Also, the point of this thread is to be able to vent about whatever annoying thing happened with a customer on any given day and comiserate with each other about said annoyances, not to reprimand people for being annoyed. 
Also, the point of this thread is to be able to vent about whatever annoying thing happened with a customer on any given day and comiserate with each other about said annoyances, not to reprimand people for being annoyed.
No "reprimand" was intended; a request for an after-hours consultation is certainly a legitimate annoyance, no matter what the reason. I was simply both puzzled and slightly amused that "kblickster" seemed to object to the customer's reason for wanting (and being willing to pay for) an after-hours consultation.
I make my living as a programmer. The software I write runs on multi-user systems. And as such, it's hardly unusual for me to be asked -- or to volunteer -- to stay late, or come in on a weekend, in order to take care of a problem that can't be taken care of while users are in a customer's system. And yes, on one occasion (throwing my back out severely, while on my fall 2001 vacation), I asked my physician to stay late (which he did), because my train home was running many hours late (because of multiple malfunctions), and I couldn't make the scheduled appointment time. I also had my car attendant re-tag my checked bag, so that I could get off the train about half an hour sooner.
I once forfeited an already-paid-for ticket to a Joan Morris concert, because my best friend needed me to work a video crew. He even compensated me for the forfeited ticket. But I made it very clear that it would be the last time I'd be forfeiting a concert ticket, and that in the future, if he wanted my services, he'd have to work around my concert schedule.
Professional Dilettante?
So are you the art lover or the one who has only a superficial desultory understanding of…. what exactly?
or is that some thing NOT to ask/say to a baker?
American Heritage Dictionary (on Yahoo): A dabbler in an art or a field of knowledge.
Merriam-Webster: a person whose interest in an art or in an area of knowledge is not very deep or serious.
Dictionary.com: a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement, especially in a desultory or superficial way; dabbler.
I first began so-describing myself on the PIPORG-L list, because I was frequently being mistaken for an expert. But it really does describe me quite well, as I'm a dabbler in practically everything.
i think my own comment here is one that i should not say to any of you bakers ;)
have you seen the betty crocker sugar cookie mix holiday commercial?
"let betty do the measuring for you" and the cute little graphics--oh
it is adorable--i just wanna go buy it and make some--
i did just get slammed with an a$$ kicking cold so have a little mercy--i am more loopy than usual oh god--
--i'm not gonna buy it but the commercial makes me want to--but if i was in a pinch... hahaha
it's perfectly inspiring
bake on
:lol:
I have a gripe (big surprise, right?) Why do customers ask for the sun and the moon in terms of cake design and then wonder if it's possible to have different flavors in each tier? Really? You want a peacock chasing a dragon and a 3d representation of your dog on top, but you think baking one tier vanilla and another chocolate might be a big deal?
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Original message sent by howsweet
:lol:
I have a gripe (big surprise, right?) Why do customers ask for the sun and the moon in terms of cake design and then wonder if it's possible to have different flavors in each tier? Really? You want a peacock chasing a dragon and a 3d representation of your dog on top, but you think baking one tier vanilla and another chocolate might be a big deal?
Baking each tier in a different flavor, so guests can have a choice, is easy. Getting venue wait-staff to actually GIVE guests a choice, at least from what I hear (was it this thread, or another), THAT's hard!
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Baking each tier in a different flavor, so guests can have a choice, is easy. Getting venue wait-staff to actually GIVE guests a choice, at least from what I hear (was it this thread, or another), THAT's hard!
I believe that howsweet meant that people ask the world and think it is a 'piece of cake' to pull off but that then that same person would suggest it might be too much for the decorator to use different flavours as if that was the hard part.
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I believe that howsweet meant that people ask the world and think it is a 'piece of cake' to pull off but that then that same person would suggest it might be too much for the decorator to use different flavours as if that was the hard part.
when you change the color of modeling paste, fondant, gumpaste you just add a few drops of color right.
maybe these askers think that you just add a teaspoon of coloring & flavoring to the white batter to get chocolate/banana/almond/strawberry/carrot cake. So what's a few drops of whatever. easy peasy.
