This is a disaster, just not mine........

So, now I have the perfect reason why I'm trying to go into business by myself. In this area, there are two other places to get cakes - a real bakery, or the grocery store. I was sick this week, so I went to buy a grocery store cake this morning for a coworker. They only had two without flowers. I chose one, and asked for Happy Birthday to be written on it, in blue or another guy color. The girl put it in pink, and added a flower. So, I had her redo it. This time, she used green. She also smashed in the side of the cake. I didn't realize this until it was on the conveyer. So, now I have to go back to the store at noon and get a replacement cake - thankfully, it's free.

GRRRRRRRR

Thats nothing! How about our local grocery here mis-spelling a simple word on cake. I went in the other day to pick up a cake for a neighbor and when asked to write "welcome baby" he writes "welcome babby". When I seen it and asked him to redo it he stood there and argued with me that it was spelled correct. I had to get the manager to set his butt straight. AND THAN after the manager walked away "decorator" proceeded to toss the lid on the cake and pulled half the icing off the side of the cake on purpose so back to the manager I went (now fuming) and demanded another cake and it better be free. So manager gave me a bigger cake and left me go behind counter to write on it myself while he stood there. PEOPLE!! I guess it really is true, if ya want something done right, do it yourself!

THAT is hilarious that he let you write it your self. I love it !!!!!!

Ok...that was hilarious. Did the grocery store guy really think Babby was correct? Ha ha. Good reason to help my kids with their spelling! Ha ha.

Maybe he thought you meant Bobby? I've never known anyone who couldn't spell baby.

What a moron!

Several years ago I picked up a cake for my Grandfathers 83rd birthday. On the cake they wrote 83th. It was so funny I left it and everyone had a good laugh.

oh I can't believe the people they hire to do cakes at the stores!!! H-E-B messed up my wedding cake(before I started doing cakes), then my oldest daghters second birthday cake, and then my baby shower cake....all reasons why I started doing cakes. It was just going to be for my kids, but it's just sooooooo much fun.

And Rainybaby I agree with you If you want something done right do it yourself. I got a kick out of doing a cake for H-E-B(my hubby works there) and then they told me I could have a job there anytime I wanted...I just kinda Laughed at the guy and told him he didn't want my kind of cakes!!!

My daughter was asked to pick up a cake from a local grocery store. She says the guy doing the writing was complaining the whole time that the frosting was too stiff. When she got to work she opened the cake box and it read "Hapity Birday".

I work at a grocery store bakery, and ugh. I hate my manager's decorating. She just throws something together and then wonders why our cakes don't sell. All of mine generally sell, we have some weeks where we sell tons of cakes, and the next we may not at all much. She says I should be able to ice and decorate eight 1/4 sheets in an hour. Umm, I take a little longer on them, and it sure pays off.

But, people look at me funny sometimes when I ask them to spell the name of whomever even if it's a simple name. I just want to make sure, because you never know.

This is too... funny! I'm not just lol, tears are rolling down my face. But I think its also a bit sad. Goes to show the state of our education system. When we can't spell baby or happy birthday.

I always wondered why people were annoyed when I ask them to spell the name and then repeat it with B as in Boy, A as in Adam.

HaHaHa

Two birthdays ago, my husband and daughter decided to order me a cake from the local bakery instead of me baking my own (as usual). When I opened my cake, it read:

Happy Birthday (husband's name) and (daughter's name)

They got the order form mixed up and put the names of the contacts instead of my name.

I've been lucky with our grocery store bakery. I always go to Giant if I need a cake done for a birthday (before I started doing my own). The guy there is really good at what he does, but he's also really cocky!! ...I did get a good laugh though, one day I went in and asked if they sold buttercream there, and he looked at me really funny and said, "No, but you can get it the same place we do....the cake store, across the street....there are these buckets on the 3rd aisle...."

sometimes u have to give those people that work in the store bakeries a break. ive worked in two store bakeries before, turn over in bakeries like that are crazy. in the 12 months that i worked for jewel in the bake shop, 12 ppl had come in gone. most the time they dont take the time to train people right. or its too busy for the new people to learn things like writing on cakes. its not the individuals fault. but i do understand u guys. at sams club, they wanted us to decorate 40 cakes in an 8 hour day. when places give their decorators time limits like that, it is impossible and very unreasonable for anyone to expect the cakes to be the best cakes out there. (sorry grocery store workers, i know ur pain!) and the people that worked in the bakery hated working there, they had no passion for it, therefore, they didnt care if it looked sloppy...thank god i dont work there anymore....

