花店老板的一天

2017-11-15 08:35:25

新東方英語·中學版 2017年11期

在花店工作是一種怎樣的感覺？被絢麗多彩、芳香四溢、賞心悅目的鮮花簇擁著，在怡人的環境中用雙手創造美、傳遞美，想想都幸福感爆棚、令人向往……那實際情況是怎樣的呢？在下文中，一位花店老板就現身說法，向你揭秘花店的工作究竟是怎樣的，以及她的一天是如何度過的。

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！

我早已發現我對自己的工作最熱愛的地方是普通人通常討厭的那些方面。你想知道是什么？答案是每天都不一樣、富于變化、需要不斷精進，有時甚至還很混亂。一個花店老板每天的生活絕對不會無聊或是單調。

如果你問某個人他覺得做一天花店老板會是怎樣的體驗，我敢說大多數人的回答都會是那些老生常談。這些年我最常聽到的答案就是“一整天都玩花弄草一定很有意思”。玩？誰說我是在玩花弄草？我覺得做花店老板是我的工作，而不是愛好。

大家還特別喜歡這樣回答：“各種各樣的花圍繞在身邊一定讓人感覺平靜而又放松吧”。好吧，說這話的人肯定沒有試過站在齊膝深的殘花碎葉里，面前有一大摞訂單等著你去設計，耳邊還有送貨司機催促你快一點，再加上六臺電話全部同時響起。啊……壓力讓我不敢懈怠！沒有壓力，我可怎么辦？

不過，花店總是這么忙碌嗎？當然不是，不過事實卻是大多數人都從未體驗過這個行業的這一面。花店老板的一天比任何人可能想象的都要復雜得多。要訂花以及其他所需的東西，要擦玻璃、清洗冷藏柜，要打氣球，要把花準備好、搭配好，要給植物澆水，要給員工發工資，要付賬單、繳稅，更別提開發票了。訂單和顧客可不會就那么從天而降，要明智地花錢用于市場開發和廣告宣傳，要更新網站、接聽電話，需要做的事情還有很多很多。

現在，我們來說說基本工作。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——迎接從批發商那里進的鮮花。花兒帶來的樂趣就是從這時開始的。一箱又一箱的鮮花從世界各地送到我們花店門前。鮮花從箱子里取出來接受檢查時，許多桶清水在一旁準備就緒。在花莖處迅速剪一刀后，我們就把這些花放入水中好讓它們吸收水分。我非常喜歡這個環節：看到所有的花兒都準備就緒，等著在冷藏柜里就位。

在我的花店，對鮮花進行處理是每天都要進行的工作，而且鮮花的進出是一個循環往復的過程。現在我們要說到有趣的環節了，那就是巧妙地將花插在各種形狀、大小不一的漂亮容器里。以各種各樣的方式搭配枝葉、襯花和主花，然后把它們小心翼翼地裝上其中一輛送貨車，飛快地向收花人直接駛去。沒有什么能比得上從一位身著制服的司機手中收到花了。我雖然沒有機會經常去送花，但我依然非常喜歡做這件事，看到人們接過花時的反應很有趣。

你或許想要知道，“人們為什么要送花呢？”花可以創造回憶，會同時激發人的所有感官，顏色、香味以及卡片上的情感。我從事這一行太久，以至于有時很難像顧客或甚至是收花人那樣去思考。但當我做到這一點時，我立馬又回到了五歲。那是我的第一次獨舞表演會，媽媽送給我一小束用粉色蝴蝶結扎在一起的康乃馨和滿天星，香味撲鼻。如果我閉上雙眼，我還能聞到那些花的芳香，一回想起這一刻我就立即感覺非常幸福。endprint

再回到花店里，樂趣還在繼續：花藝師雙手翻飛地插著花，后勤人員在打掃，銷售人員在為那些需要購花建議的顧客們提供幫助。花兒們被搬進搬出，電話響個不停，電腦吐出一張張訂單，掃帚在不停地舞動。

關于在花店的工作，我最熱愛的那些方面是大多數人很可能會逃避的。從來不曾有哪兩天過得是一樣的，我永遠都不知道這一天會發生什么。或許一位高中時的老朋友會走進我家花店的門，請我為她設計婚禮上所用的花；又或許白宮或者某個名人會打來電話訂花。聽起來很瘋狂嗎？這些事在過去半年里都曾發生在我的身上。這就是我所熱愛的，每一天都不一樣！一個花店老板的生活并不總是稱心如意，但我就想過這樣的日子！

1. mundane [m?n?de?n] adj. 單調的；平凡的

2. cliché [?kli??e?] n. 陳詞濫調，老生常談

3. hectic [?hekt?k] adj. 忙碌的；繁忙的

4. inflate [?n?fle?t] vt. 使充氣；膨脹

5. invoice [??nv??s] vi. 開發票

6. fall into one&apos；s lap：沒有付出任何努力就獲得（某物）

7. day in and day out：日如一日，每天（不間斷地）

8. line up：將……安排好；使……準備就緒

9. hydrate [?ha?dre?t] vi. 給……供給水分

10. revolving door： <喻>旋轉門，循環活動

11. artfully [?ɑ?tf?li] adv. 巧妙地

12. foliage [?f??li?d?] n. （植物的）葉；枝葉