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I believe that howsweet meant that people ask the world and think it is a 'piece of cake' to pull off but that then that same person would suggest it might be too much for the decorator to use different flavours as if that was the hard part.
Thank you - I didn't realize I was so inscrutable. 
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Original message sent by howsweet
:lol:
I have a gripe (big surprise, right?) Why do customers ask for the sun and the moon in terms of cake design and then wonder if it's possible to have different flavors in each tier? Really? You want a peacock chasing a dragon and a 3d representation of your dog on top, but you think baking one tier vanilla and another chocolate might be a big deal?
I have often wondered this myself lol!!!
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I get this too sometimes. If a place is closed, I come when it's open. Somehow for whatever reason though I have couples expecting availability at any time, day or night. Don't get me wrong, I tell them when I have openings and I stand by it. If they don't like the times, they can either go somewhere else, or they can adjust their schedule. I don't care if they're tired and they just want to sleep in, I'm not available when I'm not available.
Exactly! 
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:lol:
I have a gripe (big surprise, right?) Why do customers ask for the sun and the moon in terms of cake design and then wonder if it's possible to have different flavors in each tier? Really? You want a peacock chasing a dragon and a 3d representation of your dog on top, but you think baking one tier vanilla and another chocolate might be a big deal?
In other news, the visual of said cake is pretty epic! :)
I know this has been said a gazillion times but...
"Can I have a cake that depicts the life of me and my 4 best friends over the last 20 years? Oh - and I need it for 10 people."
Ummmm.....
(I was able to convince her that I would need AT LEAST a 2 tier cake...now I just need to come up with a possible design)
Sure. Give me an appropriate montage of pictures, or some pictures from which to construct such a montage, and I'll have it printed on edible printing media, and put it on top of a sheet cake.
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Original message sent by howsweet
:lol:
I have a gripe (big surprise, right?) Why do customers ask for the sun and the moon in terms of cake design and then wonder if it's possible to have different flavors in each tier? Really? You want a peacock chasing a dragon and a 3d representation of your dog on top, but you think baking one tier vanilla and another chocolate might be a big deal?
Sometimes I wonder if they think we buy the cakes whole and just put the decorations on out of a box.
A
Original message sent by IowaBaker
Ain't THAT the truth! We had a family party yesterday for 3 November birthdays and a cake was made for each of the birthday people. My sister in law made 2 and I made the one for my father in law. I am not a great decorator (strictly beginning hobbyist, no paid cakes), but I put a lot of love and thought into the design. He likes western wear (cowboy clothing) and I baked a horseshoe cake with paisleys on top and what was supposed to be a rope border. In consideration of his lowered appetite (he's in his 80's) I kept the icing thin, didn't layer it adding more icing in the middle, and the horseshoe shape was one that's easy to slice a small piece without leaving a lot of cut surface to dry out. No thank you for thinking of me or thank you for making it or even "Oh, one for me, too?" And he wouldn't even take some home.
And it was MOIST and delicious.
Mine is "This is simple cake why it cost that much?" She was asking for 3 tiers bubble guppies cakes, complete with all guppies characters and under the sea theme cake for tomorrow. which she is calling at 2pm. Well.... first of all, I have others cakes order that need to be finish, second, if it so simple, why don't you make them by your self??? third, its 3 tiers, its fondant, 8 characters, not including regular fishes and other decoration that need to make your cake looks like under the sea!!!!
Sometimes i just want to "click" or... tell them, "Sorry, I don't graduated at hogsward. would you like hermione's or Ginny's number?"
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Original message sent by Shasha2727
First Amtrack, then logging, now Quantum Physics & Time Space Continuums. Wow, CCentral members are a very esoteric group.....My son says time is limitless & irrelevant, unless you are a clock, or a bride waiting for her wedding cake.....Thx to HBQuickcom, I'm going to look up Babylon 5 on Netflix tonight!