so, to save urself some frustration, make ur own cake, or get it from a real bakery. that way, its always the way you want it

but i do have a funny story to share! at sams club, there was this one cake decorator that could not spell for ANYTHING. during graduation "season" she misspelled congratulations on a full sheet. leaving me to fix the mistake, and then ending up having to make a whole new full sheet for the customer(i couldnt blame them though). she put "congralutations". but the funniest mispelling she did left the customers laughing so hard they couldnt walk. she was supposed to write "congratulations indiana university" or something along those lines. but what ended up onthe cake was "congratulations indian universe". they thought it was so funny, that they didnt want us to fix it. and when i told her what she did, she got sooo embarrassed. hahahahaha but its still funny!!

but still....these are the reasons why i make my families cakes. i refuse to let them buy a slapped together cake from a store!

-jackie-

I picked up my daughters birthday cake from a very well respected local bakery, and found that her name had been misspelled. Her name is Cadence and they spelled it Candice. when I told the lady behind the counter, she flung open the box lid and said it was not misspelled. After arguing with her for a few seconds she then asked me, with all sincerity, if I was certain that I knew how to spell my daughters name. I told her that I was there the day she was born, I chose the name and I also put it on the birth certificate...I am CERTAIN that is how we spell it. She changed the name, but wasn't happy about it.

You think we would know how to spell our own child's name.

Back in 2000 I got my wedding cake done by a local store bakery (cheesy I know but it was all we could afford then). I picked out a beautiful cake with roses and buds and leaves with vines all over it. Paid for and they delivered it. She brought that cake in and I about died. It was nothing like the one in the book. No buds, a few leaves and no vines. I was so upset the store gave a complete refund.

Why show cakes as displays and not make them that way...its what ppl expect! Making my own from now on!

These are the exact reasons I started decorating cakes 2 years ago.

2 years ago in May on my daughter's birthday, I ordered a cake from the grocery store bakery like we always did. I looked so pretty! Was Disney Princess and was perfect... get to the party and cut it and it's green inside... I have no idea what was wrong with it - we ordered a yellow cake and it was green in some places like it was moldy... so I called out there and told the manager and he HAND delivered another one and promised it would be identical... it wasn't..

The following year, I planned on doing the 3 balloon cakes in the beginners guide (wilton's) and it didn't turn out the way I wanted and at the last minute I caved and bought another store bought cake. I spelled her name out S as in SUNDAY U as in Unicorn S as in SUNDAY I as in ICE E as in EAT lol... all comes out to Happy 7th Birthday Susie right? WRONG! My father picked the cake up for us on the way to the party because we didn't have any cash on us and didn't have time to stop to the atm so he didn't look at it figured it would be alright... I open it up at the party and it says "Happy 7th Birthday Suzanna".... I called out there and told them their mistake they said it was what was ordered and what was written down on the order form... I had a copy of the order form so I knew it wasn't, I took a picture of the cake and served it, had no choice, went out there, talked to the manager and got a full refund of the $35.00 it cost for this little 9x13 cake that was screwed up.

Ever since then I haven't bought another store bought cake for ANY reason. My god daughter picked up a little 2 person serving cake for Mother's day for her and her mom this year and her mom, being on a diet, only took a small piece, took one bite and spit it out and threw the rest (on her plate) out.. she said it was so disgusting! So from now on they all order from me lol.

It's so funny that this came up. I went to Sam's yesterday. And I guess this was the first time that I really even paid attention to the detail on the cakes there. They just put anything up there! I started thinking about all the stuff I worry about when I'm making a cake --- smooth icing, sharp corners, etc --- and they don't care about any of that! It makes me wonder why sometimes people gripe at the prices we charge when alot of the time, our product is so much better than what large stores put out. I now not all Sam's or all grocery stores are like that but I was just floored. I guess it's like the young lady mentioned, they have a certain amount that needs to be done within a certain time frame.

Oh I remembered another incident....

I was doing my weekly grocery shopping and passed by the bakery to get to the dairy department in our local Food Lion and there was a lady and her son looking thru the book of cakes and he was maybe 7-10 yrs old... he looked older then my daughter but younger then my step son lol... he started crying and was really upset they didn't have the type of cake he wanted. She hugged his shoulders and started walking away and said well sweetie you'll have to settle for something else if they don't have it no one will. I wanted so bad to walk over and give her a contact card and let her know I do cakes but I wasn't dressed approprietly lol. I was in my "work" clothes and it showed lol.

