Shiki V-Day Mayhem

Have you ever stood for over 13 hours? I have.

Have you ever stood for 13-14 hours in 2 consecutive days? I have.

The V-day mayhem at Shi-ki started on 12 Feb when we spent the day clearing roses, baby's breath, etc. The whole place was filled with flowers. If memory serves me right, my boss ordered 100 packets of roses, excluding other types of flowers like tulips, hydrangeas, statices, leaves and the exotic ones like my fave ranunculus. 100 packets of roses is equivalent to 2000 stalks of roses!

The madness began on 13 February and carried on to 14 February. Men, boys, girls, women, all types of people came to buy bouquets of flowers. Most of them were men of course; some with larger budgets (24 stalks of roses), some with cheapo budgets (1 stalk of rose).

I concluded from my observation that people are influenced into purchases. Customers came in groups. When there is a customer, more will follow. We were kept busy in sporadic intervals. Apparently the sales dipped in comparison to last year. A short queue of about 4-5 formed during busy intervals.

It was a good experience. I did few bouquets and mostly handled the sales aspect on 13th and assisted the flower arrangers more on 14th. Some men gave us the black face from waiting. But they really don't understand that we don't just put flowers together. We make the flowers look good together.

A bouquet is not simply put together into a bundle. A bouquet is painstakenly placed together strategically so the entire arranged bundle looks aesthetically pleasing. But not many people understand this, especially the caucasians. I have encountered a couple of french men who are really nasty, rude and simply do not understand the concept of a bouquet.

Sure, in their countries, the florists literally bundle the flowers into a bouquet and sell them. But here in Asia, we do not do that! A bouquet is put together artistically to enhance the beauty of the flowers complete with wrapping. It is not hastily put together for the sake of a sale, much like those street florists I see in western countries. It is different. So please be patient, or don't buy at all!

Left: Me and my colleagues, post-Valentine's mayhem at 10pm.
Right: Busy with the flowers on 13 Feb, after 10.30pm!
They worked through the night till 530am.


My boss, in the midst of doing a bouquet of blue roses which I absolutely detest.
Why do Singaporeans like falsely-dyed blue roses??
It's just plain awful and stains your clothes and hands!
Besides, it's very passe, popular back in 1996!