In the past week, a longtime member of the Society of American Florists has received an unusually high volume of wrong numbers, with scores of cranky callers asking to speak with “the Grinch.”

“My heart dropped,” said Kristie Lee, the third-generation co-owner of Lee’s Flower & Card Shop in Washington, D.C., which she runs with her sister, SAF board member Stacie Lee Banks, AAF. “Who would think that we’re ‘the Grinch’?”

Originally, Lee thought the business was being targeted until one of the callers said they got the number from a Facebook group. Upon investigation, Lee learned “the Grinch” was actually House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and her office number (202-225-4965) was only one digit off from the shop’s number (202-265-4965).

Apparently, the brouhaha started after Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) went on Fox News and social media Wednesday, Dec. 2, blaming Pelosi for failed agreements needed to pass a COVID-19 stimulus package. “Nancy Pelosi is the Grinch who stole Christmas for the millions of Americans out of work,” she said.

Lee expressed relief that the calls weren’t a sign of ill will for the shop, but she told Michael Quander, of WUSA9, the local CBS affiliate, “I still felt bad because I don’t think anybody should be called that.”

Lee told Quander that one of the Facebook group administrators called to apologize and removed the post with Pelosi’s number.

Lee’s Flower & Card shop was profiled in Floral Management’s February 2019 issue. Stacie and Kristie also shared their family’s story with SAF members during the association’s Reinvention Summit in July and via a Viewpoint column that highlighted their experiences navigating the pandemic and being part of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Katie Vincent is the senior contributing writer and editor for the Society of American Florists.