I was going to do a post about irritating customers, but I'll hike yours, hehe
I have a customer come pick up a small $38.00 birthday cake today...cut out to look like a WWF wrestling ring, with a handmade ring around it...
she didn't want to use my rope ring after she came and picked it up, she had her own....I helped her get her rope ring put on the cake...then she tells me that she is not happy with the cake. she thought it didn't look professional enough. grrr so then her husband pipes in, yeah....we don't like it, can we have 1/2 off?
I grid my teeth, because this cake was plenty cool and very professional! I was very impressed with it (I didn't make it, my talented employee did)
I was going to take a picture to put in our book because it was so cool.
anyway, while grinding teeth I told them that I couldn't give them half off, but I'd take $10.00 off.
they acted all sad. it took all I had not to throw that darn cake in the trash and tell them "no cake for you!"
then they said that we had made a 3-D car, seen on my web site at www.sweetcreationsbymelody.com
and they didn't like that either.
I am thinking about calling them and asking very sternly that they find another custom bakery, because I will not except any more orders from them ....we'll see how I feel when I go in on Tuesday.
did I mention I only charged $38.00 freakin' bucks for the cake that they wanted half off.
then the other day, I had this young man, probably around 16- or 17 years old, ordered a $0.50 cookie. then there was a knat (spelling?) flying around and he says, "there is a bug in here, that could've gotten on my cookie, can you do something? I said fine, and was going to give him is two quarters back....and he said, how bout a 'nother cookie? can you see me roll my eyes? he got the exact same cookie and ate it too.. I was fuming.
then last weekend I had a wedding cake, the bride ordered this cake that had about $500.00 worth of gumpaiste flowers on it, I told her it would be cheaper to do the roses in butter cream roses instead....and only charged her $50.00 for the roses (it cost me that much to pay my employee to sit and make them all!) she calls me after I drop the cake off....on her lopsided table, and said the cake is leaning....I say well the table is not balanced, she says get back here quick to fix it. I get there and they had moved the cake into the cooler. then some of the roses fell off in the move....not to mention that the band was playing very loudly on the drums right next to my cake.
anyway she is upset because the flowers weren't what she wanted and the cake is ugly. I explain about the gumpaiste roses costing an extra $500.00 so we decided on butter cream.
I am always such a jolly person, but lately I am sick of customers....and they are who pay the bills.
on the other hand, I have many many wonderful customers who love me and my cakes, and tell everyone every chance they get.
I've just had my share of idiots in a short period of time.
now, I've hijacked your thread, and vented, and feel better now.
smile.
melody
Melody - I think those customers are playing you. If they didn't like your cakes they wouldn't come back, but now they know if they complain that you might give them money off. Please don't let them do this to you, your time and talent are valuable. It's a good thing they weren't my customers because they would have left with no cake, but that's just me.
I'm working on getting a back bone!
the more of these customers I get, the more of a back bone I am getting.
I'm working on getting a back bone!
the more of these customers I get, the more of a back bone I am getting.
Don't feel bad I use to give in too until I finally got fed up with crappy CHEAP customers. You can do it..... 
I called and left a message, (before I read the post about not calling but being busy the next time she called) I was nice and said I hoped her son had a happy birthday, that the cake had everything she requested but the style of our cakes apparently didn't match the style she had in mind and there are other custom bakeries in the city...good luck finding the one that your happy with.....it sounds rude, but I was really nice about it.
I feel better now.
melody
I called and left a message, (before I read the post about not calling but being busy the next time she called) I was nice and said I hoped her son had a happy birthday, that the cake had everything she requested but the style of our cakes apparently didn't match the style she had in mind and there are other custom bakeries in the city...good luck finding the one that your happy with.....it sounds rude, but I was really nice about it.
I feel better now.
melody
Good for you. Sometimes it's just better to cut some customers loose. They definetly weren't worth your time or worthy of your CAKES...someone better will come along to replace them. Sometimes you just have to weed them out.
I called and left a message, (before I read the post about not calling but being busy the next time she called) I was nice and said I hoped her son had a happy birthday, that the cake had everything she requested but the style of our cakes apparently didn't match the style she had in mind and there are other custom bakeries in the city...good luck finding the one that your happy with.....it sounds rude, but I was really nice about it.
