"oh, I Could Have Done Better" Grrrr
Decorating By goodcakefairy Updated 24 Nov 2005 , 1:54am by RaRaRobyn
I always just say, You will never know until you try it.
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She has gotten 3 cakes from me since that time and even referred several people to me.
BEST. STORY. EVER.
I'm sorry everyone here has had bad experiences 
So far I've been my toughest critic! But I'm sure once I get more out there I'll get a few comments too. And I will be ready 
Its sad that people have to bring you down to make themselfs feel better. Some people are just jealous, while others have a higher ego then their IQ. I think you did the right thing though, sometimes it is best to just bite your tongue. It was uncalled for and very very rude, but what can you do. Next time ask her for that wonderfull recipe her mother has.
wow...i think if someone did that to me, i wouldn't be able to hold myself back. Dale's suggested method of taking care of idiots like that is EXACTLY what i would have done. I have no problem grabbing a B___, snob by her hair and putting her in her place.
Sounds terrible, but...that's what she deserves.
Next time someone says something about your cake..and how they can do better..
Just smile nicely and say to them..
"Good, I'm so busy with orders...maybe I can hire you!".
That will shut them up quickly!...
and you can walk away chuckling...all the way to the bank with their check!
My DH has popped of twice. First time, I was doing a wedding cake with BC grapes all over with him standing behind me. He ssid, " Is that all there is to it? I can do that." I handed him the bag and walked away. He came after me, apologizing.
The at another home wedding reception, we were standing in the kitchen with my best friend and her husband. My DH said, "That cake looks like it should be n a magazine." I was beaming--did he stop there--Nooooooooo!
He than added, "But if you get up close, you see all the little mistakes."
Left elbow into his gut, took care of that remark!!! LOL!!!
But he really does respect my decorating and compliments me more than insults.
My MIL says the perfect response to that one is, "Nothing in nature is perfect. There are imperfections in every flower in nature. I purposely placed those imperfections on my cake to make it more realistic and in tune with nature" or something to that effect.
Mac, as we say in Kentucky, it would have been a whoopin'.
The appropriate response in table manners would be as follows:
1. Approach the DIL from the rear. Grab the back of the DIL head with
your left hand, firmly grasping the hair.
2. With your right hand, retrieve the cake that was "accidently" spit out.
3. Grab a little more.
4. Heres, where it gets tricky, firmly force the cake back into her mouth,
careful to avoid the teeth, while leaving his nose unobstructed.
Wouldnt want to cut off the oxygen now would we?
5. Important! While doing this entire "Table manners Lesson" you must
whisper into her ear "Here Dear, you dropped this, let me help. Ahhh...
there's a good girl." or "I got yer Duncan Hines, Mrs. Uppity!"
Always practice wind sprints before serving up cake like this. Chances are, it will be soooo good that the cops will even chase after you just to get a bite too!
OMG TOO FUNNY!!! LOL
I normally get oooohhhs and ahhhs over my cakes and they aren't a tenth as good as the rest of the people here.
However, the mother of my cousin's daughter came to my neice's birthday party. Emily is in love with the Little Mermaid, so I made a cake to look like the rock that Ariel sits on when she sings to Prince Eric and even got an Ariel doll to go on it. I decorated the beach and the ocean behind and piped Flounder (looked great) and Sebastian (looked deformed!).
I spent hours and hours on this cake with a 7 year old, a 5 year old and a 2 year old watching with rapt attention, they think I'm amazing (everyone should have such a devoted fan club).
My cousin and the not so significant whatever showed up and he went on and on about how amazing it was and he called her over and was like, "Isn't it great, it's sort of like an optical illusion...." and she says as blandly as possible.... "Hmmm. Interesting." It wasn't so much what she said as the way she said it.
I could have leapt across the kitchen and strangled her as I was so proud of realizing my vision of the cake and making my neice so happy... my husband told me later that he heard her say that and thought to himself, "That's okay, Heather hates you anyway." but that I'm too well mannered to say it.
My aunt says she just can't stand to not be the center of attention... even so, she made me want to take her out to the trampoline and body slam her... maybe I'm not that well-mannered... "Hmmm. Interesting."
