I just had a call from a customer with a pretty detailed 1st Birthday cake due tomorrow. She caught me just before I was going to stack and fill (a bit behind schedule for me. whoops!) and wanted to know if the cake would hold up well until Sunday so they had a bit more time to feel better. She and her husband were just over it, along with the birthday boy. and her father had just spiked a fever. Yuck.
I had no problem telling her we could reschedule and that really meant the world to her. She said that they didn't want to cancel because they had all that money in the cake and family was coming in from out of town, but since I told her I could freeze her layers and they would be fine and the gumpaste work would save without a problem. Plus, the cake fits into my schedule in two weeks fine. She caught her family before they left on a 5 hour drive, so everything is good. Best thing was how happy she was (as happy as someone four days into the flu can be) and almost surprised that I was willing to work with her to reschedule. Did I compromise my 'rules of business' for her? heck yeah. but look how much i gained with relationship building. She even popped an extra $20 onto her last payment as a thank you. 
