non-aroid search/Customer Dis-service

From: "Plantsman" plantsman at prodigy.net> on 2000.09.07 at 20:39:05(5370) : -----Original Message----- : From: Jim Singer : To: Multiple recipients of list AROID-L : Date: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 10:07 PM : Subject: Re: non-aroid search : :this is no answer, les, but it may help in a rule-out. in the trade here +More : in : south florida, 'dwarf bird' means reginae and [non-dwarf] 'bird' means : 'nicholai.' betrocks 'plantfinder' [aka trade bible] lists no variation of : either. on the other hand, there is a faux bird, heliconia brasiliensis, : that meets the 3-foot requirement and, from a distance, resembles s. : reginae. my local home depot had these for sale weekend before last for : $2.49 per 6-in pot; nice full plants. if you think that's it, i'll try to : get one [may not be any left] and send it to you. but i'll need a post : address. jim<< : : : At 07:17 PM 9/5/00 -0500, Lester Kallus wrote: : >I've had so much help on non-aroid requests in the past that I'm driven to : try again. : > : >There's a plant I've been trying to locate but have been unsuccessful. : > : >I understand that there's a dwarf form of Strelitzia reginae which grows : less than 3 feet high. Does anyone know of any sources? (I probably don't : have enough room for yet one more plant, but why should I let that stop : me...) : > Les : Himself @ jsinger@peacenet.org : ************************************************************** When I was in Florida a couple of weeks ago, one nursery had a version of what looked like S. reginae that had basically no leaves. Just the slightest hint of leaves less than a half-inch wide and of normal length on regular sized glaucous petioles. I recall seeing this one other time a few years ago also in Florida but neither were in bloom. No one in the shop seemed very interested in selling anything to me so I left. This brings me to another subject: I do wish that retail nursery operations would learn a few things about customer service. More often than not, the people are not friendly, bordering on anti-social and eccentric at the very least. It seems like that the more exotic their stock, the stranger they are. It's no wonder so many of them have a hard time succeeding. I've walked away from a purchase more than once when a nursery's staff-person attempted to make me look stupid by either sighing loudly and/or looking down their bifocals at me strangely (like they were some sort of museum curator) when I've asked questions or when I tried to get them to wait on me. After having dealt with the public daily for the last twenty years in several different capacities, I feel that I do know a little about this subject. Does anyone remember what they used to call 'Charm School'? It couldn't hurt. David Sizemore plantsman@prodigy

From: Jim Singer jsinger at igc.org> on 2000.09.07 at 22:28:02(5371) David Sizemore wrote: >This brings me to another subject:... I do wish that retail nursery operations would learn a few things about customer service. More often than not, the people are not friendly, bordering on anti-social and eccentric at the very least. It seems like that the more exotic their stock, the stranger they are.... it's called self-selection, david. no one but eccentrics are interested in exotic plant materials. probably a direct correlation, in fact, between the degree of exoticness and the degree of eccentricity. Himself @ jsinger@peacenet.org

From: plantnut at macconnect.com (plantnut) on 2000.09.08 at 03:15:27(5376) Well, to add to David's comments... Yes, I live in S. Florida and I have, sometimes, found clerks to be not as nice as they could be... But, the other side of the coin... I worked in the 'Gardening Dept.' of Home Depot for a while... I can tell you that some of the questions you get are pretty dumb and really show a lack of thought... As in looking at a plant and the customer asks...."What does it do?" Anyway, you will not get that type of treatment if you come to see Ralph and Dewey. All visitors are treated with the respect that they are due. They are guests. It does not matter if purchases are made or not... Just ask some of the folk that have been here... So, if anyone, while in Florida wants to stop by... they are welcome... As far as the Show time is concerned... Ralph and I will be available on Thursday and Friday as well as Saturday afternoon and Sunday.... Might also add that I have been doing some propagating in preparation... If you like, send me a private e-mail at and I will give you directions.... Regards and hope to see you at the end of the month..... Dewey +More Your source for Tropical Araceae. You are invited to visit:

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