Sunday, April 23, 2006

Customers From Hell Volume I
"WTF were they thinking?"

Customer #1
A cake something* like this one:

Wife calls to place order. Recommended size for amount of servings she needs is a 10" or 12" round. She insists on an 8" round. She is being quite obviously cheap. She says her husband will pick up said cake on Saturday after 2:oopm. Husband comes in at 9:00am on Saturday for the cake. He is (very loudly) upset that his cake is not done. I have a shoppe full of people. He steps up to the counter, in front of numerous customers, & says, "Gimme one of those" while pointing at a peanut square. He is told that will be one dollar, "You mean you want a WHOLE dollar for that thing? I can get it somewhere else for a quarter!" Thankfully, a couple of my regulars pipe up & tell him it's really worth it, our bakery is very good. He takes the peanut square & storms out while mumbling something about having to come back again.

Husband is back at 1:00pm for cake. It is finished, he pays, he leaves, we think YAY! No more from them. HA!

Monday afternoon a phone call from the wife, informing me that she served everyone a piece of the cake, they all said it was awful & she still had 1/4 of the cake left. Remember when I said before that the cake could NOT physically serve that many people? Yet she had some left? I think not. But me, trying for that good old customer service says, "Bring back the leftover cake & we'll take care of it."
She says, "I can't."
"What? Why not?" I am dumbfounded.
Her reply, "Because my husband said he wants to eat the rest of it."

Uh-huh. Bad cake my arse!!!

I end the conversation by promising we'll even up with her next time she places an order, knowing full well that she'd never call again!


Customer #2
A cake something* like this one:

Wife calls & orders a half sheet cake for husbands surprise 50th birthday party to pick up on Saturday. On Monday morning wife calls & complains that the cake was very dry & basically terrible. None of the guests ate it. She insists she doesn't want her money back or credit for a future purchase. She is just letting us know so that we are aware.

On Monday afternoon a new customer calls. They tasted our cake at the aforementioned 50th birthday party this past Saturday. The cake was so wonderful she orders one for later in the month.

On Tuesday another new customer calls. They tasted our cake at the aforementioned 50th birthday party. They also order a cake.

Would you believe, one more time, a third new customer orders a cake who was at that very party.

A year or two passes & all is forgotten. I have a shoppe full of customers & my Mom calls me over & whispers, "Make sure you say hello to that woman." Well, I have no idea who said woman is but I know my Mom said it for a reason, so I went out of my way to flash her a smile & wish her a wonderful weekend. The woman says, "I haven't had one of your cakes in so long! I need to order one! If I bring in a picture of a cake shaped like a hat can you do it?"
"Certainly," I reply.

After she leaves I ask Mom who this lady was...yes, you guessed it. The wife mentioned above!


Customer #3
A cake something* like this one:

Daughter comes in to order a surprise birthday cake for Mom. Cost is no object, she knows just what she wants. She proceeds to order a VERY LARGE round cake with really cool decorations! We actually tell her she wouldn't need to go that large for her estimated guests, she would have plenty with a smaller size. "No, no..this will be good. We like left overs." Daughter says her Dad will pick up the cake after 1:00pm on Saturday.

At 9:30am on Saturday Dad comes to pick up the cake. It is not quite finished. I inform him I can have it done in less than a half hour. He is not pleased he has to come back. I apologize, but I tell him that I finish the cakes in the order of their pick up times. Since his wasn't supposed to be until 1:00pm, I finished the morning cakes first. He admits his daughter did not tell him 1:00pm. He asks to pay the bill now, so he can just run in & get the cake later. I give him his bill. Evidently, his daughter did not tell him the cost of the cake she picked out either. His eyes grew much larger than their sockets as his jaw flopped to the ground. (Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but you get the idea!) He pays by credit card & leaves.

1:00pm rolls around & he comes in. (Take note: I am pretty pleased with the way the cake looks, it's really cool!) He picks up the very large box & says the cakes looks great. I walk ahead to hold the door for him & as he passes me he says in a not-too-friendly tone, "It BETTER be WORTH it!"

I silently wish his nice daughter would have picked it up. Ah well. I know once they cut into it all will be right with the universe as I knew this cake would taste awesome!

