So was delivering a cupcake tower today to a repeat customer, and actually a repeat venue (if one can call the place a "venue" haha.) So by the time I made a few wrong turns (yes even with a GPS! I stink at city driving) and got caught in a bit of traffic, and stopped for gas, the trip one way was two hours. I was kicking myself for undercharging for delivery (I think I started charging a certain very low amount last year and just never changed it for this particular customer...that will soon change...because she got a BARGAIN for delivery! I'm not even telling what!)
Anyway so I'm supposed to be there at 3pm but due to the traffic issues I was not there until like closer to 3:25pm. She calls around 3:15 wondering where I am, and I explain and she is ok with it. I get there expecting everyone to be waiting...nope not a soul there! I unload and wait for about 5 minutes and realize I have no clue when anyone is coming and I was pretty mad to realize she expected me there at 3pm yet here it was past 3:30 and the place is deserted.
So I start setting up the tower on a bare, square shaped table with no tablecloth. I get it all set up and finally they start bringing in decorations.
Someone had run to an ATM for my balance of payment (which I allow if its not a wedding and I know they are going to meet me at the delivery site...deposit already left) So my customer comes in and is rushing around with her friends (who finally brought decorations and are putting them around). I was at the cake table waiting for my customer and a friend I brought was sitting at another table where I had put my boxes. Some of the girls threw my boxes on the floor rudely while they yanked tableclothes on the tables. My customer is rushing around, forgetting that her cake is completely set up and I don't have my money. Its now about 3:45pm or so.
I go to the customer and say "I don't know if you wanted a tablecloth on that but I am late as it is and needed to get it set up, but I probably wouldn't move it if I were you" so she goes around for five more minutes trying to locate a tablecloth. I am gracious and try to help her put it around the base without moving the stand....we thought about moving it but stand is styrofoam so its not happening unless its totally taken apart and redone, which I refuse to do. I smiled and said "Sorry but I thought when I got here everything was going to be set up." She didn't say much and didn't ask me to dismantle it...I made out to be like I was running late for something and finally she said they'd figure it out and she handed me a wad of bills and we were done. (Luckily the wad contained a bit extra.)
Last time I delivered to this site they were very late too, and I sat around picking my nose until they brought tablecloths but this time was worse. I could NOT believe she called me about being late....if I HAD arrived at 3pm like she said, I would have sat on my butt for 45 minutes to set up. As it was last time I think I sat around 20-25 minutes while the owner of the venue complained that she was demanded to be there at 3pm too without anyone else showing up.
I'm going to make it clear next time that number one, delivery charges go UP. haha. Number two, I will NOT show up until I am guaranteed that a cake table is set up and READY for the cake. My job is to make the cake, and set it up....NOT sit around waiting for everybody else to complete their responsibility. I'm sure she was a bit peeved that I set up the cake on a bare table, but I was a bit peeved that she wanted me there 45 minutes before anyone else arrived, in a little dark hole in the wall deserted clubhouse, that the first thing they do when they finally arrive is blast rap music from dilapidated speakers above my poor caking head.
Oh and next time they best not be throwing my stuff on the floor either....
Yeah. I was mad today.
Geesh, what an ordeal!
I had a bride who wanted me to bring the food when the other vendors were going to be there (2:00 in the afternoon). Told her I'd still be cooking her food at 2:00, and that food is not like a handful of daisies that you can plunk in a vase of water and leave them sit for 6 hours! If they were not going to eat until 6:30, then I could NOT being the food at 2:00 and just let it sit for over 4 hours!
So she says she'll "try" to have someone there at 5:30 to let us in "unless I call you back". I said, "There is no calling me back. If the door isn't open at 5:30, you're not getting any food."
And what totally ticks me off is when I arrive, with a van full of food and equipment that needs unloaded and set up ..... and I find that everyone has stacked all of their boxes of decorations (and sometimes DJ equipment!) on my buffet tables! I'm on a tight schedule with hot food that needs to be kept hot and they clutter up my table! If the DJ is there, I flat out tell him, "you have to move your stuff off of my table NOW." If the decorating committee is there, I tell them the same thing. If they are not there, I just move their stuff to a guest table.
