Friday
Jan232009
The Problem With Phone Orders
January 23, 2009 [answering phone] "Cakey Cake Bakery, Jill speaking! How can I help you?"
"Hi, I need to order a cake for my boss. We have a photo of him playing golf that we'd like to put on it, though - can you do that?"
"Of course! Just bring the photo in on a USB drive and we'll print it out here."
"Great, I'll bring it by this afternoon."
Later...
"Hey, Jill, what am I putting on this cake?"
"Oh, check the counter; I left the jump drive out for you there."
[calling from the back room] "Really? This is what they want on the cake?"
"Yeah, the customer just brought it in."
"Okey dokey!"
Believe it or not, this is a TRUE story: Elisabeth R. worked at the office in question. Besides, how could I ever make up something this good?
Reader Comments (238)
A similar story:
Customer phones up and says "we would like a cake which says best wishes Suzanne, and underneath that, we will miss you"
The result can be seen here: http://www.theginblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/walmart_cake1.jpg
Look at it this way: You could have another forgettable photo cake of some dude golfing, or you could have a story to tell the rest of your life. Which would make your birthday brighter?
And let's be fair here. Not everyone in the world is as tech-saavy as us; a lot of people working in bakeries are just getting by, well below the poverty line, and may well not have access to computers at home or knowledge of them. In that case, how is this person to know that that little device is even data storage? I think we're throwing the word "stupid" around way too readily. Ignorance, perhaps, but we have no definitive evidence of stupidity.
I once went to a chain bakery and ordered a picture cake. The guy working, who was VERY disorganized and had to borrow a pen from me because he didn't have one, got concerned when I handed him the photo I wanted on the cake. He said to me, why don't you just keep the picture... I wouldn't want it to get lost.
Hmmm... so how's the designer supposed to put the picture on the cake if I have it?
Ugh.
Haha, fecking AWESOME.
Actually, I think there could be a real market out there for this type of cake - you'd have to target the seriously geeky, though, like programmers and webmasters and the like. I know I'd love a cake like this! Yum!
Maybe if they had this flash drive, they wouldn't have had a problem - http://diskonkey.blogspot.com/2007/11/christmas-cake-usb-hub-with.html
people can be so literal....
On behalf of cake decorators in grocery stores - customers ask for some very strange things on cakes, so a jump drive seems fairly normal ('specially in my town). Now that being said, the order form should have mentioned that it was a edible image cake--as it obviously mentioned the green border. Sadly, good decorators are not the norm for grocery stores as the pay is crappy, the hours are long, and the stress is higher than I've experienced anywhere else (and I'm in tech support now). I've seen lots of cakes go out that I would never pay for, and I wish my phone had had a camera on it while I was there.
lmao ..... ohhhhhhhgod. that is good.
This one made my 13 year old daughter smack her forehead and say "WHAT was the decorator thinking"!, I have to agree with her!
Wow, you people are harsh. I think the story behind the cake is funny but I've seen cakes here with poo, flies, babies (not to mention fetal cookies), bound feet, water births, rancid camo and Olivia pushing. Why would a drive seem so strange?
This is a funny incident but pmost of you folks are completely wrong about who the stupid person was. Sorry folks but the person who put the jump drive on the cake was doing the right thing. Why?
Go back and read the dialog again. They were told to put the jump drive on the cake, and they even questioned that, giving the other baker the chance to clarify what they meant. Sadly that baker did not do ANYTHING to be more specific. People PUT EVERYTHING on cakes. Even Genitalia. The baker has no way of knowing what history is going through the head of the person requesting any particular thing, no matter how ridiculous it is. I have seen cakes with brokem html on them because the requesting person's browser was incompatible with the web based "I want this text on my cake" form. 35 years ago my first software job was in a glass manufactuing factory. The standing policy there was: "AVO" "Avoid Verbal Orders" They had little form pads everywhere. name, date, time and order. They never relied on people's memory for things. (it was a harsh, dangerous environment) The IDIOT in this case was the person who provides the jump drive without so much as single scrap of a note specifying what they wanted.
Remember - if anything CAN go wrong, it will.
Wow! Look at all these comments! To be honest, I had a real great laugh with this one too :)
Alisa@http://www.foodista.com/" REL="nofollow">Foodista
hehehehe..i almost tinkled my hanes over this story...wow...good stuff
I'm crying my eyes out right now! SO HILARIOUS!
Omg, that's funny!
OMG, LMAO!!!
thats too funny!!!
Yeah, I can see where that would be a problem!
RT
www.privacy-tools.net.tc
Now that's pretty friggn funny!
Case study for digital illiteracy and for poor guidance in the workplace.
This one immediately goes onto the top ten. It's so amazing, it might even rate a spot in the time capsule.
oh no i just wrecked my keyboard as I spluttered coffee all over it! You need warnings on this kinda stuff! Like, dont drink and read as uncontrollable laughter may cause computer malfunction...
