How Would You Feel?

In my line of business *chewahhh*, I've come across plentiful of characters. The majority are simply wonderful kind souls, a handful are errr... choosy and hard to please and there's one that's downright awful.

Okay la... I wouldn't call that person awful. Maybe that person is having a bad day but hey... don't we all?

For simplicity sake, I'm going to call this person Dr. A.

Dr. A is a friend's sister. She called me up to book a cake for her daughter's birthday well in advance. Come the week when the cake is due, I got to know that we'll be out of town for the weekend and rightfully so, I called Dr. A to let her know that can I please deliver the cake on Friday evening instead of Saturday afternoon seeing that I won't be around. She wasn't too please nor happy about it but she finally relented without first saying "There's nothing I can do about it, can I?". I apologized profusely but all I got was a disgruntled 'huh'. Okay... whateverrr...

Come Thursday night, I baked Dr. A's cake. Prior to that, I had a full week of baking, so much so, by this time, my energy level was so low that the only thing that kept me going was my strong will that I hope wouldn't break down on me. Mengantuk and penat punya pasal (it was 2 in the morning), I forgot that Dr. A wanted her butter cake to be pink. Yes, I didn't add pink coloring to the batter. Only when it was half-way baked in the oven did I remember. Ya Allah! Takkan nak keluarkan tang tu jugak kan.

The next day, just before delivering the finished cake to Dr. A's MIL's house, I texted her to apologize for my blunder in forgetting to color the cake pink but mind you, the whole cake was well covered in pink icing just as instructed.

Me: Salam Dr. A, I accidentally forgot to tint the butter cake pink. So I'll reduce the price to RM 75. Sorry for the mistake.

She replied a few minutes later.
Dr. A: I am utterly disappointed! Double blow!!!

Me: Sorry, my bad.

Then again, she texted.
Dr. A: I am gonna b truthful. No more orders fr me n won't recommend others.

I was stunned. I was driving during this time but my mind was racing elsewhere. Nak nangis pun ye. Nak ketawa pun ye. Apalah minah ni pikir agaknye. But I've set my mind. I decided to just give the cake FOC. Yeah! You heard my right. FOC! I've always held strongly that customers are always right, even when they are proven dead wrong. Aku malas nak ambik duit dari customer yang tak puas hati kan.

When I reached Dr. A's MIL's house, I only asked for RM 25, which was the delivery charge. Her MIL was stunned. I said the cake was FOC.

So she gave me RM 25 but not without insisting that I take the whole lot. I flatly declined. Takde hati dah nak ambik duit orang yang marah kat kita, kan?! The MIL asked why was the cake FOC. I just said that I made a mistake of not coloring the cake pink and by so, did not adhere to the customer's request.

"Mana yang tak pink nye? Makcik tengok penuh je satu kek ni kaler pink!"

"Dalam dia tu makcik. Tak pink"

"Laaa... dalam je. Karang dah potong and makan, tak sedar pun.."

Yes, thank God the MIL was sane but I insisted.

"At least, ambik la harga cost kek ye. Susah2 buat".

Well, since she was dead serious and I didn't want to hurt the wonderful lady's heart, I took the cost price of the cake.

As I was driving home, Dr. A called twice. Ceiittt... jangan harap aku nak jawab your calls kay.

A text message came in.

Dr. A: Salam. Now it is my turn to apologise. I was told the cake looks great. Silap faham sikit, thought the icing wasn't pink. You should've taken d whole amt. Anyway thx and halalkan. I am someone who can't take so many blows. A thousand apologies again for any words.

A penny for my thoughts?

1. Lain kali, baca la betul2 text message tu. Jangan la terus jump to conclusion and nak meletup je.

2. Apa.. ingat ko sorang je boleh blow? Orang lain tak boleh blow??

3. I forgive you but I will never forget. For a doctor who has been trained to be thorough, patient and careful, you sure contradict yourself. Words have been exchanged and you can't take it back. It hurts as hell! I will never take any orders from you, ever!

From now on, mana-mana customers yang buat palat ngan aku, will be blacklisted and banned from BakingWithPassion. Apa... ingat customers je ke boleh blacklist and ban kedai and products. Aku pun boleh la...

Dahhh... I'm cool now.

The cake in question. Not pink enough?