What I've deciphered from this thread is that the OP is actually a Safeway employee trying to discredit and shame a Mom&Pop bakery while still extolling the greatness of Safeway cakes. Everything is clearly secret code, the "girlfriend" is code for manager, 80 is the item code for Safeway cakes and 30 minutes is the average time it takes to make a Safeway cake.
First, why would anyone think that calling half an hour after ordering food is a reasonable time to cancel food? Baking a cake takes time, folks. I have never baked a cake myself, but I am still aware of the fact that before even putting it in the oven, ingredients need to be mixed together, and then it has to sit in the oven. Come on, Philly. Half an hour into a two hour period likely means that preparation or baking is already underway.
The reason that I thought it was a reasonable time was based on the OP saying that normally it took 30 minutes for a cake and that this time it was taking longer based on the bakery having a big order. That indicated to me that it wasn't baking time that made it 2 hours but the fact that the big order had to be finished first. So I assumed that at the 30 minute mark it was highly unlikely that the cake had been started.
Quote:
Second, the fact that people are suggesting that the bakery should suck it up ans scrape the name off the cake and resell it. With all the GD beer snobs and anti TimHortonism around this forum, the notion that a fancy independent bakery reuse a cake should have been torn to shreds, but it wasn't. Strange. I guess cakes don't need to be special, but a pint of beer or a morning coffee needs to be prepared by some kind of artist with a 300 year old recipe.
I thought PhillyCup said that the writing was on a chocolate piece that was added to the cake? Not saying that it should be resold easily but it does seem easier to fix than if the writing was on the cake. I could have mis-read this though.
What I've deciphered from this thread is that the OP is actually a Safeway employee trying to discredit and shame a Mom&Pop bakery while still extolling the greatness of Safeway cakes. Everything is clearly secret code, the "girlfriend" is code for manager, 80 is the item code for Safeway cakes and 30 minutes is the average time it takes to make a Safeway cake.
Yeah, but how much more expensive is it if you buy the same cake from Safeway liquor store?
It was a $40 cake, not some multi-million dollar project that he backed out of after weeks or months of work.
Businesses (and people) have voice-mails for a reason and it isn't crazy to expect a business to check that during operating hours.
I guess he had no idea but if he was told that the baker had a big order to fill and that would mean the cake that normally takes 30 mins to make would now take 1.5-2 hours it is pretty reasonable to expect that the reason is the big order has to be made first.
I am not a master baker but I doubt that the cake would take longer to bake because of a large order being made at the same time.
I guess you've never had any experience making baked goods before. Have you ever baked anything and then put icing and decorations on it as soon as its taken out of the oven? If you have done it before, how do you expect a cake to be done in 30 minutes? Do you really buy the fact that the OP states it takes 30 min to make a cake? 30 minutes would be the time to go from taking the order, gathering and preping the ingredients and equipment, putting it all together and baking the cake. You also have to let it cool for awhile so the icing and decorations dont melt and run off. Making and having ready the icing takes time too. The other part of cake making involves being artisitc with your icing. You have to make it visually attractive to appeal to the customers eye, and that takes more time and careful piping because you cant just slap on icing.
Now imagine going through all that work, then when you're done at the 4 hour mark (because it's a special order which the customer has indicated he'd pick up soon, so you'd have to be quick to meet that deadline) and then you just found out that the same customer just left a message on the phone, cancelling his special order for safeway cake. Now you realize all that time and resources you've spent is all for nothing. Not only that, but because you've lost money, the next order you have to do is not really for profit, but only to help you break even from the losses of the previous order
Quote:
Originally Posted by moon
It is a freakin' 40 dollar cake that likely cost the baker what 10 bucks to make?
a $10 loss? really?
I guess you've never been a small business owner either
We had one of our two wedding cakes made at Yamato and it was ordered months in advance of our wedding. Nowhere during my visit did they ask for a deposit and even refused to take one when I asked of it. Thats what I consider great customer service and trust in your fellow man.
How is that great customer service? No deposit? I'd be paranoid that they have no incentive to make my cake. The deposit is my guarantee that someone has acknowledged and will be committed to fulfilling an order. Especially for something that is time critical like that, my nightmare would be they didn't make the cake but since I didn't put a deposit on it, they werwn't obligated. I am glad it worked out well here for you and the bakery didn't flake out or anything.
I guess you've never had any experience making baked goods before. Have you ever baked anything and then put icing and decorations on it as soon as its taken out of the oven? If you have done it before, how do you expect a cake to be done in 30 minutes? Do you really buy the fact that the OP states it takes 30 min to make a cake? 30 minutes would be the time to go from taking the order, gathering and preping the ingredients and equipment, putting it all together and baking the cake. You also have to let it cool for awhile so the icing and decorations dont melt and run off. Making and having ready the icing takes time too. The other part of cake making involves being artisitc with your icing. You have to make it visually attractive to appeal to the customers eye, and that takes more time and careful piping because you cant just slap on icing.
I think it was kind of obvious that the cake itself was already made and just needed decorating, which would explain the 30 minute time frame. It takes about 5 minutes to get DQ to write a few words on one of their pre-made ice cream
cakes.
I think it was kind of obvious that the cake itself was already made and just needed decorating, which would explain the 30 minute time frame. It takes about 5 minutes to get DQ to write a few words on one of their pre-made ice cream
cakes.
have you noticed that in DQ, every single cake (except for the blizzard ones) are the exact same?
Vanilla ice cream, chocolate crumbs, fudge, and chocolate ice cream. So it's easy to grab a blank one and write a name and message on it.
Ice cream can also be kept in a freezer for awhile.
A small specialty cake shop on the other hand, dont have the luxury of having standby cakes. Especially something specific like a mango mousse cake, so what makes you think it's "obvious" that it's already made?
