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  • Yes, baking is work.

    I’ve recently gotten back into baking. Monday I made cupcakes and cake pops with a new icing recipie and brought them to work.

    Note: I’m a staff accountant and make decent money.

    One of my coworkers, also an accountant, is getting married soon and asked if I could make cake pops in her colors, in lieu of a cake. I asked some details about what she wanted, crunched a few numbers, and came up with a price that included all the materials and a fair hourly rate. It amounted to $1.50 per cake pop.

    She starts pouting about how expensive that is and how she asked me so she could “get a deal” since I’m not a professional baker.

    You’re damn right I’m not a professional baker. I don’t have the supplies discount or the speed that comes with experience. I’ll do you a favor but you’ll be paying for my work.
    Last edited by HorrorFrogPrincess; 07-05-2018, 08:27 PM.
    "For the love of all that is holy and 4 things that aren’t but feel pretty good anyway" ~ Gravekeeper

  • #2
    I hear ya! I bake, too. It's my happy place. I do it for work all the time.
    I had one co-worker beg me to bake a cake for them personally. (it was one I baked before that they obsessed over....).

    They offered to buy me any ingredients I didn't already have. Yes, you read that right. Any ingredients I didn't already have. They knew I always have the staples on hand. This cake used specific cookies in it.

    No additional compensation for time or using my staples....
    They whined every time I came back from a day off and hadn't made it for them.
    "There is no rehab for stupidity." --Chris Rock
    "You learn something new and stupid every day you work in retail."--IhateCrappyTire

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    • #3
      This sounds very close to those scenarios where somebody with, say, musical talent is asked to come to a party and play an instrument or sing "and we can't pay you, but it will give you exposure!"

      No, you're not a professional baker, but that hardly means that what you are doing is not WORK. And you should be paid for your WORK.
      Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
      ~ Mr Hero

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      • #4
        Quoth Pixelated View Post
        This sounds very close to those scenarios where somebody with, say, musical talent is asked to come to a party and play an instrument or sing "and we can't pay you, but it will give you exposure!"
        Or anyone who does any sort of hobby that someone else finds of value. I raise Monarch Butterflies from seed (first you have to grow milkweed). I once had someone "ask" for a bunch that they could set free at their 1st wedding anniversary party. Of course, there was no offer of money (because I get them for free), or even a party invitation.

        When someone is having a "special" day, of course everyone around wants to help make it perfect. How dare you want money for something you should be begging to give them for free so you can be a small part of their happiness?!?!

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        • #5
          Urg, the horrors of the Bride or Groomzilla. I don't care what day of the year it is, if it's your wedding or birthday or Christmas, you still should treat people with decency. And that means paying people, not whining because the home baker wants to *gasp* charge a fair price for her work.

          My old coworker would refuse any commission if the person said it was for a wedding. She made unique leather items that some people wanted for Ren Fair type theme weddings. It was a rare request due to the nature of the items, but she had no qualms saying no and meaning it. Both times my mom got married it was a someone's house, with just close family, I would never want anything else. Just send me straight to the honeymoon, thanks.
          Replace anger management with stupidity management.

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          • #6
            I hear you all! I'm a seamstress. I can't tell you the number of times someone has shown me a picture of an elaborate prom dress and said, 'You can make this for $50, right?'
            Uh no, no I can't.

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            • #7
              From Not Always Right. Another hobbyist baker is expected to be cut rate. The cake price is a lie

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              • #8
                Quoth HorrorFrogPrincess View Post
                $1.50 per cake pop.
                That actually sounds reasonable to me. Less than I've seen at bakery cafes.
                IMO Bridezilla is trying to cheap out on you. BTW, how many cake pops was she talking about?
                I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

                Who is John Galt?
                -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

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                • #9
                  AAARRRHHH!

                  Quoth Slave to the Phone View Post
                  Or anyone who does any sort of hobby that someone else finds of value. I raise Monarch Butterflies from seed (first you have to grow milkweed). I once had someone "ask" for a bunch that they could set free at their 1st wedding anniversary party. Of course, there was no offer of money (because I get them for free), or even a party invitation.

                  When someone is having a "special" day, of course everyone around wants to help make it perfect. How dare you want money for something you should be begging to give them for free so you can be a small part of their happiness?!?!
                  It does not have to be even special, they could be making money off your work and they still want it for free or a deep-deep discount.

                  Aside from programming I also design my own circuits and cases for my projects. I got so tired of not finding what I really wanted that I bought a 3D Printer just so I could get what I wanted in a case.

                  But of-course I have to spend time designing my custom circuits, spend time and money getting the parts and assembling them, and now spend a lot of time to design the right case design and then the time to print them.

                  Recently, a person running a store asked if it was possible solve a problem their customers were having. I suggested a solution, and pointed out what was needed to build it. He asked if I could build it, to which I answered yes but until I built one I don't know how much an unit would cost.

                  Now mind you I don't mind building an unit for free because I like to see what I can do - but the store's owner started to try and say I could build the units at a fixed price, a price he had already decided on.

                  I of-course refused.

