Shoulda called before 3

[FenigDurak]

My gift shop is privately owned, which means we aren't affiliated with the hospital, we just rent space from them. This means that at 3 PM when my morning girl goes home, we no longer take flower and gift orders for delivery. Period.

3:15 PM a man calls and just starts giving me information on a patient. I let him get through the name and what floor she is on, but at that point I jump in and tell him that it's after 3 so I wouldn't be able to deliver his gift today. I let him know that I'd be happy to take the order and have it delivered first thing in the morning when we open (and will have 2 people here.)

Me:
SC: Hmm?

SC: That's stupid. It's a 24 hour hospital with visiting hours until 7 PM. Why can't you deliver it?
Me: We stop making deliveries at 3 when my morning girl goes home. Unfortunately Fridays are very busy for me in shop, so I wouldn't be able to get to it tonight.
SC: You should plan for that and staff accordingly! That's what I would do! This is for my employee's daughter! How unprofessional is that?! Can't you volunteers get this sh*t done?
Me: We aren't affiliated with the hospital, which means that the volunteers do not deliver for us. I'm sorry, but like I said before, I'd be heppy to take the order and deliver it in the morning.
SC: We won't be spending any of our money with your unprofessional little store. I'll jsut have the stuff professionally delivered.
Me: Alright, have a nice day!

I didn't bother to tell him that in this hospital they have certain rules about flower and gift deliveries that many of the outside services don't know (no flowers in the ICU, no latex balloons at all, certain floors won't even allow deliveries, etc. Stupid rules really). Many of the flower and gift shops in the area have been plainly told that they are not allowed to deliver in the hospital, that it has to be taken to the gift shop for delivery. Ha!

[Dave1982]

Not really stupid rules. ICUs have to be maintained almost as clean as an OR, which means minimizing any potential source of contamination. Something brought in from outside will have who knows how many contagions/allergens on it. As for latex, quite a few peopl are allergic to it, including my mother. When she had surgery recently, there was a big sign taped up on her door saying LATEX ALLERGY, and quite a few other rooms had those signs as well. In her case, she wouldn't die form exposure to it, but anywhere that latex touches her will break out in contact dermatitis.

Good story though.

[FenigDurak]

The ICU rule is definately a good one. The "no outside deliveries" rule is not.

The latex rule, in addition to the allergy issue, comes from when those balloons pop, they can sometimes shred themselves and fling bits of latex in any direction. So it's a safety thing. Ultimately, the "no outside deliveries rule" works to our benefit when it comes to flowers and balloons and gifts.

With the ICU cleanliness, I won't even deliver in there. I leave the balloons with the nurse's station. I spent a few weeks in Cambodia on a medical mission as an OR scrub and anesthesiologists assistant. It was a blast, but took forever to clean up after every procedure.