Last night my roomie asked me if I would help her make a cake for her boss telling me it would help me get more business blah blah blah. I declined due to my schedule. I find out today from overhearing a phone conversation that not only is she getting paid for it but has 3 more orders this month. I am seething right now.

What do you mean 'roomie' ?   somebody that shares your house?

Sorry, that sure stinks      But on the up side, she values your skill level   

I own the house. She rents a room, but I am really lenient on house privileges. I went through the trouble of etting licensed and paying taxes. She said the same as everyone. It's not a business..just people say they really like my cakes and want to order from me. I honestly can't afford to look for a new roomie and for the most part she is pretty easy to work with, but I found this really disrespectful

She should value my skills. One side of that cake is 1/2" thick. Now I feel so bad looking at that that I want to do it for her....She just graduated from culinary school.

ALet get be responsible for her own 'business.' Don't go helping her, because you'll either be pissed the whole time, or be resentful later because you helped her out and got no credit for it.

So she does it in her room?  or you let her use your (licensed)kitchen to  .... be your competitor???   sorry but..... WHY don't you just say something?

She probably hasn't even considered that it might upset you  -  have you taught her, has she just picked it up from watching you,  does your  license cover her when she uses your kitchen, are they YOUR customers or has she managed to get her own. 

If she has, she obviously has something that people are willing to pay for.......    for the little profit you may lose on cake orders - you'd probably do better charging her a HIRE FEE for the kitchen use and go and sit in the sunshine while she slaves her butt off

 

And WHY do you care how BAD the cake looks?    Gosh - you need to decide whether you want to help her or hate her for taking the orders that you want.


STEP AWAY..... let her do it her way ........      OR   tell her she can't use your kitchen for 'business'

Norfolk does not have a CFL. My daughter has a restaurant and I bake my orders from there which required a legal contract and me providing the city her health cert. She works in a restaurant and just graduated culinary school. But you can see from the above pic baking is not her specialty.

I did say something a few minutes ago and it was not pretty. I said it was disrespectful to be doing this after all of the work I went thru to get legal and pay taxes.

It may have been different had she not tried to get me to do the work for her under the pretense that she was "helping me build my business" and that it was a favor. Then straight up lied when I asked her about it and said she offered to split it with me. Anyhow she stormed out of the house leaving her crooked cakes.

I don't consider her a competitor. The thing is that I keep a lot of quality equipment here that I use for practice and family cakes. I don't see her going out and buying new pans, rolling pins, stand mixers, etc...

I texted her and told her if she stayed around to discuss things instead of storming out it probably wouldn't be quite the huge deal she is making it. Now it will be my fault she failed rather than the 1/2" cake she made.

AThat so stinks. So incredibly rude. If you discuss the situation with her and she doesn't apologize and accept responsibility, can you afford to keep her? She is using your business' reputation to make money.

ADo your customers call your home phone or your cell? If your home phone, how do you know she is not going to take an order that comes in while you are not home. Just be careful.

ANew roommate time!

They are not the same tools I use for my business but I do have tools and equipment at home in my kitchen. Not the same quality as what I use for the business but I still don't want wear and tear on my stuff for herprofit

AWait...VA does have a CFL...

VA does but my city does not. It is up to each city.

so i think i want to inquire about your upcoming vacancy   

It's very cheap. And I hear the landlord is pretty much a pushover and a big softie. Rumor hasit she may be starting to stand up for herself though.

Raise her rent if she wants you to help her, and don't forget about the utilities in your home she is using while baking the cakes!  She needs to do some practicing!

If someone is going to be This dishonest with you they don't deserve to be your friend, roommate, you name it.  She's a thief.  (Or would have been?)  Nothing but trouble.  Do both of yourselves a favor and let her go out the door.  Or keep it to ONLY she pays you rent - til you can both find a new situation.  She needs to learn a big lesson and you deserve not to have someone use you.  I honestly can not believe how some people behave and think there is nothing wrong with their actions.   And she offered you a cut? UnReal!  God Bless you and good luck.  

ADang, y'all are mean! I would just let her do her thing but tell her you don't feel right about helping her unless she's legal. You are in no way liable if she sells a cake.

I would definitely not let her use any of your baking equipment/supplies/ingredients (lock them in a cupboard), and you should upcharge her for utilities if she's using your kitchen for baking and selling her cakes.

AIs your daughter's restaurant hiring? Maybe if your roommate had a real job she wouldn't have time for an illegal business.

She has one. She is a cook in a restaurant