I HAD an order for a "first" birthday cake for next weekend.......everything was all set, until she called back last night, and said she forgot to ask me a question..... She wanted to know if the cake was coming from a non-smoking home....... well my husband smokes, and I wasn't going to lie to her..... she said she would have to cancel do to the fact that she couldn't "take the chance" of smoke in her child's food! (I met her while she was buying a cake at Walmart)At that very store, I watched as someone LICKED their fingers while frosting a cake !!!.........I KNOW I'm better off without her, but it does make me wonder where some people's priorities lie..... sighhhhh

It seems strange to me that if this were so important to her that she wouldn't have asked this right away. It's not as if your husband plans to stand over her cake and have a smoke!

Hi ~ Sorry to hear you lost a customer because of smoking. Many people just don't want to have anything they're going to buy come from a place where there is smoking.

My husband smokes too and I've tried to get him to quit for ages. The thing he is willing to do is smoke outside.

When my son got married, he lived in the in-law apartment for a while. When his wife got pregnant, I told my husband when he smokes, the smoke goes everywhere through the duct work and I didn't want her breathing any second hand smoke. My grandson is now 13 and my husband is still smoking outside. Whether it is hot, cold, rain or raging blizzard out he goes!!!
Oh, the kids have their own home & not here!!!

Maybe you can get your husband to do the same so you won't lose any more customers.

Good luck and I'm sorry this was so long!!

I'm sorry too that you lost a customer,I think that you're better off though
people like that would have found "something" wrong with the cake too.

I'm not sure about the effect to food or this child's sensitivities but when my brother was little we could not go anywhere where there was any kind of smoke/smoking. If he just walked thru an area where people were smoking,say to get to the restroom, we wound up in the ER or an overnight visit to the hospital because he would have such a violent asthma attack that he would vomit and burst the little capillaries in his face from heaving on top of not being able to breathe. So it may not be that she is trying to be difficult, she may just be trying to protect a child that is sensitive or allergic.

and it's not just kids

I grew up w/ two parents who smoked like the proverbial chimmny! 20 years of that.

now, I have an asthmatic reaction in the presence of any kind of second hand smoke.

And YES i CAN taste it in foods, smell it on clothes etc.

If a food establishment allows smoking, they loose my business because second hand smoke goes everywhere inside.

Do you have the license, etc. required to do this out of your home? I didn't know that smoking was allowed with that.

Anyway...I'm gonna add my 2 cents worth, hope it doesn't offend....

People buy from a grocery store b/c they "think" it's A-OK, that no one does any harm...like pick things up off the floor, etc. So...that pretty much speaks for itself!

And, concerning smoking....when we got married, our reception was held at my mothers house....I wrapped our anniversary tier up very well and asked if I could leave it in their deep freeze downstairs. (I knew they both smoked, but didn't think it would get into a deep freeze.) No prob. Well after a year, we thawed our cake and began to eat it only to get grossed out! You could smell & taste the smoke SO BAD!!!

People who smoke don't always sense this, but for people that don't smoke~they're very sensitive to it.

And, the sign on my porch reads, "If you smoke, please leave your butt outside" LOL!

Smoke really does go everywhere, like doug said. It's in your hair, in the curtains, in the carpet...it's absolutely everywhere.

Doug..... just curious........ what FOOD did you detect second hand smoke? I can understand the clothing, but FOOD? I would sermise that you have eaten many a meal that had a smoker in the kitchen, and you never knew the difference....... God only knows what goes on in resturant kitchens.........

I think food that taints easily, like frosting and cake will take on any strong smells and flavours around it. I never put my cakes in the fridge if I have something strong smelling in there (a strong cheese, onions, garlic etc), because they can take on that flavour from the surrounding air. I've certainly had food that I could taste smoke in - if you are sensitive to it then you will be able to tell, period!

I'm not sure what you are venting about, to be honest. Did you have a contract? Did she cancel right before it was supposed to be delivered? Did you turn down other business because of her order?

She just forgot to ask you a question. It happens. She remembered, she called you back, and she felt she had to cancel. From your post it didn't seem like you had already made the cake, but I could be wrong about that. At least she DID call you back and TELL you she was cancelling. It could have been worse.

The only advice I can tell you is take a deep breath (outside, where there is less smoke . . . lol (sorry, couldn't resist - just teasing a little)), and remember you'll get another order soon.

Maybe use this as a factor to motivate your husband to quit.