As hilarious an example of poor communication this is, all the people deriding the decorator as stupid are being a little unfair. Imagine this alternate scenario.
"Hi, I need to order a cake for my boss. He just oversaw the launch a new style of USB drive and we want to celebrate this"
"Ok, just bring a photo of the drive in and we'll duplicate it."
"I'll do better than that, I'll bring in a sample this afternoon."
Later...
"Hey, Jill, what am I putting on this cake?"
"Oh, check the counter; I left the jump drive out for you there."
[calling from the back room as they open the drive and stare in horror at the picture on their computer screen] "Really, This is what they want on the cake?"
"Yeah, the customer just brought it in."
"Okey dokey!"
Later, 150 comments on cake wrecks mock the decorator for being so stupid as to print on the cake the picture of the boss picking his nose.
I don't feel calling the decorator stupid is unfair. I think it's true.
Wow.
Hi-freaking-larious.
hilarious, sad and pathetic. would have loved to see the look on the people who ordered the cake.
more than at the cake, I am laughing at all of these comments where people think that was the ACTUAL dialogue at the bakery...
um, I'm pretty sure that Jen provides us these scenarios from her own, very funny imagination, folks. Too funny!!
LMAO...really! The jump drive... this cake goes into the hall of fame of stupidity...Love it!
BWAHAHAHAHA! Oh, heavens. Well...I bet it was an unforgettable birthday!
HAHAHAHA. that is amazing, i love this blog.
Literal lols is write! That just cracked me up something good.
Ok, I didn't "get" it till I read the responses here. I had no idea what a jump drive was. I might have done the same thing. But I would guess it's not the 1st time someone has done that there though? hum..
Liz
I've been randomly laughing out loud for the past half hour because of this. And yes, I'm probably waking up the neighbors.
What a crap....but really a nice joke....
This is the picture that was on the key:
http://www.onestopjam.com/images/LEXAR%20TRIO.jpg
I think they have made a pretty good job.
I’m actually the person who ordered this cake, that’s my hand in the picture! I had no idea that this picture was making the rounds on the internet! O_O After reading all of the comments I thought I had to post a reply and explain a few things…
What was the cake supposed to be for?
My manager’s birthday two years ago. The original picture is a little too crazy to explain (a Photoshop collage of some inside jokes from work), but it wasn’t a picture of him golfing as I read in the description. The green color around the border matched the green that was in the background on the picture that was supposed to go on the cake. By the way, I did check before I ordered the cake and they told me that I could bring the picture on a USB stick.
Why is the Jump Drive so big?
It’s actually not a flash drive. It’s an old SD card USB adapter. I didn’t want to give the bakery anything I would care about if it got lost. (Obviously a wise decision based on how the cake turned out).
Did I pay for the cake?
No, I got the cake for free! I felt really bad for the old lady at the bakery because when she realized what happened I thought she was going to cry. She said I could have any cake in the store for free. Really though how could I not have taken this cake? I told her it was okay and that I wanted to keep it. I couldn’t quit laughing. I said don’t worry; it turned out to be funnier than what I originally wanted on it! I think she felt much better after that, but was completely confused as to why I still wanted it.
Was the cake good?
Yes it was despite the black icing. ^_^ The cake was pretty tasty! The amount of icing was ridiculous though. Just for kicks I’ve posted another picture of the cake where you can actually see how thick the icing was:
http://img3.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cakexq7.jpg" REL="nofollow">Click here for more cake!
They ask for the image to be on a flash drive, then use the *drive* as the decoration.
To get that much stupid into one day, you have to get up *really* early!
Isn't the cake decorating
guy about 12 feet away
from the edible dye inkjet printing machine?
OMG! LAMFO YES !
<< WYKOP POWER >>
My husband would crap himself over a cake like that.
I can't believe all the people who defended the decorator, saying that they didn't get specific instructions. This dialog was made up, people!
That's awesome. I would totally have taken the cake too. WAY too funny not to serve up! You just can't beat a good story.
I'm glad to hear the boss and office also liked the joke.
On a related note, this reminds me of the time I went to a Subway and asked for double tomatoes on my sandwich. The kid laid out the usual 4 slices, then after a moment of consideration and shifting of tomatoes, placed one more slice on the end of the sandwich. I corrected him and said I wanted DOUBLE tomatoes, and he protested that there wasn't any more room! I was too stunned to correct him. I wonder if that kid ever did learn the difference between vertical and horizontal...?
I love the update!
haha... What can I say... Nice post
hahaha. love it. lol.
are you serious ??? its a really story??? i can't believe that... but its a funny story..
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Ann
http://externallaptop.net" REL="nofollow">http://externallaptop.net
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Betty
http://desktopmemory.info" REL="nofollow">http://desktopmemory.infoan
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Ann
http://racingonlinegames.net" REL="nofollow">http://racingonlinegames.net
good one :o)
all I can say is wow...it gave me a good laugh.