I feel better now.
melody
YAY!!!!!...good luck suckas!!!!
i've cut a handful of customers loose....you won't miss them believe me.
melodyscakes - you know it might have little ruder but with a smile so it's ok! It might cost you a bit of their friends as customer but only if they are like them so better to get rid of the whole lot in 1 swoop instead of dealing with more of them.
Other thing too, would be to make sure if you have people who work for you that they know you would prefer "we no longer take their orders." As it seems our cakes are not up to their standards and they keep on asking for refunds.
I was in customer service for a long time and you can usually tell when it's a genuine I am not happy or something was really wrong and the "I just want a refund/discounts because I am cheap... I have an family member that is like that and we do not go anywhere with them anymore. I mean never for any reason it's not worth the embarassement and that is even if they are not paying!
Good for you!
Good Luck!
A lot of people have mentioned the amount of time people want to take in ordering things. Hey I understand that when someone is spending a lot of money on a wedding cake they want to take their time. But for little orders its crazy, same thing happens to us at the print shop, but its not about orders even. We have people come in, spend less then a dollar and then want to talk to us for 30min. Its like, hello! I dont care that your cat is sick, or that your daughter doesnt call you enough, or whats wrong with your car, or how many doctors visits you have had in the last month etc etc. I AM NOT A THERAPIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do not have the time or energy to listen/figure out your problems I have my own. Time = money and spending a half an hour with you is money not made with me. Dont get me wrong some of the people I work with have been coming to the shop for over 25 years (longer then I have been alive) and they are mostly nice people. but there comes a point were enough is enough!
~Alicia
A lot of people have mentioned the amount of time people want to take in ordering things. Hey I understand that when someone is spending a lot of money on a wedding cake they want to take their time. But for little orders its crazy, same thing happens to us at the print shop, but its not about orders even. We have people come in, spend less then a dollar and then want to talk to us for 30min. Its like, hello! I dont care that your cat is sick, or that your daughter doesnt call you enough, or whats wrong with your car, or how many doctors visits you have had in the last month etc etc. I AM NOT A THERAPIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do not have the time or energy to listen/figure out your problems I have my own. Time = money and spending a half an hour with you is money not made with me. Dont get me wrong some of the people I work with have been coming to the shop for over 25 years (longer then I have been alive) and they are mostly nice people. but there comes a point were enough is enough!
~Alicia
couldn't have said it better myself.
people who don't have a lot of customers probably won't understand this.
i was rushing to get a wedding cake out in time, and a gal came in wanting to discuss cupcakes and a smash cake....told her i don't do cupcakes anymore...so then she just wanted the smash cake...good night! i sell the smash cake for 5 bucks if they buy the birthday cake from me.....i had an epiphany last week...i have got to get rid of the small orders....they'll take 15 minutes of your time trying to get a custom smash cake.....ugh...my time on saturdays is really valueable
Maybe you should go Duff on them and change to appointment only! 
Seriously...no one but the Bride of the current wedding gets my time on a Saturday. I just can't do it.
Maybe you could post a sign in your shop that you take custom orders on Mon-Fri. Saturday you can pick up your cake but there is no special ordering on that day. That way they will know that they can get what is on the shelf or else they can call or come back in with their order on Monday or Tues. (if you have a couple of special cakes out for last min. sale that is)
You can also say on the sign. Saturday is a very busy day for us and we want to concentrate on the cakes due that day and Sunday. We will pay the same attention to your cake once it is ordered and we are working on it, thank you for your attention and respect. or something like that.
I have seen a lot of signs like this here and there for different businesses so why not for cakes! since they are on such timetable and specific times.
Off the soap box now.
Good Luck.
omg! she called me back! and told me not to worry about it, she wouldn't be coming back. grrreat!
now, where in the world is she going to find her next custom cake....for what she wants to pay...$38.00????
good luck lady!
sheesh
omg! she called me back! and told me not to worry about it, she wouldn't be coming back. grrreat!
now, where in the world is she going to find her next custom cake....for what she wants to pay...$38.00????
good luck lady!
sheesh
yeah, they usually get mad when ya take their "good deal" away...she might be stuck with walmart....who knows...she could have already tried this on the other bakers in town.
you know it felt good to cut her loose didn't it?
let's all sing..."we're not gonna take it....ANYMORE!"...uh oh, is my 80's showin?