                  There is no way I would commit to a fixed price for something I have not got all the costs and work-time on. Today, that store owner and I no longer speak to each other.
                  Last edited by earl colby pottinger; 07-05-2018, 07:47 PM.

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                  • #10
                    Quoth taxguykarl View Post
                    That actually sounds reasonable to me. Less than I've seen at bakery cafes.
                    IMO Bridezilla is trying to cheap out on you. BTW, how many cake pops was she talking about?
                    50 to 100. And she was DEFINITELY trying to cheap out on me.

                    I looked up prices before I calculated supplies cost. The range was $1.50 to 2.50 depending on complexity of design. $1 per was for, like, an absolutely basic dip-only pop, no decoration and not customized.

                    CW wanted specific colors to match her wedding colors, of course.

                    I specified that my quote was pops only, no display included. I could make a display, but that's a separate project and would be it's own charge.

                    Quoth ladyjaneinmd View Post
                    I hear you all! I'm a seamstress. I can't tell you the number of times someone has shown me a picture of an elaborate prom dress and said, 'You can make this for $50, right?'
                    Uh no, no I can't.
                    Oh, I know that one! I sew occasionally and have one dress in particular that I like wearing to work (grey linen with red piping. Looks way more complex than it is), and I shut down ANYONE who starts inquiring about sewing commissions. Even a basic dress takes me like 8 hours over a span of several weeks/months.

                    Hobby sewing does, at least, give me an appreciation for what goes into making clothes. it's why I'm not sorry about dropping $500 on a ready-made corset, blouse, and skirt set at Ren Faire, or $200 on a leather hat with plumes.

                    ... I really love that hat. I need to find more reasons to wear that hat.
                    Last edited by HorrorFrogPrincess; 07-05-2018, 08:35 PM. Reason: Additional quote and response
                    "For the love of all that is holy and 4 things that aren’t but feel pretty good anyway" ~ Gravekeeper

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Pixelated View Post
                      This sounds very close to those scenarios where somebody with, say, musical talent is asked to come to a party and play an instrument or sing "and we can't pay you, but it will give you exposure!"

                      No, you're not a professional baker, but that hardly means that what you are doing is not WORK. And you should be paid for your WORK.
                      A friend of ours is a former professional operatic baritone. When Turtleguy and I asked him to sing for our wedding, we told him we wanted to pay him, but he refused to take money from us and told us it was his wedding gift to us.

                      Edited to add: I posted this because our friend is constantly asked to sing at weddings, funerals, you name it, and he says it's amazing how people don't want to pay him, even if the function is far away and he has to pay for his own gas to get there, plus take time from his family for rehearsal.
                      Last edited by Sparklyturtle; 07-17-2018, 05:15 AM. Reason: Additional information.

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                      • #12
                        I sew. I make jewelry. I quilt. I've had so many people try to con/whine/guilt me into doing stuff for them for free/way too cheap. And do NOT get me started on the things people have tried to barter . . .

                        Grrrrrrrr.

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                        • #13
                          I bake on the side as well as a full time job. I came to an arrangement with my coworkers. They cough up some money ($5-$10) and I will bake cupcakes of any flavor of their choosing with the understanding that I will be using box cake mix and not from scratch (I find that most people can't tell the difference between from scratch and from a box). Everyone takes turns requesting stuff. It's working out pretty well for the past few years.

                          Thankfully my friends know that I only do one major cake (wedding or birthday) a year (compromise with my husband) and they have all respected it (thank God).

                          To me cupcakes are so much easier than cakes.

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                          • #14
                            Quoth HorrorFrogPrincess View Post
                            50 to 100. And she was DEFINITELY trying to cheap out on me.....
                            CW wanted specific colors to match her wedding colors, of course.
                            $150+costs of a display! That's it?! Hell, Mrs. TGK would have jump at that quote when she was planning our wedding Did Bridezilla expect you to do this for free or what?
                            I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

                            Who is John Galt?
                            -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Quoth HorrorFrogPrincess View Post

                              Hobby sewing does, at least, give me an appreciation for what goes into making clothes. it's why I'm not sorry about dropping $500 on a ready-made corset, blouse, and skirt set at Ren Faire, or $200 on a leather hat with plumes.

                              ... I really love that hat. I need to find more reasons to wear that hat.
                              I make elizabethan gowns for historical recreation by hand. *I* find it relaxing, and get a kick out of wearing something I make. A moderately simple court gown can start with $US 2500 in material alone [last one was velvet, satin and 2 ounces real no shit seed pearls as well as other decorative stuff. This doesn't count a stomacher, collars and cuffs with any blackwork, or accessories. Gown and sleeves.] If you add in the labor of some 300 to 400 hours of hand sewing, you are looking at around 5K for a finished gown. Then there is the chemise, corset, underskirts, bumroll.....it is a lot of work for one outfit. I rarely ever do a commission for anything other than medieval, renaissance is hardcore fancy for nobility. I can whip off servant to middle class elizabethan in about 100 hours and it is dead plain ...
                              https://imgur.com/bM17cXi
                              EVE Online: 99% of the time you sit around waiting for something to happen, but that 1% of action is what hooks people like crack, you don't get interviewed by the BBC for a WoW raid.

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