But I've seen so many disappointed people at the bakery pick up and it just sickens me that they are still allowed to continue... some of them are good but some of them need to be kicked out quick! lol.

I did have the Giant bakery take my contact card from me and offered to send me clients when they couldn't fulfill their requests but I haven't heard anything yet lol.... but it's a shame because our stores don't do ANYTHING but sheets and rounds... so I'm sure I'd get some orders if they'd just put it out there lol

I smiled to see I have not been the only one that didn't know how to spell their own child's name. Apparently after picking a name and writing it down over and over again on everything we still don't know how. I ordered a cake 4 years ago from the closest grocery store that is 26 miles away. Any way they put a "h" instead of an "n" on my son's birthday cake. After pointing it out and saying his name and saying what was on the cake I ended up removing the top part of the "h" before the party. I made it a point to not buy another from them again.

I too am crying from laughing at some of these stories here. Thanks all what a way to start my day, anyway I too could go on about the horror stories of bakery cakes but won't now I have to leave. Keep them coming though!!!!! I'll read them later................

Aaaah, grocery store cakes! Gotta love them! NOT!

When I had just started decorating, my sister got married. I didn't have the skill or the confidence to make her cake. So I bought it. We were all on a low budget, so she picked her cake out from H.E.B. It was supposed to be a three tier, ivory cake. Nice and simple but elegant, right? Wrong! The thing was YELLOW The girl looked beet red and explained how the off white was too white so she added some coloring...ahem hem FIESTA YELLOW??? I got a full refund and gave the money to my sis as a wedding gift. It was the least I could do. We still talk about that cake... Her kids and I were talking the other day about making a ten year anniversary party for them and making a duplicate cake--only not yellow this time!

I just remembered a cake I ordered from a different local store bakery. After having my wedding cake disaster I went somewhere else. If anyone has kids and heard of these things called 'neopets', my daughter wanted an aisha on her cake. I printed out a large picture and took in it. They said ''no problem'' we can draw it on the cake. I went and picked up the cake and it was printed out on 'real paper' and just laying on the cake. I asked what happened, she said ''oh we tried three times and couldn't draw it so we cut your picture out and put it on''. Um....hell I coulda done that. Underneath the picture was all smeared from where they screwed up. If they couldn't do it she shoulda just called me. My daughter was so upset. Store manager had the nerve to say 'at least they tried' and wouldn't refund anything. $%#^% ppl.

Wow! Thanks for all the great stories.

Some of you will remember my "I QUIT!!!" post a few days later. Well, the replacement snickers cake came from the same store. I tasted a bite - it literally tasted, and had the texture of, sawdust. NEVER AGAIN!!!!!

I can't help but ask was the title a simple mistake in typing or was it purposely named GROCEY as in Grossy..... lol

LOL - I never noticed!!!!!!! No, it was meant to be Grocery - but Grossy would have definetly worked!!!!!

I have worked in two grocery store bakeries over the years. The last one was at a major grocery store chain where I doubled as the deli/bakery manager/cake decorator. (Guess that's tripled not doubled...LOL.) Anywho, one of the crankiest, most ill-tempered customers came my way one day. Needless to say, I was NOT thrilled, but I digress... It was his "Mama's" birthday and he wanted me to write that on one of the cakes that I'd just decorated. NO problem. For the most part, everyone calls their mother "mama" in south, but I still asked if "M-A-M-A" was correct. He looked at me like I was on crack, but agreed that it was correct. He came back a few minutes later and went all to pieces on me for not spelling it correctly. I told him that it read "MAMA" just like we'd confirmed when I spelled it back to him. This guy had the nerve to call ME a moron and mentions that "any idiot knows that it's MaMa. What the crap??? That's Ma-Ma. To me, that sounds like a kid just learning how to say the word. I scraped the name off and re-wrote it in his stupid way to write it, and he ended up getting the flippin' cake for free. Whatever! Anyway, from that day on, he was know to everyone in the store (insert childish voice here)...Ma-Ma.

Gotta love the "special" ones in our big, beautiful world. LOL.

Amy

When I speak of my mother while typin and I happen to call her momma or mama... that's how it's spelled... Ma-Ma is the term/spelling MOST commonly used for when you're teaching your child how to say ma ma lol...