As of my last post, you all know I have taken on the venture of owning a flower shop. For this past month, I have been in and out of the store to learn from the owner the ins and outs of running the business. The thing is, the shop is a franchise owned store and before I can really take over the business, they require me to go through their training before I can get their approval. So off I went.
I do need to go back and mention that their training program is vigorous and time intensive and... in Iowa. It will require me to be away from my loving family and the comforts of my house for an entire month and be in the cold and foreboding atmosphere that is shoot, I don't even know what Iowa's state motto is. It's Iowa...
So yesterday I drove up in my truck because it was only a 13 hour drive vs. a 5 hour flight. I weighed the option of a little longer travel time versus a car seat that is shaped to my rear end and it seemed a no brainer. I got in late last night to my hotel and everything was closed as far as restaurants go. It was Sunday and it is Iowa so I just a granola bar and went to bed.
I woke up early this morning to go to the training facility and met Rita, my personal everything on this trip. We spent a little bit of time with introductions with other staffers at the office, and the casual stuff that most people do when they have nothing else to really say and then we went straight to work. We skimmed over the training regimen and what we really do in the business and even some plant and flower care procedures.
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| The training facility or what I like to call Gitmo. |
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| Notice my first official name tag? |
Soon after that, we went to one of the company owned stores. And that's when it happened. I was trough to the lions and had to start working on flowers all of the sudden. I guess Rita doesn't believe in baby steps or coddling new franchisees. She is one to just rip the Band-Aid right off. She had me processing flowers, logging in orders, and stripping roses on a scary machine for a guy that has and wants to keep all of his 10 fingers. After that, it was sleeves of flowers.... first roses, then mixed roses, then mixed bouquets and then and then and then I believe I blacked out a little bit. When I came to, my back ached, my hands bled just a little and the coolers were full of decent looking arrangements. I do jest and this wasn't as hard as I am making it out to be but it was a full day of work and I felt more competent in the process so it was a great learning experience. And my fingers did bleed a little bit. Rose thorns are sharp dang-it!!
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| 12 rose red and assorted sleeves. A Tom Production |
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| Mixed flower bouquets. Less thorny but more time consuming. |
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| Basic Rose Sleeves. |
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| Deluxe mixed bouquets. |
Rita was really great as an instructor and she was very encouraging and quick to praise. I only wish I had her as my 7th grade English teacher. I might have learned to grasp the English language better. Well, that is just my first day in a nutshell. I have had two drinks of the finest bourbon Iowa has to offer, Templeton Rye, and ate at a really awful Asian/Italian Noodle shop to unwind my day. Now on to tomorrow...
