Wes Ferguson

Selling roses to Longview’s drunks

The rose lady, Pam Johnson

If a man and woman are out on the town — they’re two-stepping, they’re having fun — one thing is all but certain: before night’s end, the rose lady will find them.

And when she does, the man better have $3 in hand. It’s a small price to pay for a husband or boyfriend or even a first date who wants to stay in the good graces of his woman.

The rose lady drives from club to club in Longview and Kilgore. On a mission, she hurries through the front door and scans the crowd for her prey. She darts among them, proffering a bouquet of deep red and other brightly hued roses. Many people say no, but plenty say yes.

She’s sold more than enough flowers to keep her in business for the past 20 years.

“Would you like to buy a rose?”

When the rose lady comes around, you might never think to ask her name. She has one, though. It’s Pam Johnson. Two decades is an eternity in the nightlife industry, and Johnson, 46, credits her longevity to the high quality and reasonable price of her roses. No gimmicks for her.

“These girls from Tyler used to come over with cellophane and teddy bears,” she said. “They think they’re so hot. Well, I have run those Tyler girls out of this town. All I have to have is roses, and that makes my customers happy.”

Johnson works for a local flower wholesaler who did not wish to be named. She earns $1 per rose, plus tips, and she sells around 500 roses a week. On a recent Wednesday night, she wore short brown hair and an oversized pink T-shirt. She cruised past one of the first bars on her route and decided not to stop.

“I think I’m gonna pass,” she said. “If you see one, two, three cars, there’s no sense stopping. Don’t waste your time. It’s still slow. The later it gets, the better it gets.”

Later she rushed through a busy pool hall but had no takers.

“That’s how fast I move when I’m not selling,” she said, back in her

’92 Crown Victoria and heading to the next place. “You have to because you have to keep moving. I’m in and out of there.” Some nights, though, she just strikes out. “I’ve gone out here and only sold one rose in a night or two roses in a night. You just go with the flow.

Just take life as it is. I’ve learned that over the years.”

Some of the interactions with customers can be downright unpleasant.

At a local bikini bar, a man who looked like he’d walked in from a golf course became irate when she stopped at his table. He cursed her and told her to leave him alone. It didn’t faze her. Johnson was happy because she sold 12 roses to more amenable customers.

“Why get mad?” she said. “I used to, but I’ve learned to deal with life and take it as it is, because eventually something good is going to happen.

“I’m sorry that guy got mad, but it’s my job to ask.”

Johnson got an early start as a saleswoman. Growing up in Knoxville, Tenn., she hawked Amway and Fuller Brush products door to door when she was 13 years old.

“My dad taught me how to sell,” she said. “I got a lot of doors slammed in my face, but I’d usually sell some products by the end.”

When she was a little older, she went to work as a carny and traveled for several years operating carnival games and rides. When she became pregnant, she moved with her future ex-husband to his hometown of Kilgore and began selling roses. She has two grown children.

Johnson’s favorite club is the Backstreet Bar & Grill in downtown Longview. It’s an older crowd, and the people are decent.

“Watch as I go up to each customer and give them a hug whether they buy a rose or not,” she said.

Inside, a man with a long beard, longer hair and a white cowboy hat was wailing karaoke. At a table for two, Glinda Lonsberry’s date bought her a single red rose.

“Roses make a woman feel very special,” said Lonsberry, of White Oak. “It’s a statement saying to her that she’s special.”

Many of the bar patrons propped their flowers in empty beer bottles. As Johnson was finishing her rounds, someone bought a rose for a woman with bright red lipstick.

“Wait!” she said. “Who bought me this?”

“Secret admirer,” Johnson replied.

The woman was astonished. The rose lady had made her night.

Wes Ferguson

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