So the job that I got decorating cakes is underway. I've started training, but I've been SO nervous (mainly because I feel TREMENDOUS pressure to excel due to the raise in wage they're giving me now) that I've been screwing up on simple things (in front of the manager, of course). Now, I just want to crawl into a small hole and hope they call me for work again.

I'm starting to wonder if I really should be doing this, or what.

Stay out of that hole! You're new. Being nervous, feeling pressure, screwing up...well that's what people do when they're new. It's like buying a new car. You have to get a feel for it. You may have been driving for 20 years...but not in that car so you'll make stupid mistakes like reaching for the blinker only to find the windshield wipers--LOL! Keep your chin up...every tomorrow will be a better day.

I guess I've just got to get over my loathing of doing the extra dishes, and really start practicing again. WHERE ARE MY FAIRIES?!?!?!

I just don't want to give them any reason to regret hiring me and bumping up my wage.

Thanks for the support, Lisa!

I concur!!! Sometimes the best ideas come to you when you least expect it or when you're in the middle of a dream. Just relax and you'll do fine. You wouldn't be there if this weren't your passion.


Amy

Calejo, I just looked at your cakes and you do awesome work! Don't doubt yourself and don't be so hard on yourself... whenever you start a new job, you have to learn their ways of doing things.. and you'll always question yourself as to why you even took the job (especially when we screw up).. but that's how you learn ... and just because you asked for more money, well you deserve it .. you have a lot to offer them ... you are a very talented decorator and you WILL be an asset to them... chin up girlie!! think positive and go in there and get 'em!!

Thanks guys! I needed that. I'm going to get a cake dummy this weekend and start practicing like mad and come back hard.

It's a lot harder to do things their way with them watching you and being limited on time. I miss doing things form my own kitchen, but I know this is something I'm going to learn from too.

my very first cake decorating job was at sam's club... and let me tell you if i posted pictures of what my cakes looked like then and compare them to where i am at now.... they were awful!.... but its a beginning, you only get better with time and experience... after workin there for 3 yrs i quit and got a job in a real bakery .. where i learned even more, then after a yr i went to another bakery... and let me tell you,, everything i know bout wedding cakes, freehand drawings and fondant i learned there not in a wilton class... it was the best experience ever... learning as you work is the best way of learning techniques.. and they are paying you to learn... not the otherway around at a wilton class It was just too bad they let me go after 4 yrs.. and the reason... i didnt fit in there meaning i wast snobby enough like the rest of them.. lol

I used to work with a snooty decorator before, and she thought my cakes weren't that good or "childsplay", so I might be a bit gunshy because of that. I may be too sensitive for my own good now, now that I think about it.

i just looked at your work, and you need to STOP right now!!!!! get some confidence girl, your cakes are GREAT! the snoody decrator probably liked to downplay your cakes and respond negatively because of the upcoming compition you are becoming.
when you go to work, tell your self that you are awsome and forget that mang. is looking over your shoulder....remember we all in cake central land are behind you and we all think your work is wonderful.
keep us posted on the new job!
melody

Thanks, guys.

I'm going to go to the cake supply store tomm. and I am planning to pick up a 1/4 sheet and 8" dummy for practice. I've never decorated a dummy before, so do I need to use a special kind of frosting or is buttercream ok? Also, since I do need practice, can anyone think of anything else I could use to help me practice?

again....I don't think you need to practise...your cakes are beautiful!! I think what screwing you up, is that you're nervous. By all means, if it makes you feel better to practise, go ahead....but your cakes are above average, in my opinion

I am so used to doing flowers on nails with royal icing, which makes for easy manuevering, however, in the bakery, I have to pipe my flowers directly onto the cake with buttercream, so I'm totally out of my element there, which is why I feel the need to practice. The buttercream they had was mushy and thin, which I wasn't prepared for or used to. I swear, I'm not trying to get down on myself, but I need to be prepared for that and get used to doing it their way.