I love that song, yep from the 80's. I love 80's music! am I showing my age? haha
your right littlecakes, I'm not going to take it any more.
learning. smile.
melody
let's all sing..."we're not gonna take it....ANYMORE!"...uh oh, is my 80's showin?
No we should make up our own version of this song and call it "We're not gonna BAKE it anymore!"
I'll be singing that all day in my head.
I guess we have to put up with a few crappy customers here and there.....it sure makes us love our good customers more!
melody
We're not gonna bake it!
No, we ain't gonna bake it!
We're not gonna bake it, anymore!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you...
I dedicate this to all the family members with PACOOMA out there!
Oh no...I've got the video running through my head!! 
i think we need to make a NEW video.....OMGOSH...how funny!
in the 80's they called me twisted sister, cause dee snyder and i had the same hair...LOL
mine was a spiral perm....remember those?
That's what I meant...a video of CC bakers head-banging to Mac's version of the song!! LOL!! We could air-guitar, air-drum, etc. with various decorating equipment... 
(okay, way too much Guitar Hero for me!)
Just to be bad, we could send the video to mean customers to torture them...! 
. The original lyrics belong to kimmypooh! Ha! This thread is getting hilarious. I wanted a spiral perm so bad, I would've killed for it in high school. I told the hair lady, I want the kinky curls....and dang it, that's what I got......haha then used a ton of mousse to accent each little curl. wow, I haven't bought mousse in years.
now, sadly, my hair is always up on my head. I deal with cake/food so I have to have hair up....so I just keep up everyday all day. boring (but food safe haha)
people don't even know what my hair looks like down, just telling you that because when I was a teen I spent so much time on every little hair. did any one else mouse the heck out of your hair? then you couldn't comb it because it wouldn't be "crisp"
or was this style just my own???
melody
In the 80's, I had my hair permed, dyed BLONDE, and styled over one eye - like, totally Madonna!! Even wore bright neon pink, and spoke valley girl ! These days, my hair is up and back too - maybe for our CC music video we can dress up a bit and buy some mousse!
I had someone go through an entire order with me about exactly what shade of blue to make the bow, how many drops of almond flavoring she wanted in the cake, etc and when I told her the price (which was $37, BTW, less than I even charge now-for a fondant cake with a fondant bow) she was like "Oh, I'll let you know" and called back later to tell me they didn't want to spend that much. I understand that, but where do you get off being so dang picky and thinking its going to be really cheap, too?
I had someone go through an entire order with me about exactly what shade of blue to make the bow, how many drops of almond flavoring she wanted in the cake, etc and when I told her the price (which was $37, BTW, less than I even charge now-for a fondant cake with a fondant bow) she was like "Oh, I'll let you know" and called back later to tell me they didn't want to spend that much. I understand that, but where do you get off being so dang picky and thinking its going to be really cheap, too?
i guess there are these types of people everywhere...it drives me to madness....i've sent them away before, and told them i didn't think i could please them.....and then some of them want it on the cheap.
all businesses have this kind of trouble i think...a couple years ago a had "a little work" done on myself....i got to be friends with the surgeon ....he told me he had to send people packin all the time, because you could tell you couldn't please them....they called it not being emotionally prepared for surgery.
and how about the poor hair stylists....lady comes in with ten hairs, and gives them a pick of a movie star they wanna look like.
I wanted a spiral perm so bad, I would've killed for it in high school. I told the hair lady, I want the kinky curls....and dang it, that's what I got......haha then used a ton of mousse to accent each little curl. wow, I haven't bought mousse in years.
now, sadly, my hair is always up on my head. I deal with cake/food so I have to have hair up....so I just keep up everyday all day. boring (but food safe haha)
people don't even know what my hair looks like down, just telling you that because when I was a teen I spent so much time on every little hair. did any one else mouse the heck out of your hair? then you couldn't comb it because it wouldn't be "crisp"
or was this style just my own???
melody
When I was in school perms were all the rage. I remember being jealous of my friend cause she had a spiral perm! lol
I miss the 80's!
don't miss getting the stinky perms 
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