Preparing for the big day!

 With the Arthritis Walk just days ahead of us, we were preparing and nailing down every last detail. About a week leading up to the event, we were contacted by Faith’s mother to see if we wanted to combine teams. I explained to her that we had failed miserably at getting a team together, but that we’d still be there cupcakes in hand. She asked if we had any extra t-shirts that we could give to her team (Faith signed up 30 people!!!). I told her we hadn’t ordered any, but that I would see if I could get some ordered in time. She didn’t want me to have to order any, she just thought if I had some extras lying around they could use them. So, I made the call to my t-shirt guy. I gave him the date, May 16, and explained I need them by that evening because the Walk was early Sunday morning. We talked business and came up with a fair price and I placed the order for 35 team t-shirts. I contacted Faith’s mom and let her know it was a done deal!

I followed up with our t-shirt guy throughout the week, updating sizes and confirming pick up location. Well, Saturday afternoon rolled around before I knew it ( I had worked on a wedding cake and Strawberry Shortcake cake and cupcakes all morning) it was about 4:30. I asked my husband if he had picked up the shirts for me yet. He said he hadn’t heard back from our t-shirt guy. So, he called him and asked when he could pick up the shirts. The t-shirt guy sounded confused and asked when we needed them…my husband told him tonight…t-shirt guy  thought they were for next weekend. This is where my heart sinks into my stomach and my jaw drops to the floor! And, go figure, t-shirt guy is on vacation and can’t get a hold of his partner to do them last minute for us!

Now, I am totally one of those people who, when experiencing poor customer service or receives a less than satisfactory product bypasses any employee at the store level and goes straight to the top with my complaints. So, I discussed things over with my husband and confirmed I had e-mailed our t-shirt guy the date (which I clearly had). I was so upset, no, SO DISAPPOINTED and I had no idea how I was going to tell Faith and her team of 30+ that I didn’t have the t-shirts they were all promised. I thought I am going to call this person, and send a letter to that person, and I’m going to post a blog about this company…I thought, what if someone ordered a wedding cake from me and I got the dates mixed up. What if one of my customers ended up having a wedding with no cake because I thought it was “next weekend”!

Then, I calmed down. I realized that one, people make mistakes. Although I was in contact with our t-shirt guy daily, maybe I should have set a specific time on Saturday and specifically clarified (twice, maybe 3 times even) the date. Two, I know he felt bad about the situation and I know he will make it up to us at a later date (wink, wink). Finally, it’s not about the t-shirts (but it would’ve been pretty cool). While yes, it would have been nice to have everyone coordinating and see the excitement on Faith’s face as she watched everyone change into HER teams shirts, we were there for something bigger. 

Check back with us soon to find out how the Arthritis Walk of 2009 went down!

This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 8:09 am and is filed under community, cupcakes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.