^^^ because he said it normally only takes 30 minutes to do. It sounded like he was just getting a pre-made cake customized, ie) saw a cake in the display case, and requested a message be put on it.
* mango mousse cake sounds like a popular kind of dessert in an Asian bake shop.
I think it was kind of obvious that the cake itself was already made and just needed decorating, which would explain the 30 minute time frame. It takes about 5 minutes to get DQ to write a few words on one of their pre-made ice cream
cakes.
Dude, the cake wasn't made already. This isn't a chain shop.
^^^ because he said it normally only takes 30 minutes to do. It sounded like he was just getting a pre-made cake customized, ie) saw a cake in the display case, and requested a message be put on it.
* mango mousse cake sounds like a popular kind of dessert in an Asian bake shop.
OP said "request to make a custom-made mango mousse birthday cake for my girlfriend" which sounds like a whole cake to be made specifically for his girlfriend from scratch. How do you get "requested a message put on an existing made cake" out of any it? It sounds like alot of baseless assumptions on your part
Found the cake menu below. About 20 different kinds
I received a total of 113 calls from them. No exaggeration. The last one at 12:30am. If I get a call from them tomorrow, I'll answer and tell them I'll report them to the police.
Minor Clarifications: I've had cake from them before -- it takes 30 minutes to make. It's almost certain the cake wasn't being made within the first 30 minutes. The price of the cake is probably closer to $30, but that's probably moot (I was actually never quoted a price when I placed the order).
I also never lied when I said I would come pick it up later today. I wouldn't mind a 2nd cake. Yes, I was a bit rude -- I will admit to that, and point out that I am trying to portray a very fair depiction of what happened. But I made it clear I would stop by last night to pick up the cake. It was only after their constant phone calls that I decided never to give them any of my money ever. Was I a dick for flaking out on them? Yes. I was stupid and careless. But what these fools are doing is bordering on illegal (ie harassment), and they are intentionally being dicks. You talk about how honorable these business owners are, working on handshake agreements. I'm sorry, but people who harass you all day are not honorable people. They're megadicks, and I'm not going to cave to those type of bullying tactics.
I'm quite shocked at the amount of people who think I should give money to these maroons, and people who feel any sympathy for them.
Hey, I agree the calls are way overboard. But it doesn't change the fact of what you did. And had you handled it differently it wouldn't have come to this.
You call it bullying tactics, but all they are doing is trying to recoup money you owe them. Is that bullying? No. Agreed the way they are doing it is all wrong and slightly scary, but it's not bullying if they have a case.
This whole situation has become a lot like the Germans fighting the Russians. Not sure who to cheer for, both are jerks.
As was mentioned by a few other people, when you first spoke to them after the mishap, you had an opportunity to fix things and according to your own words, 'you abruptly hung up' and didn't go collect the cake, or talk to them further. I think that pretty much negates your moral high ground if you had any to begin with.
I'm actually quite curious as to what the police will say or do. I don't think it will be much. At this point, both parties look foolish.
I received a total of 113 calls from them. No exaggeration. The last one at 12:30am. If I get a call from them tomorrow, I'll answer and tell them I'll report them to the police.
Minor Clarifications: I've had cake from them before -- it takes 30 minutes to make. It's almost certain the cake wasn't being made within the first 30 minutes. The price of the cake is probably closer to $30, but that's probably moot (I was actually never quoted a price when I placed the order).
I also never lied when I said I would come pick it up later today. I wouldn't mind a 2nd cake. Yes, I was a bit rude -- I will admit to that, and point out that I am trying to portray a very fair depiction of what happened. But I made it clear I would stop by last night to pick up the cake. It was only after their constant phone calls that I decided never to give them any of my money ever. Was I a dick for flaking out on them? Yes. I was stupid and careless. But what these fools are doing is bordering on illegal (ie harassment), and they are intentionally being dicks. You talk about how honorable these business owners are, working on handshake agreements. I'm sorry, but people who harass you all day are not honorable people. They're megadicks, and I'm not going to cave to those type of bullying tactics.
I'm quite shocked at the amount of people who think I should give money to these maroons, and people who feel any sympathy for them.
Prove they made 113 calls. Take a screen shot, or a photo of your cell phone, showing 113 missed calls from their number in your call log and I will have sympathy with your situation. Personally, I do not buy it. Black out any personal info in paint.
Any business person knows they would get in huge trouble for doing that. I think you are greatly exaggerating things, and if you are, it could be construed as slander, as it could be very harmful to their business.
Prove they made 113 calls. Take a screen shot, or a photo of your cell phone, showing 113 missed calls from their number in your call log and I will have sympathy with your situation. Personally, I do not buy it. Black out any personal info in paint.
Any business person knows they would get in huge trouble for doing that. I think you are greatly exaggerating things, and if you are, it could be construed as slander, as it could be very harmful to their business.
I just reviewed my call history. Some corrections I need to make.
Errata:
1) There were only 96 phone calls. I'm sorry, I lied. I miscounted while scrolling on my crappy phone.
2) Their first phone call was not at 8pm on Sept 7; it was at 9:30am on Sept 8 when they phoned me the first time, leaving me a voicemail asking why I hadn't picked up my cake.
3) The last phone call was at 11:48pm, and not at 12:30am as I previously stated.
Something seems fishy to me...If this place offers the mango cake and they said it will be a while, they also offer a tiramisu cake so why wouldn't you ask if they had a tiramisu cake ready to go? You went and got a crappy cake from Safeway instead?
I dunno it just doesn't sit right with me. If I am like "hey I am going to get my g/f a fancy cake from this bakery" I'm probably not going to go to safeway without seeing my other options at the fancy place.
