Does anybody else's family members have this?
Ya know...Pop A Cake Out Of My A** Disease?

Niece's BD (she's 28...) is today...she lives with my mom and I called, 2 times on Sat and 2 times on Sun., to ask what kind of cake she likes. Left 4 messages and no one calls me back. Finally get in touch with my mom last night at 9:30. She asks my other niece--she doesn't know but will call me back. NO CALL!!!!

Talked with BD niece this morning and told her no one bothered to return my calls. She said that a grocery store cake was fine as she liked the whipped toppping anyway. She was getting off at 9:00 tonite. Ran to the store this evening--got a cake and I wrote "Happy Birthday". Mom calls at 8:50 to ask about the cake. Told her I just bought one and I was bringing it over.

These are her exact words..."Oh, I hate it when you do that. Those cakes don't taste as good as yours." I reminded her that no one bothered to return any of my calls and that I can't "pop a cake out of my a**!" Sorry this is so long but...dang it...my family must think that I sit around and wait for them to need a cake and VOILA--there's the cake! They are worse than most of my customers.

good for you. PACOOMA is a deadly thing.

WOW! It must have spread rapidly, because some of my coworkers have it! I think it's a variation of PABOOMA disease, Pop a Brisket Out of my A** disease. DH is an avid barbecuer and we get people wanting to know if he could smoke a brisket "for this weekend". Now, we both work fulltime and it takes 12 hours to cook a brisket and another two hours to let it rest and slice it. (And we have already explained this to them...more than once.) Just when do they think we'll have time to do that?

I have a few family members with these same symptoms! I am relieved to know there has been a diagnosis and mine are not the only ones who have it!

I guess I should be thankful that all my relatives are hundreds of miles away and all my friends are cake decorators!!

Finally there is a name for it!

Thanks for sharing.

Yes we all have them.

Good Luck.

Pacooma seems to be a very widespread, international affliction.

As of yet there is no known cure.

Shoot, if BD niece told me she'd rather have store cake...I'd have told her to go buy it herself. What would they need ME for, if they want a store cake??

Nah--she doesn't really like it better--she was just trying to make me feel better. I felt pretty bad that I didn't have a cake ready for her.

PLEASE! C'mere and let me slap you up!!!!

Don't feel guilty. NOT YOUR FAULT.

Obviously the choice of cake helt no importance whatsoever in this person's life, so why should you bend over backwards?

Heck, why did you even buy a cake? Why not let her do it?

No--it's my MOM that usually is the culprit...ever since I started making cakes, she had ALWAYS waited till the last minute to order anything. She does for work parties and EVERYTHING.

After the first couple of years of this happening, I kinda quit decorating cakes. Then in 1998, I started back up. Nothing changed with her tho'.
Her BD is Friday--I KNOW she'll expect a cake.

Gosh, I hope PACOOMA isn't hereditary !!! It's not listed on WedMD and as long as my mom has had it, there must be no cure . The really sad part of all of this...several tiimes I have said something and turned around to see if my mom was standing there...now that's really SCARY.

Aside from my making my granddaughter's bd cakes each year because I want to I don't have any family asking me to make cakes for them. They're sort of a dull bunch anyway. I made my niece's wedding cake as my gift and she didn't like it, so we never talk cake. I figure at least I don't have a bunch of freeloading family members expecting free cakes for every occasion.

MAC I think after one such comment from my mom she wouldn't be seeing anymore cake from me. It was nice of you to want to make sure your niece got a bd cake. I wish someone would do that for me. You're a good auntie!

There may be a diagnosis, but the prognosis is not good. This problem is spreading into more area of our lives by the day.

POCOOMA. I love it. I love it. I will be using that from now on. They need to add it to the list of cc abbreviations.
lol

I love it. My sister in law has it and she's spread it to my nephew. I love the grocery store cake idea....hmmmm...I never thought of that.

I'm going to remember the name of that disease and refer to it now! Thanks for your medical discovery!

I don't have that problem with family members since they all live 700+ miles from me. However, most of my customers at the bakery have that disease. In fact, last week I made a three-tier wedding cake for a bride who called on a Thursday for a Saturday wedding--yes, two days before her wedding!!!!!! And yes, I actually did it! Apparently I suffer from HTSN disease (Hard Time Saying No).

Not so much my family, but folks at my church and office...yep.

I don't seem to have that issue. My issue is getting help with the cost for what they do want.

All I would like for my family to pay for is the cost of the product - nothing more!

One sister won't let me make a cake for her children with out paying. She understands the cost of having an actual business - her husband is a Chiropractor. Every one wants to be adjusted and not pay him either.

The other sister really doesn't have it to pay and I love making cakes for her and her family - I mark it up to practice well needed.

Sister-in-law is a decorator and so that is a relief. She takes care of her family. Whew!

Other than that, they all seem to know what kind of cake they want - even for the next year!!!

Mac, I say if they dont tell you what cake they want at least 4 days in advance. You make your favorite cake or you try something totally new you've been wanting to do. They will either learn to tell you ahead of time in the future or they will learn to accept your wonderful creations.

Thanks again for naming this troubling maladie!

Good Luck.

Gateaux - thats a great idea. Wouldn't it be nice if we got to eat OUR favourite cake at everyone elses BD's

OMG. I just posted something similar today. My family has PACOOMA syndrome too. Glad to hear it's not just my family. I was directed to your post and i swear i could've written your words. I feel for you, as i truely understand.
suz

Alas, sad but true--it seems to be a pretty prevalent disease. Spreads quickly and quietly. Only rears it's ugly head around celebratory events.

I have surfed the web day and night...there is no known cure and even with strict restraint...it still tries to intimidate the weak. Amazingly, the only ones that can see this mysterious disease are cakers.

Mac, try coming down with PACOOMA disease yourself in a couple of weeks and see what happens (hee hee!) - maybe your family needs to be on the other side of the fence to see that cakes are not pulled out of...freezers!

Mac... next time the family needs a cake and does not get back to you in a timely fashion.. go ahead and make that one cake you have been dying to try. Or better yet, make the flavor that YOU like best!!

Oh marmalade--
I already have that one figured out...for the last 4 years, I make my own BD cake. I know I get a great tasting cake as well as another pic for my portfolio.