Some time ago, my eye fell on an advert for the Botanical
Society (BotSoc)’s annual plant fair. But, because of all the COVID protocols
it would be an online sale this year. So, you order your plants
and pay for it online. You then select a date and time to collect it. After
much consideration, I selected two large-ish King Proteas and a Cape Flora Harlequin.
Received my receipt and I was super excited about my indigenous plants. So much
so, I arrived a week early to collect them! [I blame Mercury Retrograde for
this miscalculation 😊]
A week later (yesterday, Sunday), I double, triple checked
my receipt to confirm the pick up date and time. On arrival, I saw that all the
plants were neatly laid out per order, labelled with each customer’s name, ready
for collection. I was getting super excited! I shared my surname and order
number and tried to see if I could spot my name or plants so long. There was a
lot of flapping of papers on the organiser’s clipboard, which was not exactly
the sound I wanted to hear…After a couple of confirmations of my name, order
and order number not much was happening except more flapping of papers…and then
the lady disappeared. Walking through the neatly packed rows of plants, no sign
of my Proteas or Harlequin…
Looong story, which can no longer be shortened, after quite
some time second clipboard holding BotSoc fellow appeared with the piece of
paper with my order on, now riddled with red pen…he let me know that the farmer
had not delivered everything that needed to be delivered… no Harlequins, and
not the Protea sizes that I had ordered. When I asked whether I could then perhaps
just substitute my purchase with other plants, it was unfortunately not an
option as there were no extra plants available. They would have to go through
the rigmarole of reimbursing me. Had they had other plants as a backup, I would
gladly have taken them, win-win all around, they would have made a sale and not
have to reimburse anyone and my garden would have had a few additional indigenous
pieces. Alas, it is what it is, and was not meant to be. I was getting rather
fed up, so just wanted to get my plants and go.
I’m not sure if I accidentally burst out
laughing (I hope not!) when I saw clipboard guy carrying my plants out, he did say that the
sizes weren’t what I had ordered…but, clearly it had not registered in my head
yet. All I can do is laugh and enjoy these two petite Proteas!
So, there is always a lesson somewhere. I have been mulling on
the whole situation and struggling to find one here, but this is my take on it…
As with pretty much all annoying situations, communication,
or rather the lack thereof was at the heart of the drama. Had the farmer told BotSoc
that he didn’t have enough plants, they could have made a plan, which in turn
could have been communicated to their customers… But airing views and opinions
from the side are always very easy.
My other take home here is to see the beauty in everything. My
two Proteas are not exactly what I thought I was getting, but they are perfect,
and they make me so happy every time I look at them. Joy is all around us, we just need to want to
spot it.
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