Many florists are left with no choice but to brace for chaos around major holidays, especially when multiple events overlap.

But when one sneaky customer asked for a last-minute pickup before Mother’s Day but asked for black flowers,  the floral team sensed she may have ulterior motives.

Read on for the full story.

One of the reasons to not place an order last minute

There is a prom this Saturday, right before Mother’s Day, so things are pretty swamped at work right now.

I work at a grocery store in the Floral Department, and we only have one person who is a designer to make all of the hand-held bouquets and corsages/boutonniere(s).

But then one dishonest customer made things even more stressful.

A customer came in asking about corsages, saying it’s for her “mother” for “Mother’s Day.” She’s like in her 40s/50s.

I called my co-worker because she was asking about the corsage (note, we’re not taking any more orders for prom—too many for one person to do).

The floral team knew that something wasn’t right.

We did (sadly for us) take the order for Saturday, and what tipped us off that it was actually a prom order was that the customer asked for a black ribbon for the corsage.

For a mother on Mother’s Day, it should be a bright, almost pastel color, not black.

The staff talked about what to do next.

After the customer left, my co-worker and I talked, saying that it was actually a prom order because of the ribbon—also because they wanted to pick it up on Saturday instead of Sunday.

Now cut to about 2 minutes before I get off: we get a phone call for Floral.

My co-worker and I already agreed that Mother’s Day order pick-up would be Sundays because we already have too many orders scheduled to pick up on Saturday.

So they had to break the news to the customer.

The call was for a corsage for Mother’s Day to be picked up on Saturday. My co-worker called it, and I had to tell the customer that Mother’s Day pick-up has to be on Sunday.

The customer then said, “Oh, OK,” and then hung up. (I always wait for the customer to hang up first, just in case they still need something.)

Moral of the story (and this can apply to other things): Don’t order flowers last minute, especially during busy seasons/holidays.

The floral team never got a confession, but they didn’t need one.

What did Reddit think?

A lack of planning on the customer’s part shouldn’t constitute an emergency on the staff’s part.

Some customers will go to concerning lengths to get their way.

The entitlement of some people is completely off the charts.

This comment just gets more and more shocking the more you read.

Some products just aren’t made for instant gratification.

This floral department sounds like they’ve seen it all before.

This experience was a reminder that during busy seasons, even corsages come with drama.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.