To think sending flowers by post/courier to ill people is a bad idea?

[RoastBanana]

I am recovering from surgery. I am in pain and on crutches. I am also ‘managing’ at home alone.

So many kind people have sent me flowers via online flower delivery services. I appreciate their thinking of me so much- and every time a new delivery arrives it makes me want to weep!

When a delivery arrives I need to struggle to the door. Most delivery people don’t wait & hand me the flower box- they dump it on the ground and run. Bending to get it is awful. Some leave it a distance from the front door which has meant walking outside on crutches in rain. Then it’s a struggle to get a vase (means bending and reaching), fill it (just standing by the sink is painful), find scissors (always a metre away!) and undo package, dump flowers in (no question of trimming stalks etc) and then what to do with it? I cannot possibly carry a vase of flowers and water so my kitchen table is now a forest of green with boxes of painkillers and old flower boxes and wrapping poking through the foliage.

There are so many stages involved in dealing with a home flower delivery - something you never realise until standing and moving and picking things up and carrying them is painful and difficult.

Obviously not every ill person is on crutches. But many will have problems moving or standing or carrying things for other reasons. People are so kind to want to show sympathy & I do understand & appreciate that. But I think the way online flower shops promote sending flowers to the sick is a really bad idea.

I am trying to think what would be good to send a sick person and I think a book or magazine/periodical mights be the best idea. It goes through the letterbox, can be picked up with a picker upper, light to carry, does not need water, etc….any other ideas?

Ah Mumsnet, where no good deed goes unloathed.

Why ‘bloody hell’ and the face?

I’m ill at the moment. I can’t get down the stairs to open the door or pick a box of flowers up off a door mat, I couldn’t fill up a vase at the sink and carry it, I couldn’t cut flowers stems with scissors, and I couldn’t move a vase of flowers around.

That’s just how it is.

some flowers do come ready in containers such as waterproof boxes so all you have to do is unwrap and enjoy but I get your problem. Being on crutches you must struggle to get yourself food, drinks, medications etc without the added problem of flower arranging. mind, at the best of times my flower arranging leaves a lot to be desired.
all these people sending flowers it would be nicer for you to have them visit to help you out and then they can arrange the flowers for you!

I agree entirely with you. I've just thrown away some dead roses that were sent to me when I was really ill. My heart sank when I saw them. I must have pricked myself numerous times whilst trying to sort them out. Then there is the rubbish to dispose of, changing the water before they start smelling, disposing of them, again getting pricked by the thorns and then having to wash the vase out. All this whilst finding it really difficult to stand up for more than a couple of minutes. As you say, a magazine subscription or a book or even a plant that I can just plonk out then place outside when it's died off and plant it in the garden when I'm feeling better. It actually makes me want to cry when I get given a big bunch of roses, as all the giver is doing is giving me a load of hard work. I've never had much money to spare so I feel obliged to sort them out and display them as I think of the waste and the money someone has so kindly spent on me. Although, I've just got rid of the last lot and said to dh that if anyone gives me a bunch of bloody roses again I'm going to stuff them in the bin!