9 months ago I was hired to make wedding cakes for a bakery. I replaced a woman who had been told she wasnt doing a very good job and they needed someone with better skills. Since then I've taken the bakery to the next level and created a enemy along the way I knew this going in it would be tough but wanted to give it a try anyway. I soon realized also that the bakery manager was extremely rude and a bully.
I went to his bosses numerous times for virious abuses and things would calm down very a short time . Now I have one employee that is extremely bitter and a manager that pretty much written me off. NO team to speak of! Anyway they both have been prodding me daily with very small issues and constantly finding fault. I'm being railroaded. The spirit is definately hostile and very stressful. I let them know yesterday that I would be putting in my notice. Now I have a meeting Monday with the owner and I've decided that I really will give my notice I'm so very sad and very dissapointed that not everyone rose to the occasion and did what was best for the bakery. Now all the brides that I've designed wedding cakes for will get the less skilled decorator to do the cake of their dreams.

Ooohhhhh that indeed is a tough situation to be in. Not much we can say to help you through it.
Just know stress is NOT GOOD for you or your family! Perhaps when the owner knows exactly what is going on things might change? If you truely want to keep the job, maybe you could contact the brides you have made cakes for and ask if they would send a note of thanks so it gets directly to the owner?

It is very hard to go to a job when the people you work with make it miserable to be there, especially when you love what you are doing. I always tell myself when people act this way that they are just not happy in their life and want to make everyone around them just as unhappy. Good luck with your decision and know that a lot of other bakeries would love to have you as an employee.

I was in a situation like this with a medical laboratory job, except my nemesis was the owners son-in-law! So I thought my only option was to resign. When I gave my notice to the owner he asked why and I told him. "Your SIL is a monster and I can no longer work for him". Instead of being told "we'll miss you" he said "sit down and tell me about it". I told him the facts, no emotion, and he listened. Then he told me to please reconsider my resignation because he promised the problems would stop. That was the last day the monster bothered me. I was kicking myself for putting up with the monster for 2 years before I said anything!! Never again. I learned that day that nobody is going to stick up for me except me.

So, for you, go to your meeting with the facts. Tell them in facts how you have increased the bakeries business and how you have raised the level for them. Tell them what problems there are and give them facts and examples. You've already resigned so you have nothing to lose. I'm going to say it again....You have already resigned so you have nothing to lose. Stick to the facts and remember your own worth and value. Don't apologize. If they have any business sense whatsoever they will see things for how they are. If not, then you are just wasting time with them and it's time to move on.

Good luck

Thank you for all of your encouragement. I'm meeting tomorrow to quit. and I hope I can make it through the next two weeks. We are heading into our busiest time of the year so they are lucky I didn't make this decision two weeks ago.
I don't feel that there is anything more I should do or could have done. I had a crappy manager and I have no power to change the situation. I have gone to then with word for word conversations of the totally unprofessional behavior and still we sit months later nothing has changed. I'ts so sad that my manager can only have people around who stroke his ego unfortunately they lack the skills to do more than just mass produce. I wonder if the bakery isn't inclined to really fight for a more skilled employee since it would decrease it's production time. It was a nice thought to get someone in who makes them look good the reality is there is a bottom line in sales that needs to me met that trumps everything else.

During the meeting tomorrow be honest about why you are quitting. Don't bash anyone, be professional, but don't minimize the situation either. The next person that is hired in will have the same problems you expererinced.

Plus, if the owner understands what is happening, maybe the manager will be fired and you can continue at the job you love.

As back stabbing as this will sound, why not go through the list of brides with up coming orders, write down their names and numbers. Once you have your meeting explain to the owner/HR head why you are quiting and tell them that they will never get a qualified designer in and to stay if this manager continues to humiliate and harass employees the way he does. Make sure you remind them that there likely is a labour law against harassment in your state/province! The whole time you have this list of customers in your pocket.
The minute you get home, take a deep breath, and if you have the supplies at home, call the brides and let them know you quit the bakery and you are giving them the option to take an okay cake from the store or order a cake from you personally!
What do you have to lose?

