花店老板的一天

在花店工作是一種怎样的感觉？被绚丽多彩、芳香四溢、赏心悦目的鲜花簇拥着，在怡人的环境中用双手创造美、传递美，想想都幸福感爆棚、令人向往……那实际情况是怎样的呢？在下文中，一位花店老板就现身说法，向你揭秘花店的工作究竟是怎样的，以及她的一天是如何度过的。

I&apos；ve noticed that what I love most about my job is something that an average person usually hates. What is that， you wonder？ It&apos；s diversity， change， constant evolution and sometimes even chaos. The day in the life of a florist is anything but boring or mundane1）.

I&apos；ll bet if you asked someone what they thought it would be like to be a florist for the day， most would answer with cliché2）. The most common one I&apos；ve heard over the years is "It must be fun to play with flowers all day". Play？ Who said anything about playing？ I consider it my job to be a florist， not my hobby.

Another personal favorite is "It must be so calm and relaxing being surrounded by all the flowers". Ok， anyone that says this has not been standing knee deep in floral debris with a pile of orders in front of them to be designed， with a delivery driver rushing you to hurry up， and all six of the phone lines are ringing at once. Ah ... stress is holding me together！ What would I do without it？

Is it always that hectic3） at a flower shop？ Of course not， but the truth is that most people never experience that side of our industry. The day in the life of a florist is much more complex that anyone would imagine. There are flowers and supplies to be ordered， windows and coolers to be cleaned， balloons to be inflated4）， flowers to be prepared and arranged， plants to be watered， and payroll， bills and taxes to be paid， not to mention invoicing5）. Orders and customers don&apos；t just fall into our lap6）. There are marketing and advertising dollars to be spent wisely， websites to be updated， phones to be answered and the list goes on.

Now， down to basics. There are certain tasks that get done day in and day out7） at a flower shop. First thing in the morning the flowers arrive， fresh from the wholesaler. That&apos；s when the floral fun begins. Boxes and boxes of fresh flowers from all over the world are delivered to our door. Lots of buckets of fresh water are lined up8） as flowers are unpacked and inspected. A quick cut on the stem and the flowers are placed into water for hydrating9）. I love this part， seeing all the flowers lined up waiting to take their place in the cooler.

Processing of fresh flowers happens every day at my shop and it&apos；s a revolving door10） of flowers in and out. Now we get to the fun part—flowers are artfully11） arranged in pretty containers of all shapes and sizes. Foliage12）， accent and focal flowers13） are combined in various ways and then very carefully loaded onto one of the delivery vans for a quick trip directly to the recipient. There&apos；s nothing like receiving flowers， hand delivered by a uniformed driver. I don&apos；t get to do it often but I still love delivering flowers. It&apos；s fun to see people&apos；s reaction.endprint

"Why send flowers？" you may wonder. Flowers create memories. They attack all the senses at once. Color， fragrance and sentiment on a card. I&apos；ve been in the business so long that sometimes it&apos；s hard to think like a consumer or even a recipient of flowers. But when I do， in an instant， I am 5 years old again. It was my first dance recital14） and my mom had given me a sweet little bunch of carnations15） and babies&apos； breath16）， tied with a pink bow. If I close my eyes， I can still smell those flowers and I feel instantly happy at the memory.

Back at the shop， the fun continues as the designer hands are flying， support staff sweep up and the sales staff assist customers who need floral advice. Flowers in and out， phones ringing， computers spitting out orders and brooms constantly moving.

What I love most about my days in the flower shop are the things that most people probably would avoid. No two days are ever the same. I never know what the day will hold. Maybe an old friend from high school will walk through my doors and ask me to do her wedding flowers or maybe the White House or a celebrity will call with a flower order. Sound crazy？ Those things have happened to me within the last six months. It&apos；s what I love， the diversity of each day！ The life of a florist—it&apos；s not always a bed of roses17） but I wouldn&apos；t have it any other way！

我早已發现我对自己的工作最热爱的地方是普通人通常讨厌的那些方面。你想知道是什么？答案是每天都不一样、富于变化、需要不断精进，有时甚至还很混乱。一个花店老板每天的生活绝对不会无聊或是单调。

如果你问某个人他觉得做一天花店老板会是怎样的体验，我敢说大多数人的回答都会是那些老生常谈。这些年我最常听到的答案就是“一整天都玩花弄草一定很有意思”。玩？谁说我是在玩花弄草？我觉得做花店老板是我的工作，而不是爱好。

