A

A

Those words led Annie to the conclusion she came to. So it seems like the attack on her is just a bit unwarranted. Anyway you've got loads of info so im leaving this thread be. But she was trying to help and I hope you know that.[/quote]

I'm sorry OP, I should have never posted on your thread. Since I'm ignorant and my advice doesn't amount to much. This is a long worn out battle that you have fell right smack in the middle of unfortunately.

I do wish you well with all your endeavors and I don't want your thread to get locked as you have been given some useful information.

Keep your head up kid! ((((((((HUGS))))))))

AWow, what a snappy comeback! I am duly impressed. Bahahahaha!!

Way to go CC therapists!  You have succeeded in helping the OP and everyone else who opened this thread and read it to the end, forget what the original issue was. 

Reverse Psychology!!!!!  Great work.  Hope you are feeling better Phobe. 

A

Lol...I was just thinking WOW!!

AHottest mess of a thread I've seen in awhile!

We have all been where you are.  I've never been threatened with a beating but I must say 17 cakes is nuts.  I do own a shop and have a baker but I won't take 17 cakes in a weekend.... If you can do that kudos to you.  Stick to your guns and grow  some thick skin.  Cake can be a vicious trade.  Also You do need to let go of the poisonous ones.  You don't need every client.  That is a hard lesson.

Even after reading all 9 pages (so far), and being somewhat entertained by the various and sundry responses, I am STILL gobsmacked that ONE (1) person baked-from-scratch, torted, filled, covered, decorated most with a variety of what appears to be handmade detailed items, and arranged delivery of SEVENTEEN (17) CAKES in one day.

Gobsmacked, I tell you.

ASeventeen is a scary number for me, but I don't sell little single tiers like that. I can reasonably enjoy two orders a day, maybe twice a week. Seventeen....wow.

A

You know...I didn't think of that!!!! Gobsmacked is definitely the word. I wouldn't be able to do it. Not at all.

AI'm blown away by the turn this took. I've always worked in bakeries that require you to keep working until your eyes about shut on you. 17 was a combo of cheesecakes, specialty and everything else. This is just a normal weekend. I was just venting and got upset because of the threat from a moron over a cake. Working 12-16hrs a day is part of life around here. So yes 17 cakes is possible when you're working that many hours. I hope everybody calms down and has a good rest of the week.

AThat's what I'm saying MB. Cake disaster was not thrown onto the situation. The OP SAID THAT!!!!! People came on here trying to prevent that from happening.

Pheobe, the turn this thread took...I don't think you're responsible. And ny above statement is not about you as you've said several times now you're thankful for the advice. But I want to say this...that crack you made earlier about "I hope your cakes didn't take that long" that was rude. Because really, nobody in this thread but you had a customer threaten to beat them down.

Im frequent here, but still consider myself somewhat an outsider. It is CLEAR to me that there are personal issues here. Idk why. All I'm saying is that if you think it's not obvious, it is. Work on it because you look crazy. K8 and Enga I like both of yall. And im nit saying it is or isn't, but it looks personal. It really does.

AThat's what I'm saying MB. Cake disaster was not thrown onto the situation as a label. The OP SAID THAT!!!!! People came on here trying to prevent that from happening Again offering advice in their own way

Pheobe, the turn this thread took...I don't think you're responsible. And ny above statement is not about you as you've said several times now you're thankful for the advice.

I edited a word out of a post because it was inappropriate, but accurate. The OP had said the customer was upset about the cake being late but that was not the only reason the customer was upset. So I called her on it. I just removed the spelled out word (BS) that I had typed, and quoted her original post about why the person was upset. Let's keep it real here.

Then you had to go on a Baby Jane rant and accuse me of being relentless, self-righteous, and controlling of all things. All this while posting a non sequitur about Starbucks in the middle of everything. How that applies to selling cakes is beyond me.

Say what you want but that was indeed over the top.

blablabla

Just to be clear....@K8memphis, I was not appalled by what you said about OP's location.

There are SEVERAL examples of poor behavior from more than one person.

Members should be able to come here and feel free to comment without fear of personal attacks.  If you don't like someone, BLOCK them.  IGNORE them.  Do NOT purposefully antagonizes them, push their buttons, or be down right nasty to them.  MOVE ON.

Not only is it childish, but there is a great deal of collateral damage to unintended victims.  Y'all look like a bunch of fools just chomping at the bit to one up each other.  It's ridiculous and ANYONE paying attention would notice it.

For the OP: I commend you for doing what it takes to make money in your town. :)  But, you can always raise your prices.  Just a bit at a time.  For the next custom cakes you bid, please add on $2 per cake.  You will find that you are the only one who has the other bakeries prices memorized.  I really doubt you will get any resistance to this price increase.

For the others reading this thread: I took the time to look up the median household income of her city.  It is around $25,000 per year.  I live in a pretty poor area, and our median household income is $35,000.  The next largest city near her looks to be Cape Girardeau, and that is 80 minutes away.  So branching out isn't much of an option, except maybe for wedding cakes.

I am guessing she is doing great owning a $220,000 house in a city with those kind of income levels.  More power to her.

Liz

Production bakeries are so different, the cakes can cost significantly less than your average cake custom cake that is flawless and decked out. It seems that many of the people in your markets are much different than the OP's.  If you worked in a grocery store bakery, you'd make and/or decorate 17 or even more in a day. She's just done that at home. Yes, it's a one woman show, but a different approach. I don't see anything wrong with that, and conceivably the math could be right. Labor cost is the bulk of the cost of the cake, cut the production time down, and there you go, costs come down. That's some skill to be able to work that fast, and have nice looking cakes that are not just icing sheets and plastic toppers. Makes me want to speed up my game to bring my labor costs down. Not that I would add any more orders, but it would make my cakes cheaper. 

AI couldn't agree more with all the comments on here, everyone has bad days, obviously your customer was having a very very bad day and took things to the extreme wich led you to go to the extreme. You have to remember that in business there will ALWAYS be people who just aren't happy with anything you do!! It seems that they are angry at the world and just want to find someone with any reason at all that they can take their frustrations out on but dont let it defeat you. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and wile away the tears and learn from this its all you can do. I agree you have talent, dont let her take that from you. If you have apologized to her and tried to make things right and she wont budge then let it go... i also send you huge hugs. Hang in there phoebe kay. :-) :-)

Just take this a learning experience and a way to toughen your backbone. We have all had customers that for one reason or another are not going to be happy no matter what you do. It hurts, the words sting but just keep on making cakes if that is your dream. Don't let the opinion of one client ruin your dreams. You can move past this :)

Quality over Quantity-

Easy :)