Monday rolls around & the Dad calls to complain that the cake was over baked, none of the guests ate it & he thinks he should get a partial refund. Now, do you remember, I mentioned this was a really big cake? Way too many servings for what they needed! But the daughter did not have a problem with that. When asked how much he had left, he replied, "None. My wife took the left-overs to work for her birthday treat."

Yeah, right. Another one bites the dust!


*The cakes pictured above were not the actual cakes in question.
However, the story below IS the photo of the cake being described.

Customer #4
This was her cake:


An older lady comes in & wants a 'unique' cake made. She wants it to look like a big tequila worm, 3D style. This was many (many!) years ago, I thought it would be fun to do & would add some great photos to my portfolio which was sparse at the time. I told her I would only charge her $60.00 which was an absolute steal! She thought that was way too much (!) & would have to think about it (read: see if she could get it cheaper somewhere else).

A few days pass, back in she comes, with her leathery skin, hacking like a smoker of at least 50 years. With her deep rattling voice she says, "Ok, I'll order it, but he'd better DAMN WELL appreciate it!" I also deem it appropriate to mention that I do deliver, for an extra charge, if she doesn't want the hassle of picking it up. Surprise, she's not interested if it costs more.

She came in to pick it up on a Saturday at 1:00pm. She seemed to be pleased with how it looked, surprised it was that tall & said, "It sure as hell didn't have to be that big!"


I figure she is one of those people that simply bitches about everything so I smile & ask if I can carry it to her car for her. "Yeah, I'll let ya 'cuz if ya drop it I git my money back!"

We get to her car & she tells me to put it on the back seat. I tell her I don't recommend that, as her back seat is slightly slanted & the cake should really be placed on a totally flat surface, much like her trunk, or on the floor in the front seat. "Nah, It'll be fine! Put it there!", she seems incredibly annoyed with me. So, I put it on the back seat & try to tie the seatbelt around the box so there is a bit of stability. I turn to face her & say, very slowly, "You NEED to drive carefully. Easy on the corners!" I felt I did all that I could do.

I turn to walk back into the shoppe & hear her squeal (Yes, SQUEAL!) her tires as she zooms around the corner. I knew there was no way that cake was still standing. But what more could I have done? It was 100 degrees outside, a beautiful Saturday afternoon & only 1:00pm. That was my last pick-up for the day. I closed up the shoppe & didn't return until Monday morning.

There was one message on the answering machine. It was recorded at 2:30pm, Saturday. It was that woman yelling that she just arrived at her destination & the cake was completely ruined, so badly, you can't even see what it is. Frosting is everywhere.

Hmm...let's check the facts, shall we?
She left our shoppe at 1:00 on the dot.
Her destination was less that 10 minutes from our shoppe.
It was 100 degrees outside. (French Buttercream, anyone? You are aware that butter does, in fact melt, right? Of course you are!)
Her call was at 2:30...exactly 1-1/2 hours after she left our shoppe.
I think all my dear intelligent readers can visualize exactly how this turns out.

My partner loses the drawing of straws on this one & rings the psycho. (Confession coming up here...I make sure she almost ALWAYS gets that straw! *Giggles* I don't mind dealing with those bastards in person, it's when they're on the phone that I can't stand it!) I'll spare you the majority of uninteresting drivel spewed forth from, clearly, one of Satan's spawn. The part that hurt us deeply came just before she hung up when she informed us she would, "Never set foot in your store again!"

YAY! A happy ending. Just like in the fairy tales.




20 Responses to “Customers From Hell Volume I
"WTF were they thinking?"”

Yuck. Some people are shameless. Are people accustomed to getting partial refunds from bakeries if they claim they didn't like how something tasted? It seems like a strange request to me.

Cherry! said...

What would I have done? I would have made another worm cake, gone around to her house, bent her over and shoved the cake up her ass sideways.

Then I'd probably go to an anger management course or something....hahahaha!

The Goddess said...

oh my!! people have some serious issues. i was thinking that a tequila worm in 3D for $60 was really cheap and she would be sooo happy about that. what a bitch - really. if you aren't willing to pay for it, don't order it. i don't know what i would have said to her as i try to be as nice as possible. wow you have some rude customers!!

