Business Sucks!!

I'm sure everyone has their own story about how the current economic meltdown is adversely effecting their life and livelihood. That isn't going to stop me from whining about how it's effecting mine. If it wasn't for telemarketers, politicians, and wrong numbers I'd be picking up the telephone just to make sure I still had dial tone. We got one new order last week - count 'em: one, 1, uno. The dust is starting to build up on the flamingos and while I appreciate that its the season for ghosts and goblins, I don't really appreciate the spider webs that are accumulating in my critter bins.

I do have to admit however that the quality of business that is coming in is pretty good. For example, I took an order from out of town. She wanted a herd of cows delivered to her best friend, but the friend lives in a huge complex and on the second floor. The question was whether there would be a place to plant the herd where they would be appreciated by the birthday girl. Google Maps to the rescue. I entered the address and called up the satellite picture of the complex. Lots of green areas were visible. A look at the street view pictures were also promising. We struck a deal - if it turned out that we couldn't find a good spot, she would get a 50% refund. Luck was with us. A perfect spot right at the base of her stairs, and a short haul from the flamingomobile. The icing on this birthday cake - every one of the cows was still there when we returned to herd them back to the barn. Whoo hoo!! That was 2 weeks ago.

Last week only the flamingos had an outing on an emergency flocking The caller has been sending flamingos to this person every year for his birthday but lost track of the date until the day before. We were warned that if the birthday boy detected us, he was likely to chase us down to extract the identity of the sender. I am pleased to say that the flocking tradition has been upheld and unless there has been a confession, the sender remains anonymous, and the recipient remains puzzled. I love these stories.