My First Day.....Long & Need Advice - Page 3

EWWWWWWWW! What was she THINKING?!?! It is nice that you were given the opportunity to act before the health department got involved.

LOL on all the comments from everyone. I couldn't believe that kid was "suckin" on the icing tips! Maybe that's why I had diarrhea from the piece of cake that I ate Saturday. My daughter had a bakery cake made for my grandaughter's birthday party, and I also made her a cake. After I ate the piece of bakery cake from a local store I had to go to the bathroom. It also had a funny taste to it. Sometimes these people go to work sick with a virus, etc. and the germs are passed on to us. I have brought cakes to work and I caught this lady sticking her finger in the icing and double dipping like the woman with the batter. I didn't eat any cake after that. I assure you there are unseen things to our eyes in restaurants, etc. I know how miserable to be in a bad work envirnonment. I hope things get better for you soon.

Good luck Tobinx and we all think you are doing the right thing. Please keep us informed of what happens and I hope you get your 8 hours pay!

I have been watching this thread too. I say don't assume the owner knows. It may be that the owner knows it's chaos and hiring you is the first step in straightening this place out. If you did decide to stay, I'm sure you aren't, it would only be a matter of a week before the owner saw for himself/herself how talented you are, and how much of a liar the other girl is. If you do decide to quit then I would explain that you just can't work in an environment that ......blah, blah, blah. Stay calm and professional when speaking though. Good luck. I'm sure this is not an easy decision for you.

1st- I think that when you found yourself "chasing" this person about the job that should have let you know what type of place this is. I know that coluda' - shoulda' - woulda' isn't going to solve anything but it should be a sign of things to come.

2nd- I would call the Health Dept.. and let them know what happend, see the only thing is that I would say it was me calling. I know that is putting my neck on the line but I think that it shows that I will show face when something goes wrong or right for that matter. I don't "hide" when I do something I think that it a little childish. Hopefully I'm not offending anyone, that is just me.

3rd- I would sit and have a serious talk with the owner and let him/her know what was going on. Thay have the right to know, if they already do know and act like "no big deal" than they desirve to have the Health Dept. called on them. I would hate to think that I could go somewhere and buy a cake that has all kids of issues with it. I bake and do some cakes for friends and family and I have two kids myself and I don't let them into the kitchen while I am cooking let alone when I am making a cake for a customer...Yuck?!!!!!

I hope that it goes well for you and that you find something better. Like they say what doesn't kill you make s you stronger. So hopwefully this makes you stronger and when the next job comes up you know whether to stay or walk away before it gets to this point.

P.S. as for the Pay for the 8 hours, if he/she gives you a hard time about it. Let it go!!! Yes I said Let it go. Look at it as a SErvice to Your communiy. If you had not gone to work for one day there no one would have never known and neither would have you. And who knows you or someone you know could have bought a cake (when you were toooooo tired to bake one- lol) there and could have made them sick. Imagine that. So consider it a GIFT to you, your friends and your community.

Vic

Haha...I've given up trying to figure out why people do what they do. I guess I know what her secret ingredient was

I'm glad you decided not to go back. If you had to constantly call an owner about a job she offered to you then I would say that it wasn't worth it to begin with. If she desparately needed you, you should not have been the one chasing her down. It should have been the other way.

I would definitely report the issues of the child sucking the icing out of the icing bag. That is insane. I wouldn't buy a cake from that place ever!

As far as the 8 hours, I wouldn't even worry about getting paid for that. If you didn't fill out any paper work such as your W4 then don't sweat it. I don't think its worth the time b/c the check will only be gas money after taxes are deducted.

Good luck in finding something MUCH better than that place!

Wow, what a terrible first day!

I have seen other cake decorators ice a cake without crumb coating, and I do that myself uisng the big icer tip, and not get crumbs on anything.

She obviously doesn't know how to ice either way probably.

And you know, people should NEVER assume that the other person cannot speak another language. Especially Spanish. There are lots of people that can speak it now and it is terribly embarrasing that one realizes that the other person could understand everything that was said, good or bad.