Candy Minx said...

That is wonderful thanks for the photos!

I nominate each of these people to recieve a IRS audit. That should cheer them up.

Scott.
.

LCC Katy said...

Yeah aren't people great. I see these types of people a lot as a waitress. "Waitress!!!!! my dinner was horrible" (yet they ate all of it) There are plenty of peopel that will complain so they have a reason not to tip wait staff. But I believe in Karma so I am counting on them getting the short straw someday for all the mean things they did and said.

jin said...

CP: Strange, & tacky!! Yes, it is common in this area. Some local bakeries do give the refunds as do the grocery store bakeries. I normally don't. Esp. when they say they ate the whole damn thing! I mean, really, how bad could it have been, right?!!?

Side story: There was a banquet hall just outside the city limits that was no better, yet no worse than any of the other banquet halls. He could serve around 350-400 for a reception. He only asked for half their money down, the rest was due after the reception. This poor guy had to CLOSE his biz. because wedding couple after wedding couple would refuse to pay the rest of their bill. Personally, I believe that couples booked there on purpose because word got around that they could get away with it. When the guy finally closed down, he took out nearly a half page ad in the local paper & wrote about what people had been doing to him. He also mentioned how dishonest these people were.

This rarely happens to me anymore, a lot of these instances were shortly after we started. Except the 3rd customer, that was about 2 months ago, since then I've heard other people mention he does that with anything he buys. :-P

p.s. I do still think you should have got your enchiladas! :-) lol

jin said...

cherry: LMAO!!! I LOVE that you said that!!! Heeheehee....
:-D

a girl: Thankfully, the rude ones are few & far between...I'm a different person than I was then. I don't know if I could be so nice anymore! lol

candy: Thank you!! I've got soooo many more, keep coming back! :-)

gnat: OOooohhh....good one! You don't happen to know anyone at the IRS, do ya? ;-)

katy: Oh! I cringe at how some people treat waitresses! I have a relative that would leave less than 5% when I went out with her, even if all was perfect! Every time we left a restaurant I'd pretend I forgot my purse or sunglass or keys so I could go back in & leave more of a tip! She must have thought I was a space cadet! lol

Lesley said...

People will say anything to try to pay less money, it's unbelievable!

I have to say that I covet that tequila worm cake! I love his huge grin! Very fun.

btw, I love looking at all the cake pics on your site. It's like food porn! :)

jin said...

lesley: Food porn...I LIKE that! Plus, the upside...no calories or sugar while just looking! Unless the pics make people go out & buy sweets...that would be bad. Unless they are my sweets...that would be good! LOL

Unknown said...

LMAO at foold porn, and Cherry!'s comment. Thinking about what gnat said, I know some people that know some people....

jin said...

Yeah real...half the time I swear the comments are as good as my post!!!

Unknown said...

If only the comments came with pictures of cakes and other fine foods.

jin said...

Ahhh....so then I've still got a reason to keep posting?

Cherry! said...

Loving the food porn comment! My dirty mind wandered though (surprise surprise) and now I have this question for you: Has anyone ever asked you to make an x rated type of cake???? Do tell!

Lesley said...

Wow, I'm glad you enjoy the food porn comment! I actually first said that one day while looking at the Williams-Sonoma catalog and I declared it "porn for foodies!"

I should really blog that. :)

Cherry! said...

Don't just blog it lesley patent it!

Lesley said...

I will! :)

And Cherry, now I must read your blog -- I'm heading there now!

jin said...

cherry: OOOooo!! Good question!! ;-)
Well, of course I make x rated cakes!! *giggles* What kind of a virgo would I be if I didn't!!
Just for you...next blog...marzipan penises!!!

lesley: Re: cherry's site:
I don't think it comes under food-porn...porn, yes...food...not so much!! It is a mighty good read, though!! Check out her nearly nude mr. wonderful!! ;-)

Cherry! said...

HAHAHA! I love marzipan. So add a penis to it and that's amore!

Lesley: I need to post again. It's been too long... And jin's correct. There's lots of talk about cocks and crotch. Not everyone's cup of tea. hahahaha!