![]() ![]() ![]() In 2019, The Caker baker Jordan Rondel shared an image of a flower-garnished wedding cake she had made along with a screenshot of an email from the bride-to-be demanding a refund and describing it as the “ugliest cake” they’d ever seen. We’re not immune to cake drama in Aotearoa either. Numerous marketing and PR experts even offered free video advice on how they would have handled the situation (hint: not at all how Allen handled it). Others were bothered by her defensive response to the customer complaint and decision to raise the issue on TikTok in the first place. Scores of TikTok cake makers demonstrated how they would create the same rainbow cake. Some, pointing to what looks like Betty Crocker boxes in her videos, accused the baker of using boxed cake mix. A few were suspicious that the baker had been using stock image pictures of cakes on her social media (Allen has refuted those claims). Many took issue with the haphazard appearance of her cakes for sale compared to their price tags. Plentiful videos and comments raised concerns about the cake maker’s lack of gloves while applying sprinkles. And from the drama emerged an endless tangle of TikTok recaps, explainers and commentaries under the #CakeGate hashtag. It’s disrespectful to serve your reliable customers something like this.”Īs tends to happen online, the relatively mundane situation took on a life of its own. One of the messages from Allen reads “a disrespectful person is no good customer of mine”, to which the customer replies, “It’s not disrespectful to expect quality. ![]() The second video featured screenshots of their heated Facebook Messenger conversation. The first video was simple yet effective: a slideshow of pictures of the cake – featuring a decidedly sloppily written message, messily-applied sprinkles and a haphazard smear of white icing on top – with audio of an off-key recorder cover of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Celine Dion. A few days later, the customer uploaded a series of TikToks telling her side of the story, including pictures of the actual cake. In fact, it might have just encouraged it. (Image: TikTok screenshot)Įventually, the cake maker turned off the comments, but that did little to stop a slew of reaction videos on TikTok. Rather than sympathy, which Allen might have been expecting from the video, many of the 6.9 million people who have now watched the video seemed to instead firmly agree with the customer: the cake in question was an overpriced mess. After explaining that the sprinkles were part of their in-house style, Allen says the customer became “super defensive and very rude about the price of the cake”. The finished product, she says, retails for $75.99 (NZ$123.75).Īllen says that upon arrival, the customer became upset about the rainbow sprinkles on the cake as she assumed it wouldn’t have any. She explains that the customer ordered an eight-inch, six-layer rainbow cake with vanilla buttercream and the words, “Happy Birthday Trilby” written atop. “Today I had one of the worst client experiences since opening the storefront,” she begins her narration in the video, before recounting the situation while making a similar cake. It began earlier this month when US baker Kylie Allen, owner of Kylie Kakes in Princeton, West Virginia, posted a TikTok video captioned “This customer bashed me so hard” about a disagreement she had with a customer over a layered birthday cake. But one of these videos is going viral for the wrong reason. The many videos on the app from service industry workers detailing outrageous customer demands and abusive treatment reflect a reality that’s antithetical to the old adage that the customer is always right – rather that the customer is most often wrong. Helpfully, TikTok has provided a new platform for workers to broadcast their experiences with rude customers and unreasonable clients.
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