Email left me shaking my head in disbelief... - Page 3

I agree with Jason craft. I don't see anywhere where this person is asking for a "free" cake, they only said that they couldn't afford one of the really great cakes. If money is an issue then I agree with some of the others and find out what the budget is, if it is definately something that you just can't work with or they can't get it gifted to them from friends or that you just don't feel comfortable taking it on then simply tell them that you are already booked that day. No harm done.

Well, a party for 40 people doesn't come cheap and we can assume that as a 21st, there will be plenty of booze--not so cheap, either--so, what, a minimum expenditure of $200 to $400?

Life is about choices--even at 21.

If he/she wants an over the top cake, then the choice is no other food or booze, or maybe to ask all of the guests to pool cash for the cake in lieu of gifts.

It's all probably moot because today is WED. and the cake is need for SUN.

The easiest thing is to respond with a stock e-mail giving some simple price quotes about 40 serving cakes, simple to carved, but tempering it with the fact that it's too late to add ANY cake, let alone an "over the top" cake, to an already booked schedule.

And I DO think the request was for a free cake--just because (insert wide-eyed innocent, ain't I cute, pretty please with sugar on the top face here)....

Rae

I think it's pretty tootin' obvious it was a request for a free cake.

Well, if her budget is $50 that isn't enough for a small cake from me because I have a $100 minimum. I don't think she was asking for a free cake, but it's clear that she was saying that she wasn't planning on paying what the rest of the commoners would have to pay.

I'm her age, and she's out of her mind...

I have to agree with jasonkraft at least a bit. It can be easy to get testy and provide a negative response to her, but the world is full of people who get things cheaper or free just because they ask! Do I agree with what she did? NO! I would never do it, but who did she hurt by asking? Like someone else said, maybe getting told "no" would make her ask mommy and daddy for the money...you never know! If we only dealt with the people that are just like us, we wouldn't have many customers.

I say to send back the reply as earlier suggested with what a cake WOULD cost, and leave the ball in her court. Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease!

You have got to be fricken lying your butt off!!!! I just don't believe you...or at least I really don't want to.

Okay, now that I am over the shock AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! How did you not just send a bunch of lol's as your response?

I have a BIL who routinely drives through McDonalds and asks for free food. He has gotten it before, too. He also asked a Dr to remove a mole during his wife's visit to the doc for gallbladder issues, and she lopped it off for free right there. Or at least that's the story I get.

I think it is the main reason he bugs me from time to time.

While I agree that it is fun to write fake emails back to customers like this, I doubt very seriously that any of us actually would say the first thing that pops into their minds when they first read an email like that. But that is what CC is for sometimes. We need a little fun here and there.

A bold, money-grubbing tight-fisted tightwad cheapskate. The funny part was that I had just been in a 1 1/2 hour consultation with her (who didn't like ANY of my ideas) and tried to beat me down on EVERY LITTLE THING -- all while we were sitting in the oversized kitchen of her 10,000 foot mansion. I told her she didn't understand -- she was going to have to pay WHEREVER she went and if she didn't like my price she was welcome to go elsewhere. She tried and got laughed out of every bakery in town and came crawling back to me -- whose price had just gone UP!

I'm not convinced that she was asking for a free cake either, but that's probably a moot point since it sounds unlikely that you have time to make her a cake this weekend even if she was paying full price. I would never have sent an email like this myself but I do remember being in college and my roommate telling me that you're more likely to get the things in life that you want if you actually go ahead and ask for them. I've been pretty timid my whole life and I've never been good at making even reasonable requests so that hasn't worked too well for me. But at the age of 21, you're still figuring out how to approach life and how you're going to interact with the world. It's a lot of trial and error. This may have been an error but probably not one worth hammering her over. I'd have to go with cupadee and jason_kraft's approach.

Some people have no shame or know no end to asking for things for FREE.. It takes a lot of gall.

I think given her age it's funny. Not saying all 21 year olds would do that but I certainly know a lot that would at least give it a try especially if it meant they got a cheaper show stopper cake. I also agree with JAson that she isn't asking for a free cake, just appears to be a huge discount

ok i just have to ask, what exactly did she say when she ask for the free cake i mean who does she think she is that she would deserve all of this for free, that is just unbelievable.

and about the email from the birthday girl i also believe that she is not asking for a free cake a lot of times we dont really know how to express our selves and it comes out completely diferent from what we are thinking so just go ahead and ask for her budget and if she answer then you can go on from there.

Just that -- we were in an overly long consultation where she didn't like anything. "My daughter won't like this. My daughter won't like that..." Of course her daughter lives out of town so I'm dealing with Momzilla. She keeps going on and on about this is her baby and it's the last marriage she has to pay for and it has to be extra special, yada yada yada. Her idea of special is a 6 foot tall wedding cake. For 300 people!!! I told her, if I make all the tiers cake, she'll have cake for 1500 people! I told her about cake dummies to enhance the height -- at the same price because it's just as much time and effort for me to decorate stryofoam as it is cake. "But I don't want to pay for a cake that's not a cake..." So I offer suggestion after suggestion, all for naught. Okay fine. Then after all this she hits me with "You don't seem to understand. I want a 6 foot tall wedding cake and I DON'T want to pay for it."

Okay I confess, I laughed out loud. I tried not to, but that one caught me off guard!! That's when I packed my bag up and told her that she and her daughter had some decisions to make, she's been given other viable options and she'd have to pay WHEREVER she went. I told my friend about it that afternoon and she accurately predicted "she's going to try that with every bakery in town and they won't even talk to her, they'll laugh her right out of the place. Then she'll come crawling back to you." Which she did. I have a picture in my photos of the cake I did for her. Here: http://cakecentral.com/gallery/995123 Oh yeah, I forgot to mention -- she can't pay for a freaking cake, but the flowers on that cake and on the table were Orchids flown in from BOGATA!!! We're in the Midwest!!! Sheesh! How cheap can a person get!

Ok re my prior post... Regarding the little princess cake request... I am all for donating a cake for a needy child or cause or charity and I have been asked and have donated gladly and will continue to because it brings me great joy to show love through something I enjoy and every child deserves a birthday cake and so do volunteers with worthy causes!

But that request you received was hilariously rude...and gave me a great laugh and I see several people have found humor in her entitled attitude...I would have responded to her first to clarify ... Are you asking to purchase a cake from me? And if she said like implied that she was asking for a free cake...then I would have been as bold to her as she was to me...A reality check! Because I am amazed at the people that think making a custom cake is no big deal they do not realize the time effort and dollars that go into a custom cake for 40 people... I just can not handle an entitled attitude it is disrespectful and rude and I won't coddle someone who does not respect me or my time it is a I'm owed attitude! And me in my life I don't expect and I don't use people!

Like I said I always step up to donate for a good and worthy cause because it is the least I can do! And the good and wonderful people far out weigh the entitled...thank you for sharing that email it really was comic relief! And all the discussion is funny too...very interesting