I love Dale's approach. LOL. I think you have very pretty cakes goodfairycake. I saw your pics. I am new to this myself and get my criticism from my grandmother. She took the full Wilton course (not the ones at the craft stores) at one of the colleges years ago. I picked it up by just watching her and my mother. I had my first class on Monday. It's hard to ignore criticism when it's not constructive. My mother always has to make my comeback comments to my grandmother because I just sit there stunned that my grandmother would make somewhat rude comments, when she KNOWS I had never taken courses. Like I said your cakes are very pretty. You and I both made the ducky cake. I thought that was cool. LOL
I always just say, You will never know until you try it.
I had a lady from the church I go to tell me this story. (when I bake wedding cake for girls from church I bake and decorate in the church kitchen and I always have an audience.)
I just want you to know, I admire your ability to do those really big stacked cakes. You always make it look so easy to do. When I first watched you I thought, "Well that looks easy enough, If she can do it so can I". When my FIL retired from his job, we wanted a nice cake. My husband told be to call you and see how much you would charge to make one. I told him OH, I can do that, It is easy. We wanted a cake that served about 100 people. So I did the math and attempted to make a stacked cake, with 3 tiers. What a disaster, the top layer cracked in two pieces right down the middle, The second layer was lopsided and not level. Needless to say, It looked like my 2 year old made it. I was so embarresed, I didn't want to use it but my husband made me. He said you said it was SO easy. At least it tasted alright, But I have to admit not as good as yours. There is no way I will ever do that again.
She has gotten 3 cakes from me since that time and even referred several people to me.
I don't think I'd mind having someone, such as this lady, say that she thinks it's easy. Obviously she isn't saying that as a put down of your work but simply because she thinks it's relatively easy to do, that's all. There are indeed some things that look easy but are hard, and some things that look hard but are in fact easy. She was simply mistaken on the easiness of this particular task.
And the fact she even told you about it clearly shows she wasn't diminishing your abilities. The extra bonus is, of course, that she now appreciates the time and skill even more.
But that thinking it's easy is an entirely different ball of wax from "Hmmf. I can do better with my eyes closed" attitude. With "attitude" being a key word.
my husband told me later that he heard her say that and thought to himself, "That's okay, Heather hates you anyway." but that I'm too well mannered to say it."
OK.. your dh had me ROFLMBO!! What a great comeback.. even if it was in his head! LOLOLOL!!!
And Dale, I like the Table Manners lesson response as well! LOL!
Ya'll are too funny!
These are the people I always try ignore. They simply are not worth my time. I KNOW I did a good job.. and the fact is someone trusted me enough to HIRE me to do the cake for them... so I am not the only one to know I have SKILLS! LOL!
I think my response would have been either a simple smile and walk away, or "really, were you just too busy to do this cake when they asked you to???" She would have to admit they did not ask her to make the cake then I could just say "Oh" smile (smugly, of course)and walk away.
"I think my response would have been either a simple smile and walk away, or "really, were you just too busy to do this cake when they asked you to???" She would have to admit they did not ask her to make the cake then I could just say "Oh" smile (smugly, of course)and walk away.[/quote]
I'm just replying to the first post and I guess my reply to someone that said, "Oh I could have done this" or that they could have done better would be to say to them, "Well, then next time, you can." I have very little patience for attitudes and I'm new to decorating also. very new. Still in course one but I put my heart into this and I think that's what cake decorating is all about. You aren't just getting a piece of chocolate, you are getting a piece of someone's heart. I really believe that. It's a lot of work to make a cake. Anyone can pull out canned frosting and a cake mix and make a cake but to go beyond that takes a special person and a lot of work.
You deal with rude people with an air about you that says you are better than that, period. You can either ignore it or hand them a mirror with a reply that makes them think about their own words as above. I tend to do the latter. LOL!
And someone that would SPIT out anything at a formal or informal occasion as is above age two, simply wasn't raised right! Believe me when I say I would have told her so too.
First of all, all of you had me laughing..
I'm newer to cake decorating as well. I have not experienced anyone's critisim to my face (i'm from Virginia, so I know the whole talk behind the back thing ) However, my response would have been "Duncan Hines? I am appalled at this accusation. Surely if you were an expert, you'd know it was Betty Crocker!"
Funny thing is, if her mom's a cake from scratch cake decorater, why wasn't her cake there for 35 bucks..oh wait, probably because she would LAUGH at that price for 2 sheet cakes from scratch!!!
Girlfriend, I think the best thing to do, is to CONSISTENTLY do cakes for these people's events. How else could you make her mad? She'd never get any of the cake!! PERFECT!!
I also probably would've taken her piece and said "Ahh S**t, I'll eat it then!" and walked away.
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