"we Didn't Want Leaves On Our Roses" Vent
Decorating By k33bl3r Updated 9 Dec 2009 , 9:40pm by kelleym
First off, you should know that I work in a grocery store bakery. It pays the bills while I'm still learning cake decorating.
So, on Tuesday I get a call from a woman who is renewing her wedding vows and wants a cake. She says she has her own stands, but wants 3 tiers. 6, 10, 14. So, I look in our price book, and give her the price of the three separate tiers, all adding up to $350. Which, is pretty much what the cake would have cost her with the stands. Well, this of course didn't sit well with her since she "wasn't actually wanting a wedding cake." Bullsh!t. Last time I checked, 3 tiers is a wedding cake. So, I tell her I'll call my boss who just had a tooth pulled and was drugged up and in pain at the time, to see what we can do.
Long story even longer, we finally settled on a price of $145. Now, I'm no dummy. I know that grocery stores jack the price of everything up 4 times what it's worth. But even for a grocery store who gets their cakes in already baked/frozen and their icing in buckets, it takes a good amount of time to make a "non-wedding, wedding cake". (Seriously, God bless the decorators that do it at home!!!)
They asked for red borders and roses. Done, no problem. Mind you, we've talked to this woman some 7 separate times in the span of 4 days. My boss actually decided she wanted to do the cake. I was more than happy to let her. The cakes looked flawless. On the middle of each tier, she placed a large group of red roses with leaves.
Now, not once did this woman say "leave the top tier empty, cause I want to put a topper on there." In fact, my boss claims that she told her to go ahead and put the roses on the top tier. ALSO this woman said (after coming to pick up the cake) that she did not want leaves on her roses because there was no green in their colors.
NO LEAVES?! Are you %@$!*&^ kidding me here lady? The cakes looked like they were missing something before she put the leaves on. Honestly, they looked like ass. Only because she left small spaces in between the roses to put the leaves. But, never in all of those conversations did she say "Don't put leaves on my roses, cause greens not a part of the plan". One would think that when dealing with any type of flower, that leaves would be a given.
So, since my boss had recently gotten a bad customer comment for a frustrating incident a few months back with our last cake decorator, she decided to give these people the cake for 1/2 off. I was so mad when I heard that. She gave them a $350 cake for roughly $75.
Am I wrong in saying that if these people had come to my own bakery, and pulled this crap on me, I would have sent them out the door with a swift boot up the butt?
$350 ~ $145 ~ $75 .. Geesh .. Just 10 more minutes and that lady would have had her cake for free.. Free and skipping out the door.. Or 20 minutes later ya'll would have been paying her to take it and she would have been dancing out the door..
Back when she got you to drop from $350 to $145, she knew she had you.
Back when she got you to drop from $350 to $145, she knew she had you.
Exactly.
Thats terrible.........don't blame you for venting on that
Makes you wonder how her husband can walk down the isle with her again. Soul less twit.
So, since my boss had recently gotten a bad customer comment for a frustrating incident a few months back with our last cake decorator, she decided to give these people the cake for 1/2 off. I was so mad when I heard that. She gave them a $350 cake for roughly $75.
But she's not worried about getting a bad comment from corporate management for giving away a $350 cake for $75???? 
A "happy customer" is worth going in the red for? (by the time they bought supplies and paid the decorator, overhead, etc. the store went in the red on this.)
Wow....
I'm speechless.....
BAD......business....
Jen
So, since my boss had recently gotten a bad customer comment for a frustrating incident a few months back with our last cake decorator, she decided to give these people the cake for 1/2 off. I was so mad when I heard that. She gave them a $350 cake for roughly $75.
But she's not worried about getting a bad comment from corporate management for giving away a $350 cake for $75????
A "happy customer" is worth going in the red for? (by the time they bought supplies and paid the decorator, overhead, etc. the store went in the red on this.)
