Mother’s Day Disappointment

I ordered flowers for my mom last week and had them delivered to her work on Friday. She works at a school and I thought she would really love it. She could show them off on her desk (she’s a secretary) and all the staff and students could come by and make a fuss over her.

I googled “flowers coupon code” and found a 20% off coupon for FTD.com through Coupon Cabin. (Savings Tip: Always google “coupon code” for anything - you just never know!) I browsed for a bit and decided on a nice set of tulips that came with a box of chocolates and completed my order. I was shocked to see that delivery was going to cost almost a third of what the flowers did. Part of me really wanted to cancel the order and just get flowers at a local florist and give them to my mom in person on Sunday to save the delivery charge, but I knew that I was paying for the experience of her receiving them at work and getting to show them off.

Friday came and I checked Fedex delivery tracking and was surprised to see that they had shipped on Thursday afternoon at 1:30 pm and from Illinois! (I’m in Minnesota - no wonder delivery cost so much!). Doesn’t that seem a bit out of the way? Plus, they went to Indianapolis from Illinois and then got delivered here about 9:30 Friday morning. I didn’t hear anything from her on Friday (which isn’t completely surprising because she’s really busy) but I live pretty close to my parents so I decided to stop by that night (mostly to get free dinner) and see how she liked them. I walked in and they were on the table but I was super sad to see that they were in terrible shape. Almost every single one was drooping and several of the leaves were actually broken.

I was a little frustrated because A) I felt like I had wasted a good bit of money and B) I don’t think anyone would be proud to show off these flowers, so I hope my mom wasn’t too embarrassed to get these at work! I took the customer service number that came with them and planned on calling to see what we could do about this (even though I’m not really THAT guy at all). Of course, my mom said it was the thought that counts, but that’s what she has to say, she’s a mom! So I asked her if she at least liked the chocolates that came with them and she said: Chocolates? What chocolates? There should have been a little box of chocolates with them, I told her. It turns out they must have been wrapped in this big bunch of tissue paper that she mistook for flower box filler and threw in the trash. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts.

We got together for a Mother’s Day dinner last night and I’m happy to report that the flowers have completely recovered and were all standing up straight and beginning to open. They looked great. Maybe she should take them back to work today. I’m glad they eventually recovered…but I’m still bummed that they looked so bad on the day she got them.