Stories On Worst/strangest/oddest Customer....
Business By d_michelle95 Updated 9 Jun 2009 , 6:45am by margaretb
Oh & intstead of using silk flowers, can I make those sugar kind? BWAHAHAHAAA
Yeah, right.
That is all.
Theresa 
Actually I think my worst is my hubby!!! He constantly asks me how many cakes do you have for this weekend? Do you think we will be able to go to the cottage? UH honey.... parties happen on the weekends!!!
My sister(s) wanted to do a family get-together once. My ditzy sister emailed us all and suggested "some Saturday in June". 
I emailed them all back and said, "Do you all forget what I do for a living? How about a Tuesday in February?" 
Nothing fancy, just a 3 tiered cake w/buttercream scroll work on the sides. Oh & intstead of using silk flowers, can I make those sugar kind?
What? No monkey band crawling up the side of it? 
Not quite a customer, but...I made a bunch of cakes and cookies for the school fair and took them over there. Like always people were asking how they were made, do I have a business, etc...One lady hung around longer asking questions, then told me she was a social worker for the school and wanted to know if I would donate my time to teach a cake decorating class with an emphasis on fondant to the Spanish-speaking moms at the school. I told her I don't speak Spanish and I can't afford a babysitter, and she said, "That's all right, I'll translate and watch your kids." Well, I can't even think and watch my kids...I finally told her that the things I do take a lot of tools and I only have one of each tool so it would be slow going trying to teach anyone to do it.
IndyDebi wrote:
"Quote:
What? No monkey band crawling up the side of it?"
Too Funny!
Theresa
Thanks girls but no. My boss and I have a difficult relationship, so I am sure there is no surprise or cake for me.
Oh, how tempting it would be to inscribe the cake "Best wishes to Sarah AND MARGARET" (fill in your own name).
OOOOHHHH, no -- cake for coworker, and super awesome delicious cake for just you and your close workmates.
Funny that this thread should be up here today. I just fielded the strangest call yet a few hours ago.
Customer: Do you have a shop or do I just place an order?
Me: I bake to order, so you can place your order over the phone with me.
Customer: How big are your cinnamon rolls?
Me: About 3 or 4 bites (I sell mini-cinis).
Customer: No, I mean what size are they? (huh?)
Me: I'm not sure what more information I can give you.
Customer: How big is the pan you deliver them in?
Me: It depends how many I bake. I will deliver however many you want on a tray or in a box.
Customer: (Clearly exasperated with me at this point) No, I mean will a dozen of them fill a 9x13 pan?
Me: I don't know, I don't bake them that way. (Is she going to consume the pan, too? Why is this important?)
Customer: OK. Hangs up.
Guess I won't be hearing from her again!
In my opinion, I don't think your customer is strange at all. She was just wondering how big your cinnamons are and you should atleast know. I would expect an approximate measurement size rather than how many bites. I certainly wouldn't know how big is a bite for you.
If she asks a store how many would fill a 9x13 pan, I would atleast expect an approximation or how many would fit in a "_x_" box or something atleast.
I'm not trying to flame on you =]
smile =]
I get a call from a lady who says she is in Texas but her daughter is graduating up here. She wants a full sheet cake and 50-75 cupcakes.
It starts out conversational, not "take this order", so when she finds out how many people a full sheet serves, she says ok, I really want that. Now I also need 50 to 75 cupcakes. But I don't want regular cupcakes. I want those really big things, like Texas size muffins. I said "sure". I ask her to clarify how many she wants, since 50-75 is a large range. She says "Oh, just 50-75". I say "Ok.....but since they are $4 apiece, that will be a wide range of cost." Dead silence for about 6 beats. (we hadn't even discussed price for that sheet cake yet.)
"$4 each? You see, I used to do this for her myself." I see, I said. Dead silence. So then she proceeds to add that she would do it herself but she won't be able to be there. I understand completely, I say.
She then proceeds to tell me that she's not sure what her daughter wants to have on these cupcakes, so she'll call me back at 9am tomorrow morning, will I be home?
I'm thinking....sure. And if that phone rings I'll drop dead of the shock. Why don't they have the guts to say that it's out of their budget and they were looking for something in this specific range????
She didn't call. But I didn't have to tell you that.
"so she said Oh thats fine, you can just make a whole batch, my family will eat them"
How very kind and generous of her! Did she want you to make dinner for her family, too?