WOW!!!!! I never thought of food having second hand smoke. As a rehabilitated smoker ( 3 years now, Yea me!) I can smell cigarette smoke a mile away. I just never thought it could get into food. Glad I never smoked in this house.
I never realized until I quit how bad my clothes, hair, and body smelled. I guess it really would effect the flavor and smell of your food.

Certain food does pick up the scent of smoke. You will notice it right away if you don't smoke. My SIL is a chain smoker. Anything she brings over has a lingering scent to it. I'm sorry, but the customer has every right to ask that and cancel the order. She should have asked sooner, but I wouldn't be offended if I were you. She might have a family member that is sensitive, or she may be concerned of the cake smelling like smoke.

You wouldn't have an off site bakery that you allow smoking it, would you? And even if your husband doesn't smoke anywhere near the kitchen, she may not feel comfortable.

Don't be offended by her. You have to see it from her perspective, in this case.

Angie

even if you're not a smoker but you live with a smoker you're not as sensitive to the smells of the cigarettes.......my hubby and I quit smoking (me cuz I was pregnant.....him much later) anyhow....I started smoking again after I had my child (stupid, I know) but we decided not to smoke indoors anymore......well, you smoke a lot less when it's 10 degrees and a foot of snow outside that's for sure........I ended up quitting because I thought I was going to die of coughing one night after smoking 1 and a half packs...so I threw them away and haven't smoked since....2 yrs. this august.......my hubby still smoked but only outside......I couldn't smell smoke on him even though I had quit.......but other people who never smoked could....after he quit, we went to someone's house that didn't smoke....but evidentally they're mil had been over 3 days before and had a "couple of hits of a cigarette before putting it out"...well, I almost vomitted.......the house smelled like a big ashtray!!! Point being......everybody's sensitivity to different tastes and smells are different......I would just not take offense and wait for the next order.........they're are more people who don't care than there are that DO care!!!

I live in a family of smokers and don't realize how bad it is until I'm gone from the smell for a few days. I think that going outside is a good idea for smokers as long as it's not right at the screen door at the back of the business. The bakery where I work, the owner smokes and the smell is everywhere. I know that it goes everywhere and try my hardest to decorate my cakes in the very front of the store. We have lost customers because of it and most have said that they can taste the smoke in the pie crusts and other baked goods. I have had one customer that said that icing on their cake tasted like smoke. I really can't say a whole lot about it, but I do try to send hints about the situation through the other employees.

It's really hard to escape it. I know that when I'm sick it only gets worse the more smoke I'm around. Nothing like getting your nicotine fix as soon as you walk into a building!

KHalstead

Good for you for quitting. My FIL quit after he was diagnosed with multiple cancers all linked to smoking. He even had a lobe of his lungs removed. I'm a respiratory therapist and see the devastating effects of smoking every day at work and wish there was a way to really bring it home to people to make them understand, but unfortunately alot of people think they will never get sick. So, I applaud you and your husband for quitting.
It is an addiction, so it's not an easy thing to do. I know I will never fully understand it since I have never smoked. One thing to realize is that every smoker will end up with emphysema eventually. And there is nothing scarier than not being able to breathe. (Scare tactics are a good weapon....and this one is true.) If only my Sister in Law and my good friend's husband would quit!!!!!

Sorry for side-tracking.
Angie

"I'm not sure what you are venting about, to be honest. Did you have a contract? Did she cancel right before it was supposed to be delivered? Did you turn down other business because of her order?

She just forgot to ask you a question. It happens. She remembered, she called you back, and she felt she had to cancel. From your post it didn't seem like you had already made the cake, but I could be wrong about that. At least she DID call you back and TELL you she was cancelling. It could have been worse. "

I'm venting because I KNOW what goes on at the bakery at Walmart where she buys her cakes....... I'm sure she hasn't asked them if anyone smoked around her cake, or LICKED their fingers while preparing her order....... If anyone is as worried as she appears to be, she should be doing her own cooking and baking to keep her children safe from any potintial harm....... I"ve been baking cakes for 20 odd years,for smokers and non smokers, and have never had one complaint...

I believe it is a valid question to ask someone who bakes. Also, it's valid to ask if they have a pet free home.

I am one who can taste off the wall stuff ~ whether it be smoke or if the cake has been frozen.....I can taste both. There are some things that I am more sensitive to than most people. (that is the reason that I never will freeze a cake, and I have never smoked!) BOTH smoke and freezing make a cake taste odd, IMO.

