What ever happened to speaking to people nicely, rationally and without insulting anybody these days? It doesn't cost anything to be nice and speak kindly.
So last weekend was our first pop up which we opened to the public. My oh my, the respond was overwhelming and we definitely did not expect such a great turn out from all of you, thank you thank you thank you thank you for the support guys, we really really appreciate it!! Apologies for all the shortcomings, and to all those who did not manage to get any and inconveniences that may have arised on that day. We will be sure to have more bakes and limit it for our next pop up! :)
Reason for this post was to share my first ever experience with personal shoppers (of course this does not apply to all personal shoppers). I believe that in anything that you do, there need to be honesty in your act - totally can relate when one is put in a difficult position when trying to impress specific parties. So prior to the pop up, we had not mentioned any limitations on cupcakes that could be purchased only because this is our first and we were not sure as to how demand would be like.
As early as 1pm, the queue started building up and by the time we opened at 2pm the line was starting to creep around the block, MasyaAllah you guys are truly amazing! We were definitely overwhelmed and we thought it would not have been fair to allow people to wait as we had expected that it would be sold out halfway through the line - so we calculated the potential purchase of customers from the front of the queue and told the rest about our next pop up. Of course we had visits from personal shoppers ("PS") who had a list of what to buy for their customers. Some of the PS were so very pleasant and civil, we totally loved serving them and going through their list with them whilst some were rather rude. So rude that they could stand at the counter and take in more orders on the phone whilst we had packed their existing list.
Fair enough we had not limit the number of cupcakes this time around, but this PS had gone a step further to tell us off that he was in fact "creating business for us by buying a lot and yet we couldn't let him know before we opened whether or not we could cater for his request" in which we thought was unnecessary. I would have clearly read that as "I have taken orders for my customers and guaranteed them that I would deliver, so you'd better pack it for me" haha!
I mean, all the other customers were ethically queueing, it makes them no special. If they really wanted a guarantee then they should have at least been the first 2 in the line ey? They weren't and yet they wanted a guarantee which I thought was not very professional. Without any shame, when they got to the counter, they wanted some flavours that were already sold out and we had mentioned that it cannot be replaced with other flavours to be fair to all the other customers queueing behind them to which they replied "This is MY JOB ok!"...."If you don't want to give then you can keep all your cakes!".
Personally, I always always think nobody's job is easier than anybody else and NO, the baker packing the cupcakes does not have an easier job than the PS either. So I had politely told him that this is also our job to pack for you only what was on your list and nothing extra and if they did not want (to pay for it) then by all means, the rest in the queue were more than happy to purchase them. At the end of the day, we need to understand our job scope and how best we can deliver it. If I'm personal shopper myself, I would always let customers know that I am not able to guarantee you, but I will try my very best to get it for you. We need to be civil in order for this world to stay kind :))
Be nice always guys, and if you're angry and have nothing nice to say just don't say anything at all! :)) And pssst....don't be a keyboard warrior ok :D
