Holly’s middle son,
Reid is turning six this week.
Happy birthday Reid!
Because Reid’s mother is
not the actual June Cleaver, Holly needed to purchase cakes.
She needed two –
one for a family party on Sunday and
one for a kid party on Wednesday.
Load up the minivan!
Holly is going to Target…
Because Holly has been to Target a few times, she knows right where the bakery is located.
Holly let’s Reid pick out the cakes he wants from the
handy-dandy three ring binder display in front of the bakery security glass.
Reid wants the
Dinosaur Attack cake.
Reid wants the
Indiana Jones cake with the super cool boulder.
In a bit of foreshadowing, Holly wonders why Target bakery employees need the security of glass to separate them from their customers.
Holly notices that the
Target bakery employees don’t seem to be very interested in the cake ordering process.
Holly notices that
her three boys don’t seem very interested in the cake ordering process.
Holly notices that the
Target bakery employees are hiding behind the security glass.
Holly notices that
her three boys are hiding at multiple locations throughout the Target Super Center.
Holly finally gets the attention of the correct
Target bakery employee to order her cakes.
She requests a
Dinosaur Attack cake in a 1/4 sheet to feed 12 people.
The
Target bakery employees are HORRIFIED that she would request such a thing.
The
Target bakery employees inform Holly
under no uncertain circumstances are
Dinosaur Attack cakes sold in
that size or
for a reasonable price.
Dinosaur Attack cakes are only available in ONE size (
no exceptions) and for the price of
$39.99 (
no exceptions).
Holly
loves over-paying and having left-overs so she readily agrees.
She then orders the
Indiana Jones cake with the super cool boulder which doesn’t seem to be under the same
size and price restrictions.
Holly then has to pick out the cake flavor,
the cake frosting,
the cake lettering,
the cake
blah, blah, blah…
Holly
lost track of all the cake decisions.
Holly
lost track of time.
Holly l
ost track of three boys.
Just when Holly was about to leave and look for her children, the
Target bakery employee mentioned that they should check and see if they had the
Dinosaur Attack and
Indiana Jones with the super cool boulder cake kits.
“Target can not accept the order of a cake without the cake kit IN HAND.”
The
Target bakery employee returned with
bad news.
No
Dinosaur Attack.
No
Indiana Jones with the super cool boulder.
Holly has just
invested the last
26 minutes of her life into these cakes.
Holly has just
promised to pay an outlandish sum of money for these cakes.
Holly is taking home these cakes.
Holly politely requests that the
Target bakery employee call another Target bakery.
It appears that all the Targets within a 30 mile radius are out of the cake kits that Reid has requested.
Holly is a little confused.
If these cakes are so
popular, why not order a few
extra kits?
The Target bakery employee informs Holly that they are only allowed to
order three kits per cake style every 11 days.
Holly does some quick calculations in her head…
Holly was about to solve the
Target cake kit shortage when she glanced at the time.
Crap!
Holly has been in the Target bakery for
42 minutes and only has 18 minutes to do all the rest of her shopping and check out.
Holly is 0-2 in the cake department.
Just then Holly notices a
flash of activity in front of her.
Just then Holly recognizes the
flash as one of her three missing children.
First the
flash,
then the
BANG.
Oh! and another
BANG.
And that was followed by a
waterfall-type effect…
One of Holly’s bored children released the three rings in both binders which caused EVERY SINGLE
CAKE DISPLAY PAGE to fall to the ground.
Holly tries to remain calm in Target’s bakery.
Against all odds.
When the
Target bakery employee suggested that Holly should purchase the cakes as ordered (
except of course there are no kits) and
go buy toys from the toy section to place on the cake, Holly realized
why there was
security glass between her and the employee.
Holly also realized that she has wasted another 5 minutes cleaning up the three ring binder mess and that she better hurry if anyone was getting cake, toys to go on the cake, or dinner.
Holly went to the toy aisle for
dinosaurs and
Indiana Jones action figures.
Holly