Sorry you lost the order, but then I would bet in the long run you are better off.

OKAY HERE MY 2 CENTS WORTH

I WONDER GRAMA IF YOU ARE UPSET ABOUT THE CANCEL OR FEEL LIKE THE REASON WAS QUESTIONABLE AFTER SEEING HER BUY A CAKE AT WALMART--BECAUSE IF SMOKING (2ND HAND) WAS HER ISSUE SHE SHOULD HAVE BAKE THE CAKE HERSELF OR FOUND A PRIVATE BAKERY/DECORATOR WHERE NONE OF THE EMPLOYEESSMOKED AT ALL, BECAUSE IF I UNDERSTAND SHE TELLS YOU NO BECAUSE OF THE SMOKE-GOES TO WALMART WHERE ON BREAK MOST EMPLOYEES HANG OUT CHAIN SMOKING (BECAUSE I'VE SEEN IT-GREASY HAIR COVERS & ALL)-OKAY SMOKE IS NOW IN CLOTHES, HAIR, SKIN--BREAKS OVER--LETS GO BACK & DECORATE

ALSO I SAME GOES FOR FOOD IN RESTURANTS-EMPLOYERS CAN NOT CONTROL AN EMPLOYEES BREAK--& ALOT OF THEM SMOKE, THEN COOK, HMMM MAKES YOU WONDER--THINKING ABOUT RESTURANTS FOR VERY LONG MAKES U WONDER ALOT OF THINGS---GROSS


NOTE-----I DO NOT SMOKE & NEITHER DOES MY HUSBAND

I'M NOT KNOCKING TRUE SENSITIVITIES, MY LITTLE CUZ IS LIKE DODI'S BROTHER & DOUG

DOUG----BECAUSE U R SENSITIVE TO SMOKE CAN U TELL WHEN YOU EAT OUT???(IN FL & GA IT'S A STATE LAW-NO SMOKING IN DOOR IN PUBLIC--NO SMOKING IN RESTURANTS, ETC.)

MY DAD'S SMOKING BOTHERS ME REALLY BADLY I COUGH CAN'T BREATHE AS EASILY, BUT I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT IT AFFECTING MY MOM'S COOKING, NOW I'M GONNA WONDER-DANG

I DO AGREE W/QUAD I THINK U R BETTER OFF W/OUT THIS ONE
STILL MAKES U WONDER IF SEE JUST WANTED WALMART'S PRICES

Well, as a lifetime non smoker, i have to say i can't take a cake that has that smoke flavor, chocolate too. It will make me gag.

I did grow up in a house full of smokers and when i was living in that situation i didn't notice it as much if at all, but since its been over 20 years that i have lived with anyone smoking, i can smell it from accross the room.

So do i agree with your customer, yes! (i know you didn't want to hear that but...) I do think she should have asked right away, but she maynot have even thought of it until later.

I am sorry you lost a customer, but I can see where she is coming from. I am dealthy alergic to cigaratte smoke, so much so, if I am even sitting next to someone with the smell on them, I get sick. I once looked at a used car, that was in a showroom, that had been detailed and clean and I got sick just getting inside it, because it belonged to a smoker (which I think car dealers should post!) I can also taste it in foods, and especailly with foods like cake and icing that obsorbs so much! This customer may have a child that just gets very sick or has asthma. If you ever had an asthma attack, or witness your child having one, you just become sensitive to these things! It is god awful scary!

Smoke adheres itself to everything. Your walls, your kitchen, your cooking supplies. Take some 409 or something like that and wipe your walls..you will see yellow all over your cloth!! Its like a sticky glue! yeck!

Good luck getting your DH to quit!! If not, maybe clean everything really well and make him smoke outside.

I know, it sucks. (And I am afraid I am probably one of the few people who thinks smoking should be banned, everywhere! hahaha)

Grama, I am sorry you lost your order. As a former smoker, I understand both sides of the whole "debate" this topic has become so I won't side either way except to say, that sucks. I too have anticipated and gotten excited about an order only to have it canceled a day or two later. Money, contract, smoking, non smoking, I know you are venting about THAT dissapointment, not the reason. I feel for you!

I learned a LONG time ago, you are NEVER going to win a discussion on smoking. I smoke, not in my house, not around my kids...I guess you could call me a closet smoker. I agree the customer had every right to ask, maybe could've remembered to ask a little sooner, probably just forgot. In this situation, I guess there is nothing you could do, but if you already made the cake, maybe ask for a deposit or something?? Not trying to start anything, but what if the question she forgot to ask is...do you have a pet? Would the responses here be different? I just think the smoking issue is such a heated topic now a days, you just won't win.