As nice as it would be to be able to take the advice of the poster that told you to write down the bride's info and contact them, julzs71 has a very valid point. You could be sued and not only that, but the bakery world is a VERY small one indeed. The LAST thing that you want to have happen is for the manager to get on the phone with all of his buddies in other bakeries and black list you as a thief. You would NEVER be able to find another job like that!! However, that is not to say that you can't start your own business and take out an ad in a small community circular (or hand out flyers and business cards at all of the local vendors, i.e, flower shops, dress stores, photographers, venues, and caterers) that says something along the line of " Buttercreammgt has branched out on her own!! Yes, this awesome baker/wedding cake designer that used to work for one of the areas top bakeries (don't name them, obviously) is opening her own couture wedding cake studio. Call today to schedule a design appointment"
That way if a bride recognizes your name and gives you a call to inquire, you have stayed legal in that YOU didn't STEAL their contact information, nor did YOU contact THEM to solicit the business away from the other bakery.
Obviously, that will not work if you signed any type of non compete agreement with the bakery when you went to work for them, so make sure you are on the up and up where that's concerned.

I personally have no desire to take away from the bakery's current bookings. I will also not grant any requests to do the cake if they are so inclined to ask. I do not want to put myself into a situation where I could give the apperance of underhandedness. Right now I feel pretty insecure about getting another job at a bakery, would the situation be the same or even worse!!! Plus there are many bakery's that want to mass produce a low quality cake and few bakeries who really have an excellent product. My desire is to work for someone who has the niche already established for high quality. As for doing cakes on my own...I've already done that and it's too unstable.

The meeting went very well I was given the option of leaving right away or staying two weeks. I chose ton leave right away! I'm glad i'ts all over

That's so sad for you. I've been in exactly the same position, and I know it sucks. Before having my children, I was a social worker for many years. I had a wonderful job helping low-income families through a federally funded preschool program, a job I'd wanted for years. But, I was given the same position as three women who were older than me, making more money than them because I had a Masters degree. I swear, I think the 3 of them plotted in the mornings how they were going to make me miserable lol . They went to our supervisors with lies, that I could prove were wrong usually because I kept meticulous paperwork, took items off my desk, went behind my back to MY clients (which was prohibited), and any time I'd take it to management, they were given a slap on the wrist, and I was made out to be the trouble maker who couldn't get along with co-workers. Anyway, after a year, I quit. I would be ironing my clothes in the morning crying, and my husband finally said enough was enough, and that he would go say something, but I said no, that I'd take care of it. I'd lost weight, had constant headaches...it was really awful. I have a pretty thick skin, and can usually shrug off just about anything, but being tag-teamed by 3 demon-women was too much. I really loved what I did, but the people I worked with absolutely ruined it for me. Oh well...on to better things.

It's good that you have peace about it. Another opportunity will present itself.

OMG...this sounds exactly like what I went through! I worked at a very small bakery...3 people including me and you would not believe the drama. Unfortunately the owner was a dishrag...she let this one person rule the bakery and she quite frankly was a psycho. I did not decorate cakes. I was hired supposedly 'part time' to deal with the front desk and help where needed. It quickly became full time. The owner kept dumping more and more of the business side of things on me...which I honestly was not comfortable in doing and told her ...so she could go out and drink after work with the psycho. (she was also going through a divorce). The psycho was not my boss but she acted like it. I was told by the owner that psycho ran off every employee she'd had. Now keep in mind this person was originally hired to come in and roll cake balls only and she managed to become a decorator and baker. Mind you she did a wonderful job but she was a B****. I loved going to the bakery when the moods were good and everyone was happy (rare). And because I was there I got to observe how they did things and help where I could. It's where I got the bug to do cakes. So, even though the experience was less than wonderful at times, I was able to absorb a heck of a lot of knowledge that I put to good use today. BTW...the psycho got the owner to spend ridiculous amounts of money that she didn't have. Her business was wonderful, but after I left she apparently couldn't hire anyone else and she folded 7 months later. Oh...and psycho has moved to another state and has opened her own cake business!
I guess the moral of this story is to hang in there...good things can come from bad experiences!

It's horrible that people past school age make other people feel this way!!

I just quit a job after two days in a cupcake shop because the owner was a complete and utter nasty nasty woman! She was a bully and she kept practically telling me how unskilled I was and how she was better than me in every respect even though everyone could see that her cakes were AWFUL and that is no exaggeration! After about an hour and forty five minutes into my second day, I ripped my apron off and told her where to stick her job! I was lucky enough to be in a position where I didn't NEED her job, but to be honest, even if I had needed it, I would still have quit, no one deserves to be treated like crap at their work and it's not worth your health, sticking around!

Last time I checked it was not agaist the law to notify some one that you are leaving a place of employment!
It would have been the customers choice to stay with the bakery or go off with the poster.
Next time I will post comments directly to the poster since it seems the judge and jury will follow with more posts!
BTW my son is a lawyer!
C