So I made a couple cakes for a lady for the local high school cake auction last week...she had been telling me for 6 months that she wants something "out of this world" and 3 cakes - for her, her business and the youth wrestling club (the big one was to be from her business, other ones are just regular) Well then she decides she doesn't want the one from her business (even though I spent over an hour talking to her about it and months of her talkign to me about it). Tells me she doesn't want a boring sheet cake for the other ones so I told her that we could do a wrestling mat with 2 wrestlers on it and waves along the sides with wrestling terms/moves within the waves (don't really like the idea, but whatever, its not my cake). And the theme was "riding the wave to success" hence the waves on the side. So I spend FOREVER making these stupid wrestlers for her and then the cake and i'm pretty happy with the outcome, its what she asked for. Now my mom tells me that she doesn't think she was happy with the end result (lady is a family friend) bc of how she acted the other night. AND little did I know, that most of the cakes at the auction are sheet cake based and are just abnormally huge or have additions on them. I mean I could have done something else if she would have told me that!!

Keep in mind...this lady is weird! Ex. 18 y/o daughter went to college, broke up with high school boyfriend bc it just wasnt working out with her in college and him still in high school. Lady FREAKS out and throws up every night because shes so upset......???????? weird.

I don't like doing business with this lady in the first place and am probably going to move her to my "no cake for you" club but my mom thinks I should send thank you note to her plus 10% coupons to say thanks for the business, which is good business practice but still...i don't really want her as a customer anyways.

So i guess the question is....how do you deal with these people and situations and basically keep your sanity? I'm almost feeling burnt out with all the headaches from dumb people plus everthing else that comes with the business. Advice???

It sounds like she would just to complain anyway, so I wouldn't bother giving her anything, especially since you said you rather not have her as a customer... Would you really want to do another cake for her??..
Jodi

I wouldn't do anything more than you've already done, and I would just wait and see if she orders anything from you again and see what kind of attitude she brings--if she seems fine and you want to do the cake and want the business, then go ahead. If she seems crazy and you don't feel good about it, just tell her you're not available. As far as sending a thank you note and coupons, why would you? That doesn't make any sense to me at all? She ordered a cake, got what she ordered, end of transaction. I don't get thank you notes from Walmart for shopping there...why should anyone expect a thank you note for a business transaction? She wasn't doing you any favors, unless I'm missing something here...

I know how you feel, I had a customer call for a cake and wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and a 3D oil derrick on top with "oil" oozing down the side. I told her that the "oil" detail would not show well over chocolate frosting and suggested a white chocolate BC instead, or fondant over the chocolate frosting. She chose the white chocolate BC. I completed the cake and was quite happy with the end product, but overheard her tell someone that she was unhappy because the cake was suppose to be chocolate/chocolate, and she told me that but I just did what I wanted anyways. Frustrating as it was, what could I do? You will not be able to please everyone. It is your choice whether you do any more cakes for her, but if she continue's to order from you, she must not be that dissatisfied.

FWIW - I always send thank you notes.

Thanks for your replies! I guess I am just oversensitive and a little hurt that she didn't like it and I let it get to me. Sometimes I just want to scream and be like "WHY am i doing this????" lol people these days make me angry! lol

I wouldn't send her anything.
I would also drop her as a customer.

I totally understand feeling hurt that she didn't like it. I didn't mean to sound like you are being overly sensative--I probably would feel the exact same way. I just figure that you have to try to move on. If sending the note and coupons will help you feel better, and you want her continued business, then go for it. What I meant was that you shouldn't be doing that just for her if it's not something that you normally do. It seems like she should be thanking YOU for making an awesome cake, not the other way around, you know? Anyway, hope you feel better about it soon.

OK, you need to step back and look at this objectively. The reason that you are feeling upset is because your mother has relayed she 'thought' the customer wasn't happy. The customer has not said anything directly to you, so if this was a 'normal' business transaction you would have had no feedback and assumed everything was ok.
If you feel that sending a thank you and a coupon to her would be good 'business practice' then do it for that reason. If you don't want future business that she may generate then only send a thank you note.
Try and treat it as a business transaction and don't take anything personally.

I wouldn't send a thank you note, but unless she calls and complains about something don't put her on the "no cake for you" list quite yet. One thing that I would do in the future, though is to limit the amount of discussion that you do have with her about future orders. There's no reason to spend an hour talking to someone about a sheet cake, no matter how fancy it is. I get the feeling that she wouldn't have bothered you so much if she hadn't taken up so much of your time, which is totally understandable.