I agree, smoking issues often bring out a lot of debate, but I agree, I would be just as against someone who has animals and doing a home business. Would you want to eat in a restaurant that has a cat walking around the counters as they cook?

I also wonder how many people wear gloves while rolling fondant and such?

to answer and then expand (something more than my waistline)...

yes, can taste it in food, esp. those food that are "odor" sensative...and that means especially cakes & icing, cookies, breads, and mashed potatos of all things.

and remember that tar goes everwhere and soaks into everything.

and yes, just a whiff can set me off. example, last night going to a continuing ed class just my luck to inhale a puff from a woman walking about 15 FEET ahead of me who had just exhaled....hacked for the next 5 minutes.

second example: won on ebay a set of sugar molds. they came...before I even opened the box, could smell the smoke and when I got to the molds and thier box .... oh the stench. Haven't used them yet (almost a year just to give the smell time to go away.

as for smoking in kitchens of resturants...if they're inspected by health dept and caught....MAJOR trouble.

----

the continuing ed course I'm taking is the ServSafe course from the National Resturant Association. I'm taking it as part of getting legal so I can get county health license and hopefully cheaper insurance too.

Let us just say it is an eye-opening experience as to the standards the industry has set.

Standards that most of us would fail miserably -- as in be closed down immediately -- in our own homes.

Example: sinks are to be sanitized BEFORE washing the dishes. All food contact surfaces : utensiles, counters, cutting boards, etc are to be santizied every FOUR hours.

and then there's the food storage rules and the food contact rules...and on and on.

you come home and look at your kitchen, even freshly cleaned and begin to think EEEEEYUUUUUU!.

we should all be wearing hair nets, a fresh apron over clean clothes with hands that have been scrubbed clean BEFORE putting on gloves (just like the doctors) and everytime we touch any thing but the food or a santized item (like brush hair back, wipe off sweat, scratch an itch) we should dispose of gloves, rescrub and put on fresh gloves.... oh and thou shalt not wipe hands on clothes and especially not on apron...it's not a towel, it's supposed to be a protective barriar between the dirt on your clothes and the food. and on and on it goes.

(don't even get me started on eggs!!!!! -- but I will say this..if you are making a cake for a "high risk" population member -- young children, senior citizens, compromized immune system...so that makes baby w/ smash cake, toddler, grandma celebratin 60th/70th/80th/+++ you should be using ONLY PASTURIZED eggs!!!!!!)

it's hard enough to be as squeaky clean as these standards require than to also have to worry about smoke.

and given ALL the documented evidence of its harmful effects and the sensitivity -- sometimes extreme -- to even the smell of it, let alone the smoke itself, it seems a moot point that anyone would think that smoking and cake decorating go together in any way, shape, or form.

Thanks for the reply, Doug.....
"and given ALL the documented evidence of its harmful effects and the sensitivity -- sometimes extreme -- to even the smell of it, let alone the smoke itself, it seems a moot point that anyone would think that smoking and cake decorating go together in any way, shape, or form."

It's not like I'm cooking with a cigarette and it's ashes hanging out of my mouth....... I have a smoker in my house, and he is usually gone when I am cooking or baking......... I have worked in resturants, and let me tell you........ NONE of the things you mentioned are adheared to.. One person mentioned she knows about the regulations at Walmart..... well ALL resturants have "rules", and Walmart is no better than any of the others about adhearing to them........ EVERYONE has "breaks", and they are not monitored by the mgmt........ these people have aprons on....... go outside and have a smoke, and come back in and start work again...... I have personally SEEN them LICK the frosting off their glove....

Point being, unless you are baking for yourself, you have NO IDEA what is going on behind the scenes....... I was more upset about this lady's ATTITUDE than anything else........ I had already ordered, at her request, special items for the cake, she had seen my home, and where I work.......If she or her family members were "smoke" sensitive, she would have known right there and then.......I don't do contracts for small cakes like this....... ( I will now ) I can always use the items for another cake, but they were ordered for HER........ I don't think they were smoke sensitive at all........ I think she was beginning to see what her "special requests" were adding up to, and didn't want to pay the price.......the smoke issue was a way out for her.......

At least she let you know before you made the cake. Sorry for your disappointment!