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Original message sent by cak3m0m
The weirdest ones I have ever gotten: Can you make a sugar free buttercreme? I also got asked this by a client: I was contacted to make a pirate birthday themed cake. (keep in mind I don't know this person) She wanted to know what ingredients to buy so she could come over and watch me make the cake. Then she asked me if I would make it for free since she was going to buy the ingredients... really?!
Wow now that's rude. At least when it's a friend or relative you think they're pushing it when they ask that, but a stranger?!
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The weirdest ones I have ever gotten: Can you make a sugar free buttercreme?
I also got asked this by a client: I was contacted to make a pirate birthday themed cake. (keep in mind I don't know this person) She wanted to know what ingredients to buy so she could come over and watch me make the cake. Then she asked me if I would make it for free since she was going to buy the ingredients... really?!
How do people get that stupid?
Wow now that's rude. At least when it's a friend or relative you think they're pushing it when they ask that, but a stranger?!
Unbelievably rude!!
I was putting a 3 tier, hundred serving cake in the car today and a passer by asked if she could look. Then she was like holy cow, you do that yourself? Do you have a card? I think I'm going to be needing some cake!! When she asked about price, I told her the cake was about $600 and then she said something like, Oh never mind, I don't need your card - I can buy icing and ingredients a lot cheaper than that.
Good luck making that cake, lady..haha. What got me was it dawned on me she was so thrilled and giddy because she thought she'd stumbled onto some slave labor. Wouldn't a polite person just have kept her mouth shut, accepted the card and kept walking? Wth?
Sometimes I think if people could just hear themselves.... But then I realize it probably wouldn't change anything.
Jan
AHmm. A more tactful way for the passerby to react to the sticker-shock would have been for her to have said something like, "maybe someday I might be able to afford you."
Honestly, I think it was the sticker-shock talking. Unless you've actually done it, on at least the level I've been able to do it (as opposed to, say, sticking soak-off-the-card decorations onto a cake, which was the usual drill when my mom used to do it), there's no reason to have the slightest clue what's involved in even one of my typical single-layer-served-in-pan sheet cakes.
I swear people are just so rude. If they had any idea of how long it takes and the artistry involved, people would realize that the price is cheap compared to the hours we sometimes put into a cake lol
But they don't have any idea. So we can educate people, or accept that not everyone will be our customer, or just keep bashing to have a good time at their expense.
AI, for one, love having a good time at their expense.:-D
ASo, I sold cupcakes at a fair yesterday, and one lady came up and said, "Have you heard of (name of a popular cupcake shop in our state)?" I say, "yes." She asked if I was with them. I say, "no" and think, does she not see my large sign stating the name of my own bakery, which is much different than the famous one. Then she asks, "do you know the location of (the famous bakery)?" Me: "They have several locations throughout the state. It's a franchise." Then she told me I should put out advertising and coupons in all the newspapers and mailers like they do. Gee, thanks for the advice, lady. She left without buying a cupcake.
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Original message sent by MimiFix
[QUOTE] People are just so rude. If they had any idea... [/QUOTE]
But they don't have any idea. So we can educate people, or accept that not everyone will be our customer, or just keep bashing to have a good time at their expense.
"OR"?
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Original message sent by Godot
I, for one, love having a good time at their expense.:-D
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I swear people are just so rude. If they had any idea of how long it takes and the artistry involved, people would realize that the price is cheap compared to the hours we sometimes put into a cake lol
It's not JUST the time it took you to make THAT cake....what about all the hours on every cake for the previous 2, 5, 10, 15, 20 or more years!!!!!
It takes ME hours to do ONE cake and my skill level is still far lower than you guys!!! Methinks I need to practice! 
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But they don't have any idea. So we can educate people, or accept that not everyone will be our customer, or just keep bashing to have a good time at their expense.
I avoid having customers in my neighborhood like the plague - it wasn't until after I got over being relieved she didn't want my card that I decided she'd been rude 
. I did tell her that it took many hours and that it was deceptively simple looking. I wonder... if a cake is a bit sloppy, it might be easier for some people to see it's a lot of work.
hahahahahaa
Believe me. That did happen to me too................