Debbi grocery stores corporate don't care about that. It is all about getting those positive customer service scores. If shrink happens they do get a bit pissy but not to the degree when they get a bad shop score or an actual customer complaint. Back when I worked for Albertson's they had a 100% satisfaction guarantee or your money back. You wouldn't believe the crap people would pull to get a free cake. I had a lady come in on a saturday. We already had 80 orders for that day and I was the only decorator on the schedule that day because they still hadn't replaced the other one. At any rate she tries to order a cake for that day! I told her that we were booked solid and that I would be happy to write an inscription on a case cake. She grabs a cake from the case and I let her know she picked up a white cake, since she had specifically asked for Chocolate when she was trying to do a custom order. She said she knew it was vanilla but she liked that design best. So I wrote on the cake what she wanted. Well 4 hours later, she brings back the cake, and the store director comes with her to the bakery. The Store director asks me why I made her a white cake when she specifically asked for chocolate cake, there was one piece of cake left in the box. I explained that she picked up the cake out of the case, and she starts saying that I am lying that she special ordered the cake. So I pulled all the orders for the day and handed them to the SD, I also reminded him that case cakes were put in the plastic domes and custom orders were in the cardboard boxes and that the tags are different, and eventhough I proved she didn't order a cake tht day and what had actually transpired he STILL gave the woman her $15 back on the cake. I was pissed! Needless to say, not long after that I quit working for Albertson's.
Am I wrong in saying that if these people had come to my own bakery, and pulled this crap on me, I would have sent them out the door with a swift boot up the butt?
I say go for it 
I have seen this all the time ...and most big companies give in to the customer because "They are always right!"
If is was my own bakery..It would be "Don't let the door hit your Ass on the way out"
cakesdivine, the only thing I can think of to say for that is:
freakin' amazing.
I'm speechless too! I can't believe the lengths people will go to, to get a free cake. 
And there is your answer when you want to know why people act like spoiled brats -
they are rewarded for that behavior.
Yep...when you see this kinda stuff, rest assured this isn't the first time they've done it...and then they run into me and they're shocked when I don't pat them on the head and do whatever they wanted 
It still does not surprise me anymore of what lengths people will "get down dirty and wallar in the mud".. just to get FREE cake......
I would have told her something like... "the prices are not available for negotiation".
Then just kept some form of documentation knowing that this customer was going to complain.........
Q....... was there "any" form of special notation that stated,, "NO GREEN" or no green leaves??
Was just wondering..........
For me,, I jot down the exact specifications as to what the customer wants, then when it's down to paying... I leave them no room to quibble.......
Some people just can't be happy with a cake order.......
The restaurant/bakery where I work as a waitress does not make the decorated cakes a priority. It is not their bread and butter. People get away with nonsense you would not believe. Our cake decorator who does an awesome job, took an order for a simple cake for a small family reception (wedding). Not once did the customer say it needed to look like a wedding cake. Just 20 servings with some teal and brown in it. The 9" round looked really cute but not at all like a wedding cake so the customer went ballistic when she picked it up 2 hours before their reception. Soooo, I get pulled from the restaurant floor where I am waiting tables to talk to this woman and try to get out of her what can be done to maker HER happy. She wants the cake to look like a wedding cake! DUH!! So I spent the next 90 minutes whipping up a 9" and 6" tiered cake with swiss dots and teal roses so she can have a wedding cake look! Now, my BC roses suck compared to the cake decorato'ss which I warned management about but they didn't care as long as the customer was happy with the end result, which thankfully she was AND they gave it to her for the same price as the original cake she had ordered, $17 bucks!!
Q....... was there "any" form of special notation that stated,, "NO GREEN" or no green leaves??
Nope. She never mentioned anything about not wanting leaves. And in a grocery store bakery, we put leaves on every single flower we make. That includes the rose buds as well.
Funny thing is, During the first call when I was talking to her, I called my perishable manager over to ask him how we can price these cakes for her, and he said "we don't do discounts." I should have stuck with his word instead of trying to "please the customer". But, as cakesdivine already said, the company would much rather a good CSI (Customer Service Index) score than a bad one. They don't care that she got the cake for as little as she did. Just so long as she doesn't make a formal complaint, they're happy. I also work in the same company that Albertsons is a part of. These people are ridiculous. And the sad part is, the store I work at is a "cake store", meaning we sell more cakes than anything else in the bakery.
