I came into work this morning to find a cake order that made me rage. It was for a lady who had been calling about a cake for almost a month now, asking what kind of decorations we could do. Originally, she wanted to see if we did the edible images, she had a logo she wanted on the cake. We don't have the printer for it. I told her to bring the logo in and if it was simple enough, I could do it in icing. She assured me it was a simple logo.
She apparently came in while I was off that day and placed the order with my coworker who now mostly works in the Deli, but helps out in the Bakery. The cake order I received was a 1/2 chocolate cake with white buttercream icing, two complex logos, and an American flag (wavy). Oh! And checkered pattern around the sides.
This is not cake boss. I do not have the resources for a cake like this! I cannot spend an hour drawing checkers on a cake! And those logos? HOW THE HELL CAN YOU SAY THOSE ARE SIMPLE?! Varied layers of color at a slant with intermingled lines! And a red circle with TINY TINY TINY writing. I would never have taken this order. Had I taken the order, I would have told the lady I could manage ONE of the logos at most. I tried both phone numbers she gave us and no one answered either.
The best part is not only did my coworker take this monstrosity of an order, but she undercharged the customer. By $12. When I free hand draw, I charge a kit price which is $6. THREE pictures is $18 extra so her price SHOULD have been $52.99. But it was $40.99.
I was PISSED, but I went ahead and did the cake as best I could. I wish I was in the frame of mind to take a picture of it, but I was so annoyed that my coworker would take this order I kind of blacked out from rage.
When the customer picked the cake up she was visibly disappointed about the lack of checkered patterns, but I told her that we don't do decorations on the sides because they have a tendency to fall off. I refuse to do them. Plus it's Halloween. I go through black icing like it's sugar free pastries at a Diabetes convention.
She was nice and courteous but then whined to everyone up front about how much she hated her cake. My boss refused to give it to her for free. If she wanted it, she would pay full price. We don't play that "whine and cry and get a free cake" game anymore. People started abusing it and would come in every few weeks and pull that shit. You're not a child in need of a pacifier. If you don't want the cake, we'll hold onto it and serve it out for samples.
So we have two new rules:
1) When taking a cake order, take it as if you were the one who would have to do it. I know I can do some neat stuff with icing, but I'm not Kary Vincent.
2) All complex orders MUST be approved by either the Bakery manager or myself.
