, I got this one. Let me see what I can. Let's see what this one is. How can I help them?

SPEAKER_01 22:51

How can I help them?

SPEAKER_00 22:52

How can I make their day great? How can I make whoever is receiving those flowers love that person even more? Yep. Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

And and maybe convince them to uh tone down those card messages a bit.

unknown 23:06

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Maybe I'm just maybe I'm just throwing that out there. And I'm just gonna wait and see if you get your fancy pants. No, your night clothes. Yes, I'm gonna wait and see if you get your night clothes. Yes. No thanks. I would love a new pair of sweatpants, but poor Mark.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

God loving. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the Business and Pleasure of Flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

So please come back and join us in discovering a little bit of knowledge and one small changing your mindset to take you to new levels in your life and business.