When Maureen Anderson’s husband Don asked her ‘honey, if I quit
my job tomorrow, what would you do?
”
she responded
”
open a flower shop.
”
Hollister – When Maureen Anderson’s husband Don asked her ‘honey, if I quit my job tomorrow, what would you do?” she responded “open a flower shop.”
The next morning, he did just that and so did she. And for the past 14 years, Anderson has been arranging a variety of flowers for all occasions at San Benito Flowers. On a day-to-day basis, Anderson, 68, helps county residents pick out the typical birthday and anniversary bouquets, and although she’s not a gossip queen, working in the flower shop has also provided it’s fair share of entertainment. Aside from husbands and wives sending each other flowers, Anderson said there are quite a few arrangements floating around the county that belong to secret significant others.
“We’ve had that happen several times,” she said. “Once we had this woman who was madly in love with this man, thought he was the one and was sending him flowers. A co-worker at the shop knew he was married, and it got to a point where I stopped taking orders from her.”
Another young customer, this time a man, caused Anderson to laugh, then feel sorry for him and then laugh again.
“This young man came in and bought 31 roses,” she said. “He wanted one delivered each day for a month, and he sat in here and wrote out a card for each flower. It must have taken him two hours. And then by day two, she rejected the flowers and he came in here and tore all the cards up. By day three, they were back together and he had to write all the cards over again.”
Anderson herself knows all about love. Married 47 years, she has successfully raised five children, all born within six years, and didn’t start working again until they were all grown up. She puts a lot of emotion into her work as well, and said it’s hard not to be a perfectionist when working with flowers.
“I want everything to be absolutely perfect,” she said. “It’s hard when you’re working with perishables. When they die and we chuck them in the dumpster, we’re not just chucking flowers, we’re chucking money.”
While she spends her days around the strong scents of daisies, daffodils and dahlias, Anderson admits she doesn’t have many flowers in her own home.
“Every once in a while I’ll bring some home, but I just enjoy being around them all day when I’m here,” she said.