Hopefully, when the actual owner comes, things would be better.

oh my gosh thats a horrible first day,I'm so sorry.she's been the cake decorator and now she's got competition so she might be jealous ya know.it's a shame she wasn't thankful for your help and input,how RUDE of her.her son should NOT have been there,it was a distraction for both of you I"m sure.I have to boys and mostly do my cakes after bedtime hrs because they need my attention and could distract me while working,boys will be boys they're RUFF&TUFF so I think she should find a sitter and learn a few things from you.by the way the,you not letting on that your fluent in spanish, is an AWESOME idea....you go girl good luck on the job

I'm SO sorry you had such a HORRIBLE day! Those things going on in that zoo (hate to even refer to it as a bakery) are inexcusable! How far are you from Charleston? I'm in upstate SC and I've heard there are really good, reputable catering companies and bakeries in Charleston. I would definitely let the owner know that you will not work in such an environment and didn't realize when you took the job that her place was not kept up to DHEC standards. If she was SO incredibly busy, then why was she on vacation? Shouldn't her priority be her business? I'm not saying she shouldn't spend time with the family, I have 2 kids myself and the lack of time with them is one reason holding me back from opening my own place (money would be another ). All I'm saying is, if you're going to have your own business, sometimes you have to make sacrifices. She should staff her business properly, and make sure things are being run to HER standards, then take off for a vacation. I would never leave my business in such chaos! she HAS to be aware of some of the stuff, I mean, rancid icing, come on, this stuff doesn't get that smelly in 5 minutes, it generally takes days. I realize that the owner isn't going to know every picking thing and sometimes you have to trust your staff, but in those conditions, it seems like they would have gotten some complaints or something. If she doesn't know something's going on, then she is WAY out of touch with her own business, which is sad. And, if she's so desparate to hire you, why are you having to chase HER DOWN?? Just hearing about this person and their business so far, I don't think this is the place you need to be. What kind of a person doesn't return phone calls to their employees in a reasonable amount of time? IMO, she's proven herself to be a horrible business person! Good luck with everything! With your talent, you should go far, just don't lower your standards to get there!!

Is this perhaps a "family run business?" Could the woman in question actually be RELATED to the owner?? Maybe that's why her kid was running around there - if it's "Auntie's" kid then maybe it's allowed for some strange awful reason. Or at least tolerated.

I'm glad you're getting out of there. I don't know what's up w/ icing at these places - I went to a bakery for a local grocery store for an interview and was told to "ice a cake" - no theme, no instructions, not even "do it for a b-day party". Just "Decorate". That's pretty hard for me to do w/ no theme or anything to go on..... but I tried! You can see the pic in my pictures. The icing was this mushy nastiness though and I didn't know how ANYONE could make a rose out of it - much less take the rose off the flower nail and put it on the cake..... nope, no drying, no parchment or wax paper..... I finally had to beg for a paper towel b/c I had nothing to wipe my hands on or the tips on.... I was so glad NOT to get that job. I'd love to be able to learn and grow in a REAL bakery - but this place was just nasty. And they had their cakes frozen too - I just felt sick leaving the place - I would NEVER eat a cake from there!

The whole operation doesn't sound good from the start - you shouldn't have to "hunt down" someone who is giving you a job and SOMEONE should know you are coming. Plus, before you even started working, someone should have had you fill out tax forms & stuff and they should have told you your salary. I don't think I would have done a day's work w/out that stuff done to make sure I knew I was getting paid - you may not.

I would go ahead and call the health department. If the owner doesn't know this is going on - then the health department will give her a wake up call and you don't necessarily have to be the one to do so. Plus, she may not believe you - especially if this other chick is family. I don't know that I'd ever show up again.... it seems like it's a good time to get out! Don't get suckered into going back there b/c you need the money....... you don't want to spend time learning "bad" skills for working w/ cakes!

Good luck & Happy Baking! I hope you find a new, better job soon!

I cant believe this place................. if they still are doing this to u, u should find the damn owner and tell her about the rude ass lady and tell her in spanish so the lady knows that U KNEW EVERY WORD SHE SAID TO THE OWNER. but it was me i be saying f-that and tell them both off.


Jessica

So, today is Tuesday... anyone called from the bakery? Anything happened yet?

This is like a soap opera, it's addicting and I can't wait to read the next episode. It is hard to believe there are people like that that run a business.

pat