I just came home from the most harrowing experience from the commissary!!! My 22 mo. old screamed through the entire store!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to cry!!!! 
This woman better not call me right now because I might bite her head off!!!! 
He's down for a nap now so hopefully that will give me time to bring the BP down!!!
*HUGZ* I know how much fun the commisary can be when lil ppl are not happy. Now that he's napping have a cuppa, and relax for a few.
I hope this woman don't call, she sounds like a pain in the bum!! LOL I agree with everyone, if she don't get her act together just tell her you can't do it. You don't need her aggravation. Good Luck with this.
Okay, so I FINALLY meet this woman!!! She seems nice but definately the planner in the house and definately wears the pants! I'll leave it at that.
Of all the cakes I have made they chose the design I did on the Medical Service Corps 59th Birthday. They, of course 
, want the rope! DARN THAT ROPE!!!! The silver tray that she bought for the cake is too small so they are now going to get a cheap one from Party City!!! I asked to have all images emailed to me by tomorrow! Just puttin' on a bit of pressure!
I can't wait to get this cake over with. That is the last time I will EVER let someone in my home to discuss a cake. I'll go to their place with my album or we'll meet elsewhere! That is way too stressful having it done in my home!
Amy
I'm glad she seems nice. Hope it all goes smooth from now on with her, now that you know what she wants and she knows what you expect. She chose a very pretty cake! Me likes it rope and all!! 
GO YOU!!! *HUGZ*
I agree don't stress yourself. Meet them somewhere w/ your album and do it that way.
Wave at McChord for me!! We we're stationed there from 99 till Dec 02. We lived in University Place. I miss my friends from there still. Good thing there is internet, and phones!! lol Right now we're in England soon to be Beale AFB, CA!!
Yeah, my parent's were at McChord! My father passed away in '98 so your husband probably wouldn't have known him! Maybe heard about him but definately didn't know him!!!! My mother ran Airman's Attic but they dissolved that when she passed away in '02!!!!
I'll definately give it kudos for you when I'm near it again! 
Amy
Okay, so I FINALLY meet this woman!!! She seems nice but definately the planner in the house and definately wears the pants! I'll leave it at that.
Of all the cakes I have made they chose the design I did on the Medical Service Corps 59th Birthday. They, of course
, want the rope! DARN THAT ROPE!!!! The silver tray that she bought for the cake is too small so they are now going to get a cheap one from Party City!!! I asked to have all images emailed to me by tomorrow! Just puttin' on a bit of pressure!I can't wait to get this cake over with. That is the last time I will EVER let someone in my home to discuss a cake. I'll go to their place with my album or we'll meet elsewhere! That is way too stressful having it done in my home!
Amy
Please don't take this the wrong way but you are enabling HER to call the shots. When you make arrangements with a client you have to stick to them or they will walk all over you. I can understand emergencies but it just seems as if this person has no consideration whatsoever.
I read your posts and you changed your mind about how you were going to handle the situation. If you can't bring yourself to stick to your game plan you will make yourself crazy.
I think it is sad that already you are dreading doing this cake. 
This should be fun!!
I totally agree with IHATEFONDANT! You have to make the rules and stick with them!
Also, isn't it dangerous to let someone you don't know into your home?? I mean, you just never know these days about people!
Oh I agree! I'm usually a pretty good judge of character and I didn't get the "she's questionable" feeling. Just the feeling about her ability to follow through. She does have a lot on her plate right now, she explained that!!! She's also all over the place as far as getting things done.
That's my problem!!! I don't know how to turn people down. Sure I can turn them down if I have something else going on for that day but turning them down because they are inconsistent and unreliable!!!! I simply don't know how to approach them about it. I've been like that all my life! I'd rather deal with the stress it causes me and get it over with never to do it again (yeah right) than to tell someone that their way of conducting business with me isn't solid!!
Amy
P.S. No offense taken IHATEFONDANT!!! I am working on an album now with a program I bought for my computer. I'll have something to take with me to meet at Starbucks or some place else other than my home! That was the first and LAST time I'll do that!!!!
Glad you didn't take offense.
I understand what you mean..you don't want to lose an order. BUT..if you are going to have a business you have to run it like a business.
You have to stick to timelines and make your prospective clients understand that timeline and stick to it.
I know it is hard but...word not only gets around about your product BUT it also gets around about how much notice you need.
I have orders now for November and December. Clients called me last month to book these dates because they know that I need a good amount of notice and wanted to make sure I held those dates. This works for me a few ways..I know that I will have plenty of time to create what the client wants and expects and it also lets me know just how much income I can expect and I can plan my schedule and fit some other "side" orders in, if my schedule allows.
