I'll preface this by saying I'm not ranting but merely having a 'what the' moment.

I received an email from a customer asking for a cake for her mothers 80th birthday. The brief she gave me was 'she's turning 80, was a farmers wife all her life, raised 6 kids, loves playing cards and has a wicked sense of humour' .. followed by 'i'll leave the design ideas to you as you are the creative one'.

So I went back to her with a three tier cake covered in fondant. On the bottom a farm type scene with cows with huge udders looking skyward, next tier a kids tier .. doing kid stuff again looking skyward. Top tier looking like a blue cloud floating above it all with her Mum sitting at a poker table playing cards.

She just came back to me saying that she thought this might be a bit tacky and afterall she is turnin 80 so probably should have something more in-keeping.

Long story short we have now confirmed a two tier parcel/present cake in white/lemon with antique looking bow .. no age mention and no theme.

Like I said ... need to get my crystal ball serviced!

I was definitely thinking present cake when I read the description!

lol!
She must be related to the person that called me last night...
She needs a cake for her 18 year old son(birthday tomorrow), last minute but I said "well, what were you looking for" Her reply was-
well, I don't know.. he's really not into anything.. he's not into sports.... he doesn't have any hobbies..."
uhhh??? So, what do you want me to make???
The crystal ball would have been great in this situation.
Jodi

Funny eh! Maybe because I'm a total control freak but I really don't get people who have 'no idea' of what they want in a cake. In your case Jodi maybe just do a giant question mark in a beige colour and give him that. Either that or a ghostbusters type cake with sports/hobbies written in the middle of a big red cross out.

lol I ended up making an ipod... BUT the ? mark would have been better.
since he doesn't wear any certain logo... since he doesn't like sports???
what 18 year old doesn't like brand names, have any sports team.. not
even a favorite movie???

glad I don't have her as a client too often.
Jodi

Lady came in yesterday wanting a cake for a 8 year old, can;t afford anything more than a sheet cake but he watches Ace of Cakes. He's into Bakugan, which I've never heard of. Bring it up on the internet, see some pictures and just suggest putting some pictures of some of the characters on this 1/4 sheet cake. She can't suggest specific ones because he doesn't have any favorites. I can tell she's not into it.

So, she picks up my brochure and on the back is a 5 -tier wedding cake with ivory buttercream, chocolate ganache dripping down the sides and fall colored gumpaste rose petals. That's what she ordered for this 8 year old because he loves chocolate and is into fall colors. My crystal ball is broken too.

You need to start using the phrase I use at my real job: "I"m sorry, but I stopped paying my ESP bill, so you're going to have to give me more information."

I wonder why she would bother to tell you what her mother's interests are if she just wanted a present cake anyway? That's like saying, "My husband loves cars, and women, and gamling, and booze...make a sheet cake that says 'Happy Birthday'". Why the back story??

This sounds all too familiar! First off all addressing one of my growing pet peeves--The "Back Story" as j_arney put it... I hear them a lot.

Now this could be ever so slightly embellished...

My son just finshed going through mechanics school, his girlfriend loves tattoos and they're getting ready to buy a Pit Bull named Sally. He L O V E S his 68 Chevy pick-up, would sleep in it if he coujld. His favorite food is Mac n Cheese with grape jelly on the side.. My head is spinning --I blink a few times and they point to the wall where I have my decorated dummy cakes hanging and ask if I can make "that one over there" by the week-end.

Umm... sure that'll be the 1/4 sheet with the red roses?? Yea. that's perfect.

OKAY. Sure. I gotcha down.