((((HUGS)))) kitagirl! I am sorry that you had to deal with the 'idiot of the day award.' That stinks...what a witch....
Next time, charge her in a PITA fee. 
Last Sunday, I called the father of the grad of the free graduation cake, that I would be on my way to the meeting place for the cake delivery which was the church (he was the guitarist in our church). My trip was 25 minutes and he said he will be there in 15 minutes. I was hoping that he was already at church waiting for me, but I had to wait thinking that he doesnt have the car use since his wife was using it. I waited 15 minutes, 30, one hour, hour and a half..I couldnt look for their house which is 5 minute drive from the church, coz I was running out of gas. I was worried about the cake it was 70 degrees outside, but I had to secure the cake with styrofoam around it so it wont move, and also covered the box with a blanket. I decided to go to walmart and used a public phone and called him once again, he forgot all about me and all about the cake, I went back to church and meet and follow him to his house. When we arrived, didnt have a nice table for my nice cake. set up the cake and told them I am leaving...I didnt plan to stay anyway but I was invited. Never offered me to have something to eat or drink before I left, just thank you..the party already started before we arrived. well..
I was hoping that he would pay me but didnt cARE IF NOT COZ THEY GAVE ME AN INVITATION.
how could they forget about the cake? (he asked me last april if I can make a cake)
I did a wedding for a "friend" at work. I totally under priced it because I knew they couldn't afford a big cake. It ended up that they wanted cakes as centerpieces. I made 15 cakes about 100 cupcakes and a two tiered head table cake for $300. I set up the entire wedding myself taking time off work to do it. I was doing it as a favor. The next week at work my "friend" came up at work to tell me how much they loved the cakes and everyone thought they were fantastic. Then went on to tell me how their caterer was fantastic and they gave him a huge tip at the end of the night. Um, where's my tip then?
I think people think it's only cake. They want it to be beautiful and elaborate but they #1 don't want to pay for it and #2 don't have any understanding how long it takes. I think I'm going to start doing my billing like a lawyer with an hourly break down.
Geesh, what an ordeal!
I had a bride who wanted me to bring the food when the other vendors were going to be there (2:00 in the afternoon). Told her I'd still be cooking her food at 2:00, and that food is not like a handful of daisies that you can plunk in a vase of water and leave them sit for 6 hours! If they were not going to eat until 6:30, then I could NOT being the food at 2:00 and just let it sit for over 4 hours!
So she says she'll "try" to have someone there at 5:30 to let us in "unless I call you back". I said, "There is no calling me back. If the door isn't open at 5:30, you're not getting any food."
And what totally ticks me off is when I arrive, with a van full of food and equipment that needs unloaded and set up ..... and I find that everyone has stacked all of their boxes of decorations (and sometimes DJ equipment!) on my buffet tables! I'm on a tight schedule with hot food that needs to be kept hot and they clutter up my table! If the DJ is there, I flat out tell him, "you have to move your stuff off of my table NOW." If the decorating committee is there, I tell them the same thing. If they are not there, I just move their stuff to a guest table.
I have had that too, where they use the cake table as their "setting up station" and we have to stand there and wait for someone to get all that junk off!
I have one venue that I now ask the bride which room she is using. It is a hotel that has three ballrooms and a dining room. I think they give a cheaper price to the dining room, as they serve breakfast to the hotel guest there. Well, the room is never ready till after 3 PM (they serve breakfast till noon, but we suspect they dont want to pay staff till 3 to setup) I have had weddings that start at 4 and they won't let me come and setup till 3:45 or so. I am sorry, but will NOT setup a cake 15 minutes before the reception starts. 1 thing there are always all these guests standing around waiting for the bride to arrive and they always want to "help". When I use this venue, I always ask that the cake table be set up first so I can arrive at 3 and get it setup. half the time it isn't and we have to stand around and wait for them to get the table together. But we always do arrive at 3 on the nose, and force them to get the table together.
Its a pain!
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