That's too funny! You girls that work at home are lucky you can pick and choose! I work at a Florida chain store and we are not allowed to say no to ANY request on any kind of notice! Lucky for me I am still an apprentice so if it's a wedding cake or a Deco cake I won't be the one staying and making it. Doesn't matter if you have plans or actually have a life or kids to pick up from school, if someone comes in and gives you 2 hours notice for a wedding cake you have to stay and make it!! I love being able to say , " All the real decorator's have gone home and we wouldn't be able to do it today! (I am capable of doing many of our specialty cakes, but they won't finish my training or give me more than 15 hours a week so I am NOT going to bust my A$$ for anyone!!)
Can't tell you how many time we have just finished breaking down all the bags and throwing everything away, all the dishes are done and someone doesn't see a cake in the freezer they want and we have to start from scratch!
Still, your stories are hilarious! What I would give to be able to say some of that stuff! I hear so many times, " I would be a fat as a pig if I worked here! " Like I WANT to eat cakes scraps & brownie bites and petite 4's for breakfast every day! Heck no! I want some of that chicken I smell all day next to me in the deli frying up fresh and crispy! You can keep the donuts and cookies!
I have a couple of funny ones my friend worked in a bakery and was giving the lady her cake when she came to pick it up. Obviously the lady was very upset, the smash cake for her ONE year old was written in cursive. She proceeds to yell saying "how is my child supposed to read this?" To which my friend replied your ONE year old can read? Needless to say the manager stepped in at that point.
I also had a lady call me up
Customer"I need a cake"
Me "Okay what would you like?"
C: "I really need this to be fresh because every time I get a cake from you they are dry, I need you to understand how important this is"
M"Well all of our cakes come in frozen so we don't bake them fresh"
C: "Well I want this really fresh and I need it to have powder blue dots on it, and I want POWDER BLUE not royal blue, I need you to understand how important this is to me. So it has to be powder blue."
I need this to look absolutely perfect I need you to understand how important this is to me. I don't want some sloppy job it needs to look perfect and I need you to understand how important this is to me. And I want it pre-cut and they have to be perfectly even and I need you to understand how important this is to me.... and on and on and on.
Needless to say the cake did not go well no matter what we did she wasn't happy. Boy I'm glad my boss had to deal with her not me.
I had my sister's land lord order a cake. I told her how much it would cost, I always do-people are very shocked some time because there isn't anyone around here who does custom cakes. Anyway, she ordered a very specific design. A baby with a hunting dog and a gun. It was very adorable. Anyway, the only place you can get a cake here is at costco or safeway, no custom bakeries! Anyway, my husband takes the cake and drops it off for me and she says that she doesn't have any money on her and she will pay me later. Well a few weeks go by and I'm really irritated. So my husband goes down there and comes back with the $50 I had charged for the cake.
A few weeks later he had tried to collect on some work he had done around their house and they refused to pay him. Well we were exchanging stories and I was complaining how she didn't pay me on time and maybe they would pay him it would just be late. The then proceeded to tell me they THEY DIDN'T ACTUALLY PAY FOR THE CAKE! When he went to collect, they handed him $20 and told him that's all the cake was worth and they could buy a cake like that anywhere for $20 and that's all he was getting. So my husband not wanting to upset me. Went and took some money out of the bank and paid me the $50 they owed.
Can you believe the nerve! No money, no delivery! Lesson learned!
I got a call from a Bride who was marrying a Philadelphia Flyer. Big wedding, lots of money. She said the cake was really important to her, so she wanted to try my cakes first. I said of course, I am happy to do a tasting. No, she doesn't have time. But, her fiance's birthday is coming up, could she order a birthday cake at my regular price? Sure.
Fiance was from Texas, big time! She wants a map of Texas. OK. I really spread myself! I made 28 different little avatars of TX out of fondant, from armadillos to 10 gallon hats to oil derricks. All hand molded and painted. I only charged her my normal price, but if she had ordered the fancy touches, it would have been 3 times the price. It blew her away, she raved when she saw it. I thought it was in the bag.
She never called me, and the wedding day came and went. I was VERY disappointed.
The following February, she calls. Neds a baby shower cake for her sister in law. I figured an order is an order. Plus, I added a PIA charge. Made a darling cake, based on the wallpaper border of the nursery. Sides were piped lavender and blue plaid,
with a sleeping baby in a blossom on top, and 3 gingham butterflies suspended on wire over it. I was very proud of it.
