My First Day.....long & Need Advice

Decorating By tobinx Updated 11 Oct 2006 , 11:04am by tobinx

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4Gifts4Lisa Posted 17 Jul 2006 , 11:44pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ge978

...a customer approached me & said he saw her dip her finger in the batter, lick it & do it again. I confronted her about it & she said it was no big deal & didn't understand what the fuss was. I let her go immediately. I had no idea this was going on.

I guess my point is that I'm grateful that someone let me know ahead of time so I could do something about it.




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

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MeloMiMi Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 12:52am
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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.

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tobinx Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 1:02am
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I can't wait to be done with this place. All I need from them is my pic's and pay for 8hrs. of work. Hopefully there won't be a problem. For some reason though, I feel like they're probably going to pay me less than what they would have had I decided to stay at that S hole. Also, I was talking to a friend of mine; a teacher, and she was telling me how they stopped doing their catering with them becausethey fired the 2 cooks that were pulling all the weight in that place(there's a restaurant they own along with the bakery) because a customer informed them that the 2 guys were planning on opening their own restaurant soon. How greedy and narrow minded. If it were me, I would encourage them not fire them. The past couple of days, the more I think about this whole situation, the more enfuriated I get. You're not supposed to be that upset about your workplace....so that right there tells me that it's just not the job for me!

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Zamode Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 1:22am
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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!

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luvbakin Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 1:46am
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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.

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Cake_Mooma Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 2:33am
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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

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ge978 Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 3:41am
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Quote:
Quote:

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




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

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AgentCakeBaker Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 1:14pm
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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!

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MariaLovesCakes Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 1:41pm
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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.

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nicksmom Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 2:04pm
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oh my gosh icon_surprised.gif 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 icon_biggrin.gif 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 icon_biggrin.gif good luck on the job

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MsTonyasCakes Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 3:04pm
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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 icon_cry.gif ). 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?? icon_confused.gif 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!! icon_wink.gif

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imartsy Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 4:23pm
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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!

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Jessg Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 5:57pm
post #43 of 120

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

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MariaLovesCakes Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 7:35pm
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So, today is Tuesday... anyone called from the bakery? Anything happened yet?

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leepat Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 7:56pm
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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

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Somethin-Sweet Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 8:33pm
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I can't believe these people would actually be running a legit business this way. I would definately contact the Health Dept- ......What about the 2 guys that left to start their own business? Do they have a cake person? Just a thougt.....

I am dying to know the outcome as well!

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tobinx Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 9:38pm
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Tuesday has come and gone again with no call back. I didn't have time to swing by there...had to take my 3 yr old for a check up and it was like 104'f outside today so I hurried back home. Tomorrow is payday so I'll just go in then. And they better not F with me and just give me back .what's rightfully mine. I'm also going to tell that female dog decorator that just because I might not "totally look the part" to watch what she says in front of people because you don't know if people can understand you. My daddy is German, but my mom is from Panama so I grew up speaking 3 languages at home! Thank you very much. This is exactly why I don't let on that I speak more than one language. It really does give you an upper edge icon_wink.gif I'm dying myself to see what happens tomorrow and as soon as I get this crap over with, I'll post.

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Zamode Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 11:11pm
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Good luck Tobinx, we're here to support you!

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nokddng Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 11:40pm
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Aww!! Cliffhanger! You have me on the edge of my seat with this! icon_biggrin.gif

I am sorry to hear about your experience but I agree with some here..it sounds like a place you don't want to associate yourself with. The whole bad icing, devil kid sucking icing out of the tips is just disgusting and unsanitary! icon_mad.gif

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4kids Posted 18 Jul 2006 , 11:46pm
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Man... this is worse than a soap opera. I'm dying to know what happens! icon_lol.gif

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luvbakin Posted 19 Jul 2006 , 1:08am
post #51 of 120

I dying over here too. Is it Wednesday yet!!!???

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cakesondemand Posted 19 Jul 2006 , 1:30am
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I'm also dying too know what happens Wed.

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melodyscakes Posted 19 Jul 2006 , 3:01am
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i cant wait til tomorrow so i can read the latest with this horrible bakery. i wish you could open your own bakery and take serve all the community GOOD cake!


good luck with your next job!!


melody

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Zamode Posted 20 Jul 2006 , 12:34am
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Tobinx what's the word, sistah? We've been waiting with bated breath for your hopefully good news....

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Somethin-Sweet Posted 20 Jul 2006 , 2:39am
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Yeah Tobinx! Give us the scoop girl!

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Somethin-Sweet Posted 20 Jul 2006 , 2:39am
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Yeah Tobinx! Give us the scoop girl!

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TheCakeSmith Posted 20 Jul 2006 , 3:16am
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AHHHHHH! I've been waiting ALLLLLL day 'til I could get to work to check this thread! I NEED to know what happened!!

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DelightsByE Posted 20 Jul 2006 , 3:25am
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I haven't checked in on this topic since day 1 and now after reading 4 pages of posts I'm about to BUST something if we don't get news from tobinx soon! icon_eek.gif

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MustloveDogs Posted 20 Jul 2006 , 11:18am
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I am dying of curiousity to find out what has happened!
I am worried that she went in for her pay and gave them her mind (as she should!) and they have minced her up and used her as a filling in their unsanitary cakes!
Send in the Cake Central troops!

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4Gifts4Lisa Posted 20 Jul 2006 , 3:50pm
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LOL Me too! This has now trumped Days of Our Lives for me! icon_biggrin.gif I need an update!

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