大家还特别喜欢这样回答：“各种各样的花围绕在身边一定让人感觉平静而又放松吧”。好吧，说这话的人肯定没有试过站在齐膝深的残花碎叶里，面前有一大摞订单等着你去设计，耳边还有送货司机催促你快一点，再加上六台电话全部同时响起。啊……压力让我不敢懈怠！没有压力，我可怎么办？

不过，花店总是这么忙碌吗？当然不是，不过事实却是大多数人都从未体验过这个行业的这一面。花店老板的一天比任何人可能想象的都要复杂得多。要订花以及其他所需的东西，要擦玻璃、清洗冷藏柜，要打气球，要把花准备好、搭配好，要给植物浇水，要给员工发工资，要付账单、缴税，更别提开发票了。订单和顾客可不会就那么从天而降，要明智地花钱用于市场开发和广告宣传，要更新网站、接听电话，需要做的事情还有很多很多。

现在，我们来说说基本工作。在一家花店里，有一些工作是每天都要完成的。早晨第一件事——迎接从批发商那里进的鲜花。花儿带来的乐趣就是从这时开始的。一箱又一箱的鲜花从世界各地送到我们花店门前。鲜花从箱子里取出来接受检查时，许多桶清水在一旁准备就绪。在花茎处迅速剪一刀后，我们就把这些花放入水中好让它们吸收水分。我非常喜欢这个环节：看到所有的花儿都准备就绪，等着在冷藏柜里就位。

在我的花店，对鲜花进行处理是每天都要进行的工作，而且鲜花的进出是一个循环往复的过程。现在我们要说到有趣的环节了，那就是巧妙地将花插在各种形状、大小不一的漂亮容器里。以各种各样的方式搭配枝叶、衬花和主花，然后把它们小心翼翼地装上其中一辆送货车，飞快地向收花人直接驶去。没有什么能比得上从一位身着制服的司机手中收到花了。我虽然没有机会经常去送花，但我依然非常喜欢做这件事，看到人们接过花时的反应很有趣。

你或许想要知道，“人们为什么要送花呢？”花可以创造回忆，会同时激发人的所有感官，颜色、香味以及卡片上的情感。我从事这一行太久，以至于有时很难像顾客或甚至是收花人那样去思考。但当我做到这一点时，我立马又回到了五岁。那是我的第一次独舞表演会，妈妈送给我一小束用粉色蝴蝶结扎在一起的康乃馨和满天星，香味扑鼻。如果我闭上双眼，我还能闻到那些花的芳香，一回想起这一刻我就立即感觉非常幸福。endprint

再回到花店里，乐趣还在继续：花艺师双手翻飞地插着花，后勤人员在打扫，销售人员在为那些需要购花建议的顾客们提供帮助。花儿们被搬进搬出，电话响个不停，电脑吐出一张張订单，扫帚在不停地舞动。

关于在花店的工作，我最热爱的那些方面是大多数人很可能会逃避的。从来不曾有哪两天过得是一样的，我永远都不知道这一天会发生什么。或许一位高中时的老朋友会走进我家花店的门，请我为她设计婚礼上所用的花；又或许白宫或者某个名人会打来电话订花。听起来很疯狂吗？这些事在过去半年里都曾发生在我的身上。这就是我所热爱的，每一天都不一样！一个花店老板的生活并不总是称心如意，但我就想过这样的日子！

1. mundane [m?n?de?n] adj. 单调的；平凡的

2. cliché [?kli??e?] n. 陈词滥调，老生常谈

3. hectic [?hekt?k] adj. 忙碌的；繁忙的

4. inflate [?n?fle?t] vt. 使充气；膨胀

5. invoice [??nv??s] vi. 开发票

6. fall into one&apos；s lap： 没有付出任何努力就获得（某物）

7. day in and day out： 日如一日，每天（不间断地）

8. line up： 将……安排好；使……准备就绪

9. hydrate [?ha?dre?t] vi. 给……供给水分

10. revolving door： <喻>旋转门，循环活动

11. artfully [?ɑ?tf?li] adv. 巧妙地

12. foliage [?f??li?d?] n. （植物的）叶；枝叶

13. 这里指两类花：accent flower是指插花用的衬花，focal flower则是指插花中的主枝、主花。

14. recital [r??sa?tl] n. 独舞表演会；（音乐或舞蹈学员的）实习公演

15. carnation [kɑ??ne??n] n. 康乃馨

16. babies&apos； breath： 满天星

17. not a bed of roses： 不是称心如意的，不是一帆风顺的endprint