I personally would rather have told her to go to Wally World. This cake was too big of a hassle for so little benefit. But, at least I've learned my lesson. Stick to what the book says on price. Don't bargain. Doesn't pay off in the end.
The consumer side of me is amazed. I had ordered a grocery store cake for my son's 1st birthday. My parents picked it up for me and didn't think to check it. Well, when I opened the box, I saw that the plastic Sesame Street figures were too tall for the box to have been shut and they were all pushed down through almost to the bottom of the cake. I was upset at first, but we ate it anyway and of course my 1 year old didn't care one bit. I decided it wasn't worth my effort or risking getting someone into trouble over so I never went back with pictures to complain. Some things are not worth causing drama over. Now I can never imagine inventing an issue to save $, that is the same as stealing, some people have absolutely no morals.
The consumer side of me is amazed. I had ordered a grocery store cake for my son's 1st birthday. My parents picked it up for me and didn't think to check it. Well, when I opened the box, I saw that the plastic Sesame Street figures were too tall for the box to have been shut and they were all pushed down through almost to the bottom of the cake. I was upset at first, but we ate it anyway and of course my 1 year old didn't care one bit. I decided it wasn't worth my effort or risking getting someone into trouble over so I never went back with pictures to complain. Some things are not worth causing drama over. Now I can never imagine inventing an issue to save $, that is the same as stealing, some people have absolutely no morals.
Being a mother, and someone who feels strongly about the quality of my cakes, I can absolutely see why the figures smashed down would piss someone off. Which is why when I make a cake that won't fit in a regular cake box, I get a banana box from produce to make sure it doesn't smash, or tape the lid up so it won't smash.
I can also see why one customer complained about her cake. This is the incident my boss got a bad comment about because she didn't do anything to help this womans situation. She ordered a Spiderman cake for 11:00. At 10:55 the old cake decorator (who has since been fired), hadn't even started ANY of the 11:00 cake orders. I mean, this girl was truly a nit wit in every definition of the phrase. So, she asked the lady to come back in 20 minutes. By nearly 12:00 she STILL wasn't finished with the cake. So, standing right in front of the bakery the woman called the store to talk to the manager. Finally she got the cake finished, and I reminded her 3 times to put Spiderman on the cake. Did she? NO. What an idiot! How can you give someone a Spiderman cake without Spiderman?! The idea was insane to me. So, she got her Spiderman-less cake for free, which she earned honestly.
I don't mind customers getting their cakes for free when they have a legitimate complaint, but NO LEAVES?! It still boils my blood to think about it. Haha.
P.S. I've done about 400+ cakes now since I started decorating, and have had only one complaint about a cake I did, and it wasn't even my fault. The baby bottle kit only came in a purple color and they were mad because the cake was for a baby boy. The employee who took the order showed them the kit but I guess they didn't know that was the only color it came in. So, I think I'm doing pretty good with the no complaints. Lets see if I can keep it up.
That makes me so mad
We all pay for those kind of people that cheat their way to free things, not just cakes but meals and other things.
We pay by higher prices or if it is a tax wright off then we pay higher taxes somewhere down the road for it and their are thousands of people that (undeserving) get free products or services. Not all people but enough that it does add up.
While we work hard for our money they work hard on trying to cheat their way into something free. That is stealing in my book.
That makes me so mad
We all pay for those kind of people that cheat their way to free things, not just cakes but meals and other things.
We pay by higher prices or if it is a tax wright off then we pay higher taxes somewhere down the road for it and their are thousands of people that (undeserving) get free products or services. Not all people but enough that it does add up.
While we work hard for our money they work hard on trying to cheat their way into something free. That is stealing in my book.
You are so right. Where I live we have gotten many toll roads over the last couple of years. You can pay by cash on most of them, or get a tag for your windshield that lets you breeze through the tollway without slowing down. Recently there was an 'amnesty day' for people who had outstanding fines and tolls. I saw on the news one woman had never gotten a tag, and had been driving through the tolls without paying - for years. Her outstanding tolls and fines were $5,000, but because of 'amnesty day' she got them reduced to $200. Sometimes you wonder why even bother to follow the rules?
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