She was supposed to pick it up at 1 PM. No show, no call. As the day wears on, I am getting madder and madder. Finaly at 8:45 PM (I was in my pajamas at this point), calls to say "He's in the shower, can you run it over here right now? I'll pay you for the delivery." OK. "Please meet me at the end of the driveway." WHAT??? She drove down her very long driveway with the headlights off.
In PA in February, it's very dark and very cold at 8:45 PM. What was going on?
Met her, cake was a hit. Nearly fell on the ice, but whatever.
She started ordering cakes from me left and right. But always there was some odd thing. I'd meet her at parking lots. (She lived 4 miles from my house.) She'd say "He'll be home at 4, so no later than 3:30." But I added the PIA charge to every one, so I was OK with it.
One day she calls me in a panic. They are moving to Texas in 4 months. She won't be able to get my cakes anymore! I was way flattered, but not for long.
"How much would you charge to teach me to make cakes like yours?" I don't do lessons, no time." "PLEASE! I'll pay anything!"
Then the story finally came out.
When her husband saw that original birthday cake, he said "Oh Honey, did you make this for me?" and she said "Why, yes sweetie, I did!" Consequently, she didn't call me for the wedding cake because she was afraid I would make some comment that would reveal her lie.
BUT, his family and friends were there, and they were so impressed that she became the official cake baker for every occasion! I bet I made 15 or more cakes for her in just over a year and a half.
No wonder I never got any referrals from her cakes!
Her DH can't have been too bright. No mess, no smell of cake baking, no decorating equipment, but a fancy cake just magically appears on the counter, boxed and ready to go?
They're in TX now, I don't know if she finally 'fessed up or found a new decorator? Oh, well, at least I got paid...
[/quote]What? No monkey band crawling up the side of it? [/quote]
Indydebi, you just made my day! LMAO!
The weirdest one I had recently was a bride that wanted a three-tier cake, nothing fancy. I told her I charged by the serving and asked how many people she needed to serve cake to. She "doesn't pay by the serving, she pays by the cake." When I asked her how many people she needed to serve, she came back with....."15!" Alrighty then.
Unfortunately I was booked for that day. 
Edited to correct typo. 
I did a baseball cake for a lady a couple of weeks ago. I actually had done a cake for her back in November but was not home when she came to pick up that cake. My sister gave that one to her and called me and said she circled the table for about 10 minutes looking at the cake. She said she was a real B***CH!!! I figured I would never hear from her after that.
She called me agin on a busy Friday wanting to order a baseball cake for her son's team. If I had realized who she was at the time...I would have said I was booked. I thought we were talking about a sheet cake with an edible image. She emails me this cake with all kinds of gaudy decorations and wants me to duplicate the cake but on a square instead of round. She also wants the players names on the sides of the cake and #'s. I hate writing on cakes as it is let alone the sides. She emails me the players and also wants 4 coaches name and the team mom too. That was a little ridiculous in my opinion. But I do it with every name on the sides.
I decided to have her meet me at the gym where my daughter does cheer practice to avoid her circling my table again. I bring the cake out to her car and she kept asking me if all the names were on the sides. I said yes. I think she asked me like 4 times.Her and her son were leaning the best they could in the car to try and look all around the cake. She had the check in her hand and I was like "Have a great party...I have to go..." She finally handed me the check and proceded to stand there for at least another 10 minutes observing the cake.
Unbelieveable... 
so she said Oh thats fine, you can just make a whole batch, my family will eat them. So I asked her what she wanted, since my prices vary depending on size and detail of cookie, and she responded with whatever....I am not looking to PAY, I just want them to sample
My husband likes my homemade pretzels, and one day while out to lunch with his co-workers he bragged about them. So on Facebook I get a message from one lady: "Christian said you make the best homemade pretzels and would make me a dozen cinnamon-sugar ones to try." (By the way hubby denies he ever offered my services)
I was more than a little irked. At first I thought, "I'll make a pretzel when I'm good and ready," but she kept bringing it up. To keep the peace for hubby at work, I finally made pretzels and gave him enough to give TWO to each of his co-workers that had heard about it. Most were very gracious, but I laughed at the reply from the one lady: "You'll have to make those all the time!"
So I posted the recipe on Facebook and made a "joke" -- "Here you go, now make them yourself!"
