Evening Bouquets

STANLEY Foong stands on a plastic chair with a water spray in his right hand and two stalks of roses in his left. Raising the roses to his mouth as if they were microphones, he bellows: "Happy hour, happy hour, three dozen for 10 ringgit."
His voice resonates, easily the loudest, at the Bangsar pasar malam in Kuala Lumpur.
"Roses are red and flowers are cheap for you. Men love roses and roses love water," he prattles on while spraying the roses with a mist of water.
Well, happy hour for the flower seller begins when he starts business at 4pm right up till packing up time at 10.30pm. He does this twice a week - on Sundays at the Bangsar night market, and Mondays at SS 2.
"You can hold hands but better if you buy her flowers," he tells a young couple walking by. The lady seems to agree, the man just smiles.
Stanley has been selling flowers for the past six years and has accumulated some loyal customers along the way. For one, Australian Monica goes to Stanley for her weekly supply of freshly cut flowers. She and her son, Carl, have been frequenting Stanley's stall since they first came to Kuala Lumpur. "I've been coming here since Carl was very small... in 1997," she says. Carl is now nine years old.
"I like to buy my flowers from the same stall... same goes with the other things that I buy, always from the same stall," she notes.
Each time, Carl would have a jolly good time spraying water on all the flowers at the stall. There must be some 2,000 stalks in all.
At the end of it, he is rewarded with a bunch of flowers. On that day, he chose a dozen red roses for his mum.
It is not too difficult to see why people buy flowers. A behavioural research conducted at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, shows that flowers is an effective way to improve emotional health. Flowers trigger happy emotions, heighten feelings of life satisfaction and affect social behaviour in a positive manner, far beyond what is commonly recognised.
In the 10-month study, a team of researchers explored the link between flowers and life satisfaction by observing participants' behavioural and emotional responses to receiving flowers.
The results of the study, posted on the Society of American Florists' website, show that flowers are a natural and healthful moderator of moods. It has an immediate impact on happiness, a long-term positive effect on moods and encourages intimate connections, leading to increased contact with family and friends.
Probably, that's why people go back again and again to Stanley and daughter Jeanne.
Father and daughter talk to their customers and non-customers alike, happily answering all kinds of queries about flowers despite being shorthanded at times. Flower power at work maybe?
Stanley also has three workers to help out. According to Jeanne, one of her customers also helps out at the stall at times. "You can join us if you want. It's fun," she says.
An elderly Malay man who, Jeanne says, is another loyal customer, approaches. She addresses him as uncle as she does not know his name. "He buys the same flowers every week, without fail," she confides while wrapping up his purchase of the night.
When she ribs him about buying the flowers for his girlfriend, he replies good-naturedly: "For ex-girlfriend, now wife." Who says romance is dead.
The flowers are cheap, going for between RM2 and RM60 a bunch. "B-Grade" roses are, among others, priced at RM10 for three dozens, while stargazers cost RM13 a bunch of three stalks with seven blooms. The five-lot stall also offers more exotic blooms like bird of paradise, cat's tail, and cigar and ginger flowers.
"That is probably our strength," says Jeanne. "Unlike florists, we are able to offer low prices because we do not pay rent. As such, we can pass it on to our customers. We only pay an annual licence to operate at the pasar malam."
Some of the flowers are brought down from Cameron Highlands the night before. Others arrive on Sunday morning itself. The stall carries about 20 varieties of flowers. The bestsellers are fragrant tuber roses, lilies and orchids.
Flowers are normally graded by stem length and bunched by weight in one- to two-pound bunches. Some are also graded by stem count depending on flower type.
For the two nights a week, Stanley, Jeanne and their workers drive from Bandar Sungai Long in Kajang (where their company, Sunny Garden, is located), reaching the night market as early as 4pm.
Even before they are done arranging the flowers in buckets by the roadside, customers are already picking out their favourite blooms!
"We sell about 80 per cent of what we bring. We bring just enough because at the end of the day, if no one buys the flowers, we cannot even offer them at a discount because they will no longer be fresh," Jeanne says.
Her mobile phone rings incessantly, mostly from customers requesting her to keep aside some of her best flowers. Yes, one can place orders by cellphone.
"This is an extra service we offer to keep our customers, times are hard," she says.
On "easy" days when there is enough help around, Jeanne also does flower arrangements, and occasionally makes home delivery, especially to houses in the vicinity. Nearby restaurants such as Flams, Le Bodega and Telawi Street Bistro are her clients, as well. And there are the Puan Sris and Datins too.
Sales are good but can be better, Jeanne says.
"Our business dropped a little when the pasar malam was moved from Saturday to Sunday about a year ago. Most people prefer to do their marketing on Saturday and stay home Sunday as Monday is a working day," she concludes before excusing herself to tend to another one of her loyal customers.