dang it, i had a response and it all got deleted... let's see if i can remember it all....

i really didn't mean to start anything and thank you to ohmyganache for stepping up in my behalf. i was never implying that i'm too good for an instore bakery. hell, i've even applied to the bakeries in walmart and alberstons. recently, to boot! as in: if they called me today to work part time, i would do it. the only reason i said that's not the route i was exactly looking for, was because i was specifically asking about specialty cake bakeries. i would appreciate if my one sentence not get twisted into what you wanted it to mean.

and i was most certainly NOT turning up my nose to any of your advice. i value the pros' advice because i am certainly in no position to say "no, you're completely, horribly wrong". i would have preferred if it wasn't so harsh without asking me to clarify what i meant, but i understand that most people don't need clarity to say what they want.

about weekends: no, i cannot give up all my weekends... if they weren't going to pay me. i know that may knock me out of the running, but right now, i need to be making money and i do have a paying job. THAT'S the only reason for not being at their 24/7 call. but, if they would pay me, then yes, i could be there weekends because i could work something out with my other job. and before you jump on me for saying that i wouldn't even asked to get paid just to get the experience, yet i'm not ready to give up my life: you're right, i'm not ready to give up on my outside caking life (mainly: getting paid). and i KNOW that means i'm not ready for the life of a busy shop owner/decorator: i'm only 20! all i'm trying to get right now is SOME experience in a shop.

as for being "some random kid off the street": i guess my wording wasn't correct. of course i'm some random kid walking in off the street! they don't know me. they've never seen me before. what i meant (so much for clarity again...) was: i'm not some kid that doesn't know ANYTHING about baking/decorating. i'm not some kid that has never held a piping bag before. i'm not some kid walking into a bakery randomly for a job. i know my way around decorating a cake.

sorry, this probably didn't all make sense... i'm writing trying to remember what i said previously. but i'm sure that what i forgot will be thrown in my face so i can try to defend myself.

(but in case it wasn't clear enough, i DO value all the advice of the pros. i asked for it BECAUSE i value your opinion. i WISH i could be in your position to give out advice to newbies. i am kind of taken a back at how harsh it came out, though...)

I really don't post often on here even though I have been a member for a couple of years and I do not mean to continue a "war". In my observations as I am on this site all the time, I don't know why but, your comments ,OH My Ganache, always come off as though you are condescending and in many cases just plain rude. It may be because when we write words people can not hear the tones of our voices to to differentiate how we are trying to explain something. Perhaps if you think how you will string your words together it might help how people will take what you are saying.
evelyn

I just want to add my 2 cents to Doug and snarkybaker's comments, and while you may not like the way she said it, k8 has some good points here, too.

I get people who walk in all the time who want to work for free or very little pay so they can learn. (I usually direct them to the Michael's classes.)

First, I'm not that kind of operation. I don't make 20-30 cakes a day like a high volume bakery, so the opportunity they think is here ... isn't.

snarky is SO right .... they may come in willing to do trash and dishes and cleaning (and cleaning, and cleaning and did I mention there's always lots of cleaning to do?) but eventually, that little voice in their head is reminding them that they are "better" than a dishwasher and they want to do "real" or "fun" work.

There is the illusion that running a bakery/cakery is nothing but baking icing and decorating. The truth is, that's a very small part of it, from the "running" it part. Many hats are involved ,..... HR, purchasing, shipping, receiving, accounting, maintenance, inventory control, costing/pricing, scheduling and oh yeah by the way we MIGHT have time to actually cook or bake something!

And if anyone thinks running a McD's is anything different from running any other type of food establishment ... in the basics ..... then they need a lot more educaiton than just how to cook a burger or how to roast a lamb. Fast food places have the assembly line process down to a science and that's what you need to know how to do to run your business effectively and efficiently.

If you don't know that, you have WAY moer to learn than you think you do.

To answer the OP's orignial question ... no I woldn't have someone in here to work for free jst for trash 'n dishes. I have a business to run and trash 'n dishes is not even a part time job in my place. Can't justify the expense.

adree13 --

COMMIT! (oh no, the dreaded C word!)