A while back I made a wedding cake for a friend of a friend. She wanted as her topper two ceramic tigers, that she had. One had a veil and the other I top hat. She wanted them arranged with the male tiger behind and on top of the female. I suggested "why don't we put them side by side". She said "no, I want them this way". One of my friends was at the wedding, she saw the cake and said "it looks that they are getting it on". She said everybody was making comments behind the brides back about that cake. I never took a picture of the cake because I was embarrassed by it. Now, years later, I wished I had.
I have to say the worse "customer" i had recently.
Last year i volunteered to make my nephews wedding cake, it was to be their wedding gift from my husband and i. No problem i usually offer for most of the family, as i don't sell cakes, and do enjoy the opportunity to make one.
Well, they picked out a cake and all went well, until, i get a phone call after the reception where is the top cake. Well my SIL asked me to help dissemble the cake which i did ( i was drinking and was tipsy by this time) so i stagger up to the cake table (well that may be an exaggeration, but it certainly felt like i was) and give a quick instruction on how to take this cake apart. Tell the wonderful ladies at the hall, that everything is disposable, no really i don't kneed anything back. And also, tell the ladies, what flavors the cake is, and if they need to cut the top tier to go ahead, i will make them another top on their anniversary.
Well, later the lady that was cutting the cake, came and told me that they had to serve the top tier, so that was fine no problem i will provide them with a replacement on their anniversary, no one really wants to eat stale old cake anyway.
Well back to the phone call. My dh and i were back at the hotel, and his cell rings, its SIL asking were is the top of the cake. Well they served it. I will make another next year for them. Well they shouldn't have done that, and the kids are very upset. Hellllooooo they didn't pay for the cake they didn't have anything to be upset about. I don't think any of their other aunts or uncles were giving them a $600 gift.
Well the kicker is, i get a thank you card several months after the wedding and it reads Mr and Mrs XXXX thanks for the cake, I'm sure it was good but i wouldn't know as we didn't get to eat any. (that may not be exact wording but pretty damn close)
I thought this little ungrateful brat couldn't even ask her new husband our names (i can see forgetting names shit happens, but he certainly knows them, take alittle time to ask)
BTW: the cake i speak of is in my photos its the brown and pink one with the bride and groom fondant monkeys.
OH and one more thing if you are still with me. The same SIL called about a baby shower cake for the same bride and i did wise up and tell her that there was no way i could do the shower cake as i was very busy that weekend after all its graduation weekend.
Peg, I feel for you with that little thank you note! My s-i-l is like that, she's the main reason I wouldnt have married into that family if I had known them better! Hubbys thankful for that! She would write thank you notes to us "Thanks for the gift even though the package says ages 3 & up", "thanks for coming to the party even though you hung out with your girlfriend & her kid brother the whole time" (last was written to hubby before we got married...my brother was 2 at the time!), She still sends snippy thank you notes!
Mine's not as bad as all yours (love these stories!), but mine is a couple. They came to me to consult on their wedding cake, and they were really nosy, like giving me the third degree about my personal life (really weird), and then when they got down to talking about the cake, we quickly found out that they had tastes polar opposite from one another. The bride wanted something simple and understated. The groom wanted multi-tiered with bridges, fountain, and "birds suspended on wires like they are flying off the top, and maybe some fireworks". I kid you not. The bride said he could have ONE of those components, not all of them. They got into such a heated discussion, I thought they were going to come to blows. I actually left the room and came back. After nearly two hours of this, I had to *gently* suggest they think about it and get back to me. They never did, and I imagine they probably (God willing) never actually got married.
Karateka, I am in Ohio also and got this exact same call except it was her niece, and she is in Tennesee. She was to call me back at 9:00 am the next morning and of course never did. So did the graduate go to Springboro and her name was Autumn?
Yes!! Well, she didn't give me a name, but it was Springboro. How odd. And I don't think the caller ID bore out her location. It was somewhere way off from where she told me she was.
They got into such a heated discussion, I thought they were going to come to blows.
I learned this trick when I sold insurance: When the couple starts to get "testy", I say with a smile on my face, "ahhhhh ..... your first fight and I get to be here!" It usually de-fuses it enough that we can finish our business.
Peg818--I just looked at the cake in your photos and wow! It's great!! That piping must have taken forever!!! What a beautiful cake!! Didn't the bride and groom get to taste the cake during the traditional cutting of the cake? From my experience, a lot of the time that's all the bride and groom get to taste at the wedding anyway! At my wedding and many of my friend's weddings that's all you have time for because of dealing with the guests. I can't believe someone would be such a brat about a free cake--does she know how much wedding cakes cost?
Great job!! And sorry you had to deal with that!
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