New York City bodega roses come to the relationship rescue

Every good boyfriend or husband knows that the little lady in your life deserves flowers every now and then. If you really want to score brownie points, you should buy some for no particular reason. But you absolutely must get them for anniversaries and birthdays--or you better get used to sleeping on the couch.

Any decent New Yorker knows that as much as every single item in the city is overpriced, you can get a decent bouquet of flowers at pretty much any bodega for next to nothing.

So it just happened to be my girlfriend's and my anniversary last week. We had decided to go to Fuerza Bruta in Union Square, followed by dinner at Tocqueville just across the way on 15th Street.

I had planned all along to get flowers for her at the Park Avenue Floratique, which is on the ground floor of the building I work in--the New York Life Building across from Madison Square Park.

But I had a meeting that went long and it closed! The mousy little cashier could see me ogling a beautiful rose bouquet, but my incessant window pounding was to no avail.

Time was ticking so I dashed across Park Avenue toward Lexington to look for a store that had flowers. Nothing. Over to 3rd Avenue I started. There, on the corner of 26th Street a beacon of hope rose from a storefront. Joe Hug's deli was open and they had just gotten in a fresh batch of flowers.

I scanned the rack for some worthwhile flowers. I saw lilies for $12. Nope. Chrysanthemums for $6. Nope again (although great prices!) Then I saw the long-stem red roses. $8 for a dozen. A steal! I gave the "gardener" a nice tip and sprinted down 3rd Avenue to meet my girlfriend. Crisis averted!

Only in New York can you get a dozen long-stem red roses from a place that has 12-year-old Dinty Moore Vienna Sausages in the window. New York guys, this one's for you. It's too easy to get flowers to not give them to your lady. I can assure you it'll be worth the effort!