Garden Center Employee Warned Management About How Sale Items Should Be Marked, But Being Ignored Ended Up Costing The Store A Lot Of Money
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Plant labels matter when refunds last longer than the growing season.
One garden manager ignored the local weather and trusted the wrong tags.
An employee warned him.
A landscaper noticed the opportunity.
Check out how it all went down.
Mark them all as perennials? Ok.
“About 10 years ago I worked at a garden center (big home improvement store that also sold plants) as a “Plant Specialist”.
Basically I was paid $10 an hour to arrange plants, trim them, and read the tags to people to explain what they needed to grow (shade, lots of water etc).
The big box garden center had a policy that any perennials were guaranteed for a full year. If they died for any reason bring them back for an exchange or your money back. Not a bad deal except they had a huge problem.
There was an issue…
I work in Upstate New York where if it can’t live over winter at zero degrees, it isn’t a perennial. Well we got in a shipment of tons of plants that in NY were annuals (will die come winter) but in Florida (where they were originally destined) they are perennials because it doesn’t get as cold.
Me: Hey, Lame Manager (LM), we need to take out these tags and put them with the annuals.
LM: No, put them with the perennials
Me: Uhh, they will all die and be returned.
LM: Just do what the tag says.
Yes, sir!
So I did, I load all these plants in the perennial section and continue on with my normal tasks.
In walks in a guy from a landscaping company who we will call “Cheap Skate” or CS for short.
He always was browsing the partially damaged plants to go put in for people so he could save a few bucks.
CS: Wait, what? Why are these annuals marked as perennials. They will die by September for sure here.
Me: LM told me to do that.
CS: Does the guarantee still apply?
Me: Yes. Just keep your receipt and the original packaging that says perennial.
CS: No ****.
Calls up a worker.
CS has another guy arrive with a truck and they buy ALL of the mis-marked plants. Like $15k in plants. They load up and take off. The next day.
LM was happy about this…
LM: I’m going to get a huge promotion! We made our biggest sale day EVER
Me: I bet in September you’re going to get fired
LM: Why?
They let him have it…
Me: They are landscapers and I guarantee they will be back in September when all $15K worth of plants are dead and get their money back since we can’t exchange because they will all be dead or out of stock.
LM spent hours asking every employee who the landscaping company was and tried in vain to contact them to get them to return them but no dice.
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I went back to school end of August, but when I came back the next spring. LM was gone and there was a mandatory “Training” for all staff as to what perennials were and how they needed to be marked.”
Reddit users shared their thoughts.
This person had a lot to say.
Another individual spoke up.
This person chimed in.
Another Reddit user had a lot to say.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a professional cheesemaker who works for a family business, but isn’t sure about working for a 17yo boy.
And this person offered their opinion.
After the manager ordered annuals sold as guaranteed perennials, a landscaper bought every mislabeled plant for $15,000.
The manager’s excitement became panic, and by the following spring, he was gone and proper labeling training was mandatory.
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