come and vent with me!

Discussion in 'Conversations Forum' started by leaf kotasek, Nov 16, 2009.

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  1. leaf kotasek

    leaf kotasek Active Member

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    Location:
    bc, canada
    around here (and maybe where you are, too), grocery stores sell a lot of houseplants merely labeled "tropical plant". this really bugs me! i already know the common name and sometimes the latin name for these plants anyway, but it's still annoying. how hard would it be to just write: "schefflera arboricola" or "prayer plant" or whatever instead of "tropical plant"?

    does anyone share my pet peeve? does anyone want to vent about something else? this is an open invite.

    ...this is perversely fun...
     
  2. Katalina25

    Katalina25 New Member

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    Yes, last week.

    One of our members here had a plant given they could not name. On a visit for paint I wandered in the plant department and saw the same plant.

    Succulent. argeeeeee it looked like the members plant but had only succulent on the label.
     
  3. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Definitely agree!

    Another one is where sellers put incorrect names on tags, e.g. various cypresses sold as "cedar". It would be nice to see a few prosecutions under Trades Descriptions legislation (if such exists in various countries! - it does in Britain).
     
  4. leaf kotasek

    leaf kotasek Active Member

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    and then some pothos are sold as philodendrons! this shouldn't be legal, man. it's the dissemination of misinformation! really, how hard could it be to do it right?!

    =]
     
  5. togata57

    togata57 Generous Contributor 10 Years

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    If the plant-selling company can expend the $ for the plastic stake thingey, why cannot the said p.s.t. be imprinted with accurate, helpful information instead of the blandly self-evident? Beats me. Yes, leaf, I share your peeve.

    See my earlier post, entitled "Why ice cubes?" to read about one of my own mount-the-soapbox topics. AIEEE!!!

    And then there is the mystifying phenomenon of the sago palms sold growing (?) in gravel that is lacquered solid...the straw flowers wired on to cacti...the orchid display at the home-improvement store set up---in winter---in the direct path of sub-zero air which blasts the plants every time the doors open...pots which have no drainage holes...annuals set out, flat after flat, in front of stores, in the direct sun all day every day and watered once a week at best---and that done in a desultory fashion...

    Any one of the above can and has riled me to the point of my audience either making an excuse to depart hurriedly or to offer me soothing words and the query "Are you OK?" Table-pounding and sweeping gesticulations included, no charge.

    Just don't make sense, do it?
     
  6. soccerdad

    soccerdad Active Member 10 Years

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    Assume that the people inserting the labels are illegal immigrants who are paid 1/10 cent per label - I would assume that this is almost certainly the case, although I have to guess at the exact price. They must insert labels so rapidly that they cannot even look at the label as they pick it up or as they insert it. So putting a name on the labels increases the chances of complaining customers, and of unhappy retailers, and hence of loss of business for the growers, for in such circumstances the labels will often be installed incorrectly.
     
  7. togata57

    togata57 Generous Contributor 10 Years

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    Fail to grasp your logic. How will changing the words upon the plastic stake have any effect upon said stake's speed and/or accuracy of insertion?
     
  8. soccerdad

    soccerdad Active Member 10 Years

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    If it just says "tropical plant", the employee sticks any old label in any plant - after all, every label is the same - and does not need to look at either the label or the plant. If some labels say X and others say Y, the employee must glance, however briefly, at the plant and the label to ensure that they match up. That, the employee does not have time to do. So the chances of not matching increase dramatically.
     
  9. togata57

    togata57 Generous Contributor 10 Years

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    At the volume of production you describe, I daresay that a phalanx of workers would have to be assigned to each plant sold: therefore, the chance that any worker would have to insert a variety of stakes is miniscule.

    Is it your belief that greater speed would be achieved by legal immigrants? How about folks native to the area?
     
  10. 2annbrow

    2annbrow Active Member

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    Location:
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    soccerdad and togata - what makes you think those people can read? Let alone read English?
     
  11. leaf kotasek

    leaf kotasek Active Member

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    i gotta smile... whether or not the p.s.t.'s are being stuck in the pots by illegal immigrants who speak, read and write english with all the flair and dexterity of michael ondaatje or of our own homegrown illiterates, i guess it COULD be a little faster to just use the one silly label for everything.

    however... can it possibly be saving them that much time and money? and do they know how choked we are about it?!

    anyway, i can tell you about one specific grocery store in my area that labels all it's houseplants "tropical plants". it's in a very small town where almost everybody looks familiar--- and let me tell you, i don't meet very many people new to this country! also, the plants are grown locally and i'm pretty sure they stick the labels in the pots / flats before sending them by a small truck to the store.

    meaning that i'm pretty sure that these people (in this case) read english. so why the "tropical plant" thing?!

    oog.

    hey! maybe it's because customers pull p.s.t.'s out and then forget where they came from so they stick them in a random pot. maybe?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 17, 2009
  12. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    If human rights were the same around the world, and all people had equal opportunities for education and quality of life within a broad framework of respect for other cultures & societies (note: this presumes equivalent human rights), "illegal immigrants" would be rare.

    Other people on these forums may be illegal immigrants or have relatives who are. They are as welcome as anyone else who wants to use these forums to talk about plants and biodiversity.

    Closing thread.
     
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