Orlando's main baking supply store makes a killing; it's ALWAYS busy, and has a monopoly on supplies for people who don't have (here's that word again) TIME to order online. They charge 15-25% over online sources & restaurant supply, and the owner seems perpetually angry. She has all these long hand written signs, in all caps saying things like "DO [B][U]NOT[/U][/B] ALLOW YOUR CHILDREN TO TOUCH THESE JARS! WE DO NOT HAVE TIME TO REORGANIZE THEM EVERY DAY!" "WE [U][B]DO NOT[/B][/U] ACCEPT [U][B]ANY[/B][/U] CREDIT OR DEBIT CARDS ON CHARGES LESS THAN $10! [U][B]ABSOLUTELY[/B][/U] [U][B]NO EXCEPTIONS!!"[/B][/U] These little love notes are all over the store, making you feel warm & fuzzy about shopping there. But when you've absolutley positively got to have Disco Dust TONIGHT, whatcho gonna do?
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Sometimes I wonder if they think we buy the cakes whole and just put the decorations on out of a box.
:lol:
I hate this response after a quote. "WOW!" very annoying...
I got this a couple of weeks ago - I'm paraphrasing to make it shorter. Help! I already ordered elsewhere, but I just saw your site. Please respond immediately and let me know if you can do my cake coming up in 6 days so I can cancel the other cake. No info on style or number of servings.
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Original message sent by minacake
Mine is "This is simple cake why it cost that much?" She was asking for 3 tiers bubble guppies cakes, complete with all guppies characters and under the sea theme cake for tomorrow. which she is calling at 2pm. Well.... first of all, I have others cakes order that need to be finish, second, if it so simple, why don't you make them by your self??? third, its 3 tiers, its fondant, 8 characters, not including regular fishes and other decoration that need to make your cake looks like under the sea!!!! Sometimes i just want to "click" or... tell them, "Sorry, I don't graduated at hogsward. would you like hermione's or Ginny's number?"
Mine is "This is simple cake why it cost that much?" She was asking for 3 tiers bubble guppies cakes, complete with all guppies characters and under the sea theme cake for tomorrow. which she is calling at 2pm. Well.... first of all, I have others cakes order that need to be finish, second, if it so simple, why don't you make them by your self??? third, its 3 tiers, its fondant, 8 characters, not including regular fishes and other decoration that need to make your cake looks like under the sea!!!!
Sometimes i just want to "click" or... tell them, "Sorry, I don't graduated at hogsward. would you like hermione's or Ginny's number?"
I sometimes hate answering the phone on Thursdays and Fridays because there are so many calls like this. I don't let them get far enough to start describing what they want.
People who want Bubble Guppies always ask for all the characters - not sure what it is about that show...I just tell them, even if I were still doing that sort of thing, it would be like $400 just for the 3d sugar figures.
"sorry I don't do licensed characters" comes in very handy for moments like this!
Okay, I just found this website.... some of them are so astounding that I just think they can't possibly be true!!!
notalwaysright.com
But I promise it will make all you professionals feel better about your crazy clients!!!
I just got started and read the first two pages then realized how many remained to be seen. I could hardly stop laughing and realized that my life is just too short to be able to stay and read more. Boy, you gotta love the public!
Jan
AI'm with you sparkle. Some of that just can't be real lol
Trust me, as a nurse for over 30 years, it CAN be real!! Unbelievable, but real!! LOL You know, on the airport story under the heading, "Giving Her A Little Flight," something just occurred to me: These days, most airlines refuse to accept cash for in-flight purchases. And Amtrak is poised to join this crowd.
There's just one problem with that: they have no legal leg to stand on. It's printed (or technically, engraved) right on the front of every piece of U.S. currency:
"Legal Tender" doesn't mean that it's the only form of payment that can legally be offered (all considerations of barter aside, checks, gift certificates, foreign currency, and the ever-popular credit and debit cards are also valid forms of payment, even though none of them are legal tender).
Rather, "Legal Tender," by definition, is the one form of payment that everybody in the issuing nation-state is legally required to either accept as payment, or immediately forgive the debt.
Personally, I'd very much like to see all this "cashless" bovine scat fall to a precedent-setting legal challenge.
On the restaurant story under the heading, "I Do Work Here, Does Not Work Here," that sounds like a completely believable incident whose participants unwittingly gave a real-life enactment to the old joke about a whole line of people waiting for a store to open, and blocking the store's proprietor from actually opening it.
ASoooo... No more cake talk? We've moved on from cake talk in a cake forum?
OK. Just checking.
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