I am sorry…who are you?

It all started innocently enough. The store had an order inquiry for begonia bulbs, and we quite frequently ship our bulbs to many places in Canada. We didn’t have them all in when the gentleman called to order them in February and there had been a note sitting on the til, so we remembered to call him when they were all in the store.

Well as you can imagine at this time of year we are crazy busy, and I needed to talk to the bossman to make sure I had the story straight before I called the gentleman. I spoke to my boss this morning and he filled me in that I needed to call the customer, named Rudy… and find out exactly what he would like and tell him approximately what the shipping would be etc…

No problem…

I didn’t get to it until this afternoon…crazy busy is an understatement, my multitasking is being used to maximum capacity already this week. This is good, I work better under pressure.

So I call…

A man answers the phone, I ask for Rudy. There is a slight hesitation, actually it was longer than slight…I think firstly, hmmm…do I have the wrong number? He slowly says to me, “ummm…I am sorry, who are you?”

I tell him…

He hesitates again.

I say that Rudy wanted to order some begonia bulbs from us, and we had them all in, could I just leave a message?

He hesitates again.

And then says to me, “I am sorry, I am Rudy’s grandson, and he passed away last week.”

Holy crap…

I hesitate…

I feel horrible, I can tell Rudy’s grandson does too and would rather be doing probably anything else than explaining to me, a total stranger, about the loss he has just suffered.

I tell him I am so sorry, I didn’t know what else to say…and I was.

Rudy’s grandson was sweet and asked me if he had actually ordered the flowers from us. I said no, he was just inquiring about them, we were just getting back to him with the info.

We agree that nothing else needed to be done, I once again said how sorry I was for his loss and we awkwardly said goodbye to each other.

Now I gotta tell you, that is a first for me, it sucked…would like to pass on it happening again.

We have had customers that we have lost over the years, it is always sad when someone that has become a friend through work no longer comes in with a smile to buy their flowers for spring.

But unfortunately it is part of being a retail business, with a lot of older customers, life happens. People pass on.

I haven’t stopped thinking about Rudy’s family since I called. I hope that at least they have good memories of their Dad and Grandpa loving gardening… and the fact that up until when he expectedly or unexpectedly passed, he was still thinking about flowers and the joy of spring.

I hope my call made them think of something he loved doing, something that made his life better, and didn’t make them sadder than they already obviously were…

My heart goes out to them, where ever they are, and to whoever Rudy was…and even though I didn’t know him at all, his passing has touched me and made me sad and grateful at the same time.

I am sad he is gone, and will no longer enjoy his love of begonias, flowers that he was willing to order from another province, from someone he didn’t even know.

I am grateful that he had a family that is now gathered around each other hopefully celebrating his life…

I wish there was more I could have said or done…but there really wasn’t.

I will tell you one thing though, when I see the begonias in bloom this summer…there won’t be a time I don’t look at them and wonder if Rudy can see them too…

I hope so…

Peace ♥ Out…