If you truly, really, with all your heart and every fiber & molecule in your body want to learn cake decorating ... COMMIT to doing it as your ONLY job.

Start where you can, even in a grocery baker, learn all you can, and keep moving up to finally owning your own shop.

it's like that Bible verse about having two masters to serve.

pick one master (one job) and serve it.

a little note about Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss being the "real" world of caking -- ok for that matter, any reality show being the "real world...

LOL! what a deluded hoot!

as anyone who works in the entertainment industry can tell you:

entertainment is life CONDENSED -- the BORING parts left out!

notice how you never see the staffs ordering stuff? stocking?

how the dishwasher isn't seen? (and is slaving away in a totally separate room as can't have cross contamination) or the cleaning staff?

how the drudgery is all edited out?

a week's work edited down to about 19 minutes (yep, that's about all a 1/2 hour show actually is, the rest is commercials! an hour barely makes 40 min.)

you're seeing LESS than 1% of the time in a standard 40 hour work week -- and considering for a bakery it would easily be a 60+ hour week your seeking about 1/2 of 1% of the time actually spent working during the week.

gee I could make dusting the house (die dust bunny die!) exciting with that much editing down!

well, i don't really know what you want to hear from me at this point. i would love to commit my life to baking and caking, but right now it's just not plausible (as i said, i DID apply for jobs at instore bakeries, they didn't hire me!). and if that makes it seem like i don't care enough, then fine. believe that. i know what i want out of life and if you think i don't want it, just because i can't give up a paying job right now (especially in this economy and especially at this point in my life) then that's your choice. you seem to all have me figured out so i'll let you believe you know me. and for the record, i never said that i believed that it was all fun and games as see in the "reality" cake shows. i know there's more to it.
and indydebi, i completely understand what you're saying. i don't expect to learn all the ins and outs just from working a counter. or janitorial work. that's why i'm pursuing my bachelor's in business. even though most on here would like to fight me on this, i DO have a solid head on my shoulders and i KNOW that it isn't all fun and games. hell, i'd love to just sit and make pretty things all day, but it's not all about that. which is why i'm getting ready to go to school full time AND go to work at the same time. so if that means i'm not a hardworker and i don't like to commit, then so be it.
i really do appreciate all the genuine advice i got on here. i will not be coming back to defend myself anymore. i will come back if i get more genuine advice, but if you're just going to say you know me or you know those that are JUST like me, then i'll move on.
i think i'll just stick to this site for tips and tricks on decorating, not how to help my life since that seems to always be a touchy subject.

I also am not one to post often, but have absorbed huge amounts of info on this forum. And I have to say that I personally am a little offended because I worked at one of those lowly bakeries for wal-mart, and I have never gained so much experience and information that has really helped in my business as I did there. The amount of hands on learning and working under huge time constraints and quotas and stock, inventory counting, handling customers, and you have never dealt with a a customer until you deal with a wal-mart customer. the list goes on and on. All of these things I would have never learned had I not taken a job that was "not the direction I was going" Ultimately long winded story short there is something to be gained from these types of jobs its up to the person to get the information though if you never apply or think that somehow its not going to benefit you then what did you ultimately learn? nothing.

Sorry, but to whomever said that they'd never get experience at a McDonald's...that's the craziest thing I've ever heard! (yeah...they're not successful! )

If you've ever watched Ace of Cakes, even Duff said that he started out at a McDonald's & it was the best place he could've ever started.

Everyone has got to start somewhere - we can't all start at the top!

so, i lied. i said i wouldn't come back to defend myself but i see someone said they were offended about something and i wanted to clear it up, YET AGAIN: i never called walmart or alberston's low or implied i was better than that. i DID apply there, and they didn't hire me. so, even if i had said i was to good for them (which, again, i did not), i'm obviously not. and i never claimed i wanted to "start at the top". i think i made that quite clear from the get go.

okay, NOW i'm done.

Locked per OP request.