things NOT to ask/say to a baker! - Page 24

Ugh - people are tacky that it makes my head hurt!

I haven't been doing this for long, and I don't have a business like a lot of you. But I couldn't pass up sharing this.

 

one of my family members was having a birthday party for a co worker, I was going to charge her $20 for a cake whatever she wanted/needed. she said "Well its just for a co worker, so could you make a box cake and then just decorate it to save on costs"? 
I couldn't even believe she asked me this!

I had a lady call me for a "fancy" baby shower cake and raved about my website.  We had a consultation and she asked for several of my business cards.  There were some fondant accents that I had never attempted and I knew this would be interesting and good for my portfolio.  I gave her a price and she agreed.  Next day she added- "a few little changes"  no problem, I adjusted the price. 

 

I received several emails about how glad she was that I was now her "BAKER" and was handing out my cards and telling all her friends!

So, I send an email thanking her for her support but I confirmed the extra value of the cake and this time she got it.  She did indeed order and pay for the cake but the full price.

 

Yep, you guessed it!  I haven't heard from her or her tribe-and it has been six months.  But she paid for her cake and that is all that I was concerned about.

LOL!  Some of these are so funny!  People never cease to amaze me!  I've got a couple of new ones to share:

 

I don't do this as a business like most here...just as a hobby to keep myself out of trouble!  LOL! and I also work full time.

 

My new neighbour bumps into my hubby in the front yard Saturday and asks about my cakes. My hubby gives her a business card for my other business and tells her to email me. On Wednesday afternoon I get an email from her asking me if I can make her a wrestling championship belt cake and have it ready for Friday!  Really?!  I work during the day so when should I get this done?!  A whole day and a half notice?....geez thanks!  LOL!  I told her no, I couldnt do a cake that fast, not to mention that I don't work with fondant. I swear some people must think we have magic wands or something.

 

Here's another one!  A few weeks ago I get an email from a Facebook friend inquiring about two cakes but she's 'on a tight budget'. Okay, I dont mind working on a tight budget! So, she says she's having a Hula party for her daughter and then needs something hunting related for her husband's party. For the Hula party, I suggest a princess/barbie type cake (using the wonder mold pan) but decorated like a Hula dancer. The cost will be $40.00. She's super happy with that one. I make some suggestions for a simple 8 inch round cake iced in green buttercream and decorated with trees, a hunter, a river etc. Cost is only $30.00!  Cause I know she's on a budget!

 

I guess after getting my suggestions she decides to search on Google for some ideas, which is fine but we has exchanged like 15 emails by this point. So anyway, she sends me a picture of a hunter themed cake decorated in fondant. I told her I dont work with fondant. She emails back and says that she really likes the cake. I told her that I dont work with fondant and also that if she is in a 'budget' that the cake in the picture was going to cost her more than double of what she wanted to spend. She responds saying that she really likes the cake.  Okay, I get that you like the cake but I DON'T WORK WITH FONDANT! 

 

Then she emails me back and says that she's going to have to think about things and that for now she doesnt want to order the cake. THANKS FOR WASTING MY TIME!  She doesnt need the cake until April so I hope she emails me back asking if I can make the cakes for her just so I can say NO!  LOL!

Lol I have a new one for you all from today;

 

"...I have spoken to my hubby and we are going to try and get someone else to do a cake for us its just a pity you are fully booked that week as I would of loved you to make us one but understand you are busy."

 

Passive aggressive?? Guilt trip?? lol

The comment about rice krispies costing more because they're annoying sounded like somehting I would say...

I was tlking to a florist the other day and he said that someone had asked him the question that I'd told him someone asked me a couple of years ago. I had totally forgotten about it,but he said that he had an answer because I'd told him what I had said. The bride asked him "what happens if you die and you can't do my flowers?" He said he told her "well, my family would be really sad."

Because yes, if we die, we all feel so bad for ruining your big special day that we will want to rise from the grave and make your wedding perfect by making cakes and flowers from beyond.

I had a lady ring me a few weeks ago on a Monday night to ask me if I could decorate 500 cookies for her for a wedding on the Saturday.  She ONLY wanted them flooded and monogrammed with the couples initials.  She had made all the cookies and the icing so I didn't need to worry about that.  I'm thinking "Does that mean she doesn't want to pay much and who's to say that she has made the icing correctly".  She had seen similar cookies somewhere and thought she could do it herself but found out that it wasn't that easy after all.  Being a hobby baker I took the easy way out and told her that I didn't think mine would be professional looking enough.  Don't know if the cookies made it to the wedding cos everyone I talked to said they had turned her down, including the lady who did the wedding cake.
 

I really, really, REALLY wish I could have seen the bride's face when he said that.  That is priceless.

 

 

cazza1~~500 cookies and "she's already made the icing".    

On the upside, she now has an appreciation of what it takes to do "500 simple cookies".

I hate when people call and ask how much are your cakes? Before we even discuss the type of cake. Its like walking into a clothing store and asking how much are your clothes.. ..

I don't understand why this comment bothers people.

When I go to a clothing store I look at the price tag.  Tells me exactly how much that dress is going to cost.

 

Wouldn't you rather people ask how much you charge per serving than spend hours going back and forth about design only to discover they can't afford you in the first place? 

 

 

This.

She was probably hoping that you would give her a discount simply just because she was claiming to have told all her friends about you. 

I have recently started to take orders for cakes ...
When some one who does things professionally ... And u ask then " can u teach me or can u give me the recipe plzzzz "
Come on guys ..

My favorite is when someone asks me to do a cake and I say,

"oh sorry I can't I'm totally swamped that week."

"So........."

"So I just can't add another cake on top of everything else I have"

"why?"

 

 

Really?

 

because i said so. 

Not a customer related story, but similar-

 

My local grocery store had Hershey's Milk Chocolate morsels on clearance for .99 per 12 oz.bag, I got all 67 bags (huge baking ingredients sale that week, I lucked out)

so anyway,

 

I get up to the checkout and this ditzy blonde teeny-bopper girl starts ringing me up; at about bag 11 I tell her, I have 67 if you just want to ring up the quantity key.

 

She says 'that works' then proceeds to ask me 'are you gonna do some baking with all of these chocolate chips?' to which I smart-assily reply-

 

"No, I was just gonna take them all home and open the bags up on my newly finished front porch and watch to see how long they would take to melt".

 

Yes, I said that and I don't regret it either. She just kinda looked at me, but the much older gentleman bagging the chips gave me a horrid look.

 

Oh, well!