The Flower Auction

One would think that I am crazy to wake up at 4:45am on my one day off to go buy flowers but I absolutely love it. Upon arrival we quickly run around to take a look at what is available and pick out what we want. Shortly after an announcement sounds to tell us that the auction has begun and we take our seats.

In front of us we have a little keypad that has two very important buttons; "A" and "B". In front of us we have two clocks which correspond with the buttons. When the auction begins there are two tracks which begin to pull carts of flowers through. Usually on side "A" there are cut flowers and on side "B" there are plants. In order to stay organized we keep a list of the cart numbers of the things we want and once our carts come up is when the fun begins. So lets say you would like to buy a bucket of Lisianthus which is on side "A". Clock "A" will start off at lets say a price of $5.00 a bunch and begin to go down at which point you have to hit button "A" in order to bid on the bucket. The trick is to get the lowest price possible however you do not want anyone else to get the bucket before you do. Sometimes you jump the gun by accident and pay way to much for something or sometimes you don't bid quick enough and aren't able to get something that you really needed. Once the cart has passed through the bidding area the tracks stop and the staff put stickers on the bucket which has your seat number on it so that you are able to find everything once the auction is over. No matter what I find the auction fascinating and it is such a rush. Not to mention seeing the thousands of flowers in is definitely a nice way to spend a morning.