My business phone has rung about 5 times this morning...  not directly one after the other, but within several minutes.

I'm not answering, because it's Sunday and I have a day off on Sundays (unless I'm delivering a wedding cake! )   ...

...  but would anyone else be like me and their heart skips a beat thinking "Have I forgotten an order???"  I've checked my file with order forms; nothing.  I've checked my diary on the computer; nothing.  I've even gone through emails to see if someone asked about something and we agreed something without doing an order form; nothing!!!!!

Suzanne x

I don't have a business but if I did I would turn my business phone off on my day off so that I wasn't disturbed.

Would it be possible to have a recorded message that 'answered' the phone during non-business hours?  Some places have a recording that says, "Thank you for calling *business*, we are open  8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday.  Please call back during our normal business hours."

I would be concerned too that I had forgotten something; but if you have checked all your records, you should be able to relax! 

I do have an answerphone...  it says:

Thank you for phoning  Pat-a-Cake Parties.  I'm sorry that I can't take your call, but you can get in touch by the contact page on my wesite which is www.patacake-parties.com.  Alternatively, please leave a message including the type of cake, number of portions and date required and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.  Thank you."
 

I used to also have "Please note that our business hours are Monday - Saturday, 9.30am - 6.30pm.  If you are calling outside of these hours, we'll get back to you on our next working day".  But, to be honest, it just made the message too long!

Maybe I should try to incorporate it again?

Personally, I do prefer having the business hours listed...it would prevent me from calling back multiple times thinking you were busy at the moment the phone rang.  (But, it wasn't me that rang your phone this morning!! lol)

AI am so paranoid about forgetting a cake order! It has never happened yet and I don't think it ever will because I do worry about it so much. A couple of times now I have woken up in the middle of the night and gone to check my order book just to make sure that I really do get to sleep in the next morning! Had a call about a week ago that didn't help, either. The phone rang while I was working on a cake so I let it go to voice mail. When I checked it a bit later it was an annoyed sounding man wondering where his cake was. He said that we had arranged for me to deliver it at noon and it was now 2:00. I had no recollection of this order at all; I felt sick! I checked all my records, all orders, all emails. Nothing. I called the man back and told him that I was very sorry but did not recall anything about this order and could he please give me some details to refresh my memory. It turned out that he had indeed contacted me by email about two days prior to this and I had told him that I was unable to make the cake. He then ordered from someone else and didn't remember who. They are the ones who failed to deliver, not me! Still, I was a shakey wreck for the rest of the day! (And I felt so very bad for this man's poor wife who didn't get a birthday cake because her husband is a last-minute, forgetful, confused crank.)

OMG!  I bet you felt sick to the core!!!

My husband once phoned me when I was out shopping to say that a lady had just phoned to find out what time she could collect her cake the next day...  he was concerned because he hadn't seen me make a cake!  Quite right - I hadn't.  I told him that the order was for the NEXT MONTH!!!!  Fortunately, I keep all email and had the signed order form, too!

Silly woman had ordered her daughter's cake for November when in fact it should have been October!!!!

I called her as soon as I got home and explained that I was really sorry, but I just couldn't make the cake for her.  Fortunately, she understood and realised the mistake was hers!
 

AOh no! Good thing you had her sign! Isn't it a horrible feeling, thinking you might have missed something?! I am sometimes really baffled by how people can forget their loved ones' birthdays until until it is too late to get anything other than a grocery store cake. I think people must be way too busy!

Something I'd worry about would be that it's someone trying to reach you due to a problem with a cake delivered yesterday (theoretically).

Are the callers leaving voice mail? Do you have caller ID to see if it's the same number calling repeatedly? 

it could also have been someone with voice-mail stage fright or changing their mind about what they wanted to ask or not having had the answers to your questions, as far as cake size, date, etc.  If they thought that the phone was ringing in an empty storefront, they probably wouldn't think twice about hanging up and trying again.  

Forgetting a cake is a fear of mine, too, but it's never happened!  I did forget a consultation/tasting once though.  I am a cottage food business and work out of my home.  My son was a newborn and my husband got called out of town unexpectedly and I was absolutely, thoroughly EXHAUSTED.  I managed to sneak a nap in while the baby slept and I awakened to hear banging on my door and my doorbell ringing.  I sleepily got up and was extremely disoriented when I saw a man and woman at my door.  They told me their names and that they were there for their consult/tasting and I felt horrible.  My house was cluttered with new baby gear (we had been discharged from the hospital on Wednesday and this was Saturday), I was bleary-eyed and had milk on my shirt, I'm sure, and the baby was in the bassinett in the living room.  There was no cake to taste and no paperwork ready.  I felt like an utter failure!  They were really cool about it, though, and said that they didn't need a tasting because they had just had one of my cakes a few weeks before at a friend's wedding (the last cake I had done pre-baby) and they knew what they wanted to order, so we went forward.  I remember I was so tired, I got giddy.  When i asked them the wedding colors, they pulled out swatches and I said, "Oh, brown and turquoise."  The bride got a little haughty and said, "No, truffle and aquamarine."  I laughed out loud.  I guess this was one time I was so grateful that my product spoke for itself -- for I was a horrible spokesperson for my cakes and business that day!  

A, "Oh, brown and turquoise." The bride got a little haughty and said, "No, truffle and aquamarine."

Hahahaha! That is too stupid for words! My brows would've shot up, on their own, at the very least.

ABy the way, I have forgotten orders, and have really been limiting them now, until I can get my head screwed on straight. I have been able to work it out each time, and everyone got a cake from me, but the last one, out of 3 in 3 years, got a different flavor than what they asked for, because she ordered a 7" almond raspberry with a rocker theme for a first birthday, and I had just got done icing a 7" white with strawberry that was a top tier to a wedding cake. When she showed up, I was confused, then I wanted to die! I told her I forgot and that I had a 7", I could decorate it then have my husband deliver and I would refund her card.

That's what we did, but they were happy with it and told me to keep the money. It was her third order, so if she orders again, I will give a steep Discount, if only to punish myself.

AGlad you were in the clear :-)

I'm terrible on Sundays I turn my phone off then worry so turn it on to check for messages... Then turn it off again... I've never had a problem I'm just a big worry head lol!