If I do not receive the agreed to down payment I can then open up a date, far in advance for another client.
I also let clients know that I begin to make any gumpaste/sugarpaste work almost immediately. I let them know that anything I make for their cake will be charged to them and deducted from their deposit should they cancel.
I'm not trying to be mean but this is a business. It costs money to create these cakes, they aren't just thrown together.
I can't believe this!!! This lady and her husband called me today to say that they want to drop off payment for the cake. I typically don't get paid until the day before or the day of so this is unusual! Anyway, I said "Okay"!
Before she handed me the money she said and I quote "We really want to thank you for all the work you are doing for the cake and we feel you deserve more than $65.00." She handed me $80!!!! 
This woman is purely going on what she has seen of my cakes in my gallery on my family's website and the fact that I was "highly highly" recommended to her by someone at the Hospital!!!
Wow!!!! Now that's word of mouth!!!! I know I won't be getting another order from her because they are moving back to San Antonio the beginning of next month. Stupid me told her that we hope to get stationed there after our tour of duty is up here. She said for me to give her a call!! She's giving me her contact info in case I do end up there!!!! Can you believe this!!!! This has not been the normal cake order for me that's for sure!!!! This is twice now that someone has paid me more than I asked for. I think $65 is quite a bit for my 12x18 with all I put on it. My sister told me that I maybe need to raise it again!
Amy
WOW!!! Well, at least you got paid early (thank goodness), AND you got some extra for all of the grief she's given you!!! 
I didn't even think of it like that! You know!!! That is a good thing. I was wondering if I was going to have trouble getting payment!!!!!
Thanks for clueing me in on that "minor" detail!!
It was a nice surprise though getting more than asked for. I always think I'm charging way too much for my sheet cakes. You never know when you're going to get that one person that will 
at the price. I had to start charging $65 because EVERYONE seems to want the infamous "rope"!!!! Darn my husband for ever suggesting that for one of my cakes I did last year. It has kind of become my "tag" or trademark I guess. People are always asking me "You did the cake with the rope?"
Thank you all so very very much for reading all my drama about this woman. I did tell her yesterday that I am going out of my way to make this cake for her,(not in those words exactly), because my husband gets home from being out a month and a half and the first thing I'm doing when he's on his 96 is making a cake! 
Amy
Thank you so much! An adventure it definately has been!
Now this rope business. I have definately had enough practice making fondant ropes and twisting them and keeping any part of it getting too skinny while twisting. I use the fondant smoothers to help with that. Works wonders! Now I have to wait another week to start on the cake. I always get antsy about that. I want to start right away! At least I can work on the edible image though.
Amy
You know I never went to the Airman's attic on McChord.. I don't even think I knew where it was.. 
Good deal on getting paid early and she gave you a nice tip. Can't wait to see the cake when you finish it.
Definately a nice surprise, the extra money!
Airman's Attic was right across from Burger King next to the Family Support Building. My mom took that place from a little hole in the wall garage to a fantastic place that actually looked like a store. She ran A. A. for 14 years!! Unfortunately no one could live up to her way of running the place so it was dissolved! Very sad! The Attic helped E1-E3's by everyone's donations such as clothing, household items, children's books, toys.....!
Amy
Your sheet cakes are beautiful!!
80 bucks is what you should be getting. 65 is too cheap for the work you do.
UPDATE~Well, I delivered the cake about an hour ago. Jackie wasn't there yet but Tim, the man LCDR retiring was and was completely blown away by the cake. I asked where to set the cake and he showed me where and said mine will go in the middle because they have two more cakes!!!!!!! 
I asked just how many people he was having attend his ceremony and he said that a couple other buddies of his are retiring but chose not to have a big ceremony so he felt bad and wanted to aget a cake for each one of them. (I would have been happy to make two smaller cakes for each of them, but I'm sure he didn't want to overwhelm me.) He said "They are just Costco cakes!" I said "Good thing you're putting mine in the middle then!" 
I am going to stop by the reception on my way to pick my oldest up from preschool to see Jackie one last time before they move next month and to find out if she is happy with the cake. I know she'll appreciate me stopping by for sure!
Amy
A cake to be proud of!!
I'm sure the other two won't even come close.
Amy that cake is stunning! Wowzerss.........
Congrats
Thank you so much! Jackie, the wife, wanted so much on the cake that I had no choice to put the images like I did on the cake. I think it looks kind of cool!!!!!!
IHATEFONDANT~ As with many others here on cake central, I just want to say that you are a true inspiration to decorators. You are truely amazing at what you do!!!
Thanks for the compliment!!
I'm awed by everyone on this site.
I've learned alot from the folks here and it is rewarding when I can give something back.
That is why there isn't any better place for peeps like us!!
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