People think that we just charge for ingredients when we make a cake.............People do not think about our time, art effort, plus all the bills we have to include when working..............electric power, water, cleaning supplies,..........and so on!
Up here in Mexico I do have a lot of that stupid clients asking for free work...........................
Sometimes you just want to pour a big dose of Clorox in the gene pool. 
^ Love that line. Gotta remember it for future use. (Unfortunately there will be a lot of opportunities!)
Jan
message received today:
" i know it's late notice, but I only need a small cake. The first tier is.... "
oh lady, i'm too sick to make your "small cake" with or without tears.
Hello!
This thread is amazing and hilarious...
I'm a baker and i'm located in Malaysia.
I get many funny questions, sometimes almost to the point where I just wanna give up and tell them to look for someone else.
The most recent one was a mother who want a cake for her 1 year old son. She wants it to be winnie the pooh theme.
Discussing cake woth someone who has no idea about cake can be very frustrating.
Client: I want this ( buttercream cake)
Me: Okay, so now you want to change is to buttercream?
Client: No. I want fondant?
Me: I showed her a picture of a fondant cake. Slowly explaining the layout and degisn of the cake.
Client: (Shows me another picture of the buttercream design cake.)
At this point i felt like i was talking to myself. So I decide to sketch a layout of the cake with colour according to the theme she wanted. She just wanted winnie the pooh on the cake.
Client: The pooh bear is so small...
Me: This is just a sketch for you to get an idea of the cake layout.
Client: Can you draw a bigger picture? (like the actual size)
Finally after many days of discussion thru mobile,
She asked me...
Client: just wanted to check with you...is the candle 3D or 2D?
I was so stunned not knowing to laugh or to cry.
Someone enquired for my french macarons as wedding favors.
Below are the questions from the bride to be.
Is french macarons sweet?
Can you make it not so sweet?
How come you cant make it less sweet? Why cant you just put less sugar?
Why so expensive? Will it be cheaper if I come pack it myself?
Sigh...
I wanted to just tell her to go make it on her own.
People can be so frustrating.
AI always hear people saying fondont isn't good. I personally love it. I mostly get people trying to lower prices. My prices aren't even that bad considering 1.50 a slice. I don't think people understand that everything we do is out of our pockets and we don't have a big company behind us funding everything for us. I live in a small town so I get that all the time.
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Hello!
This thread is amazing and hilarious...
I'm a baker and i'm located in Malaysia.
I get many funny questions, sometimes almost to the point where I just wanna give up and tell them to look for someone else.
The most recent one was a mother who want a cake for her 1 year old son. She wants it to be winnie the pooh theme.
Discussing cake woth someone who has no idea about cake can be very frustrating.
Client: I want this ( buttercream cake)
Me: Okay, so now you want to change is to buttercream?
Client: No. I want fondant?
Me: I showed her a picture of a fondant cake. Slowly explaining the layout and degisn of the cake.
Client: (Shows me another picture of the buttercream design cake.)
At this point i felt like i was talking to myself. So I decide to sketch a layout of the cake with colour according to the theme she wanted. She just wanted winnie the pooh on the cake.
Client: The pooh bear is so small...
Me: This is just a sketch for you to get an idea of the cake layout.
Client: Can you draw a bigger picture? (like the actual size)
Finally after many days of discussion thru mobile,
She asked me...
Client: just wanted to check with you...is the candle 3D or 2D?
I was so stunned not knowing to laugh or to cry.
Holy cow...when you put your info in the internet, you come in contact with people you otherwise would probably lived without running into...
Just got this --copying and pasting. I already replied, but curious what others would say.
Hello, I would like a cake serving about 20-24 kids, 2 smash cakes and 24 small cookies individually wrapped for each kid. My budget is $200. Please let me know if you can do this and what your price is per item and as a package deal.
She sent a picture of the cake she wanted... the whole thing would have been about $350-370, but what got me was the package deal comment.And the way she said it, as if it were a foregone conclusion. She clearly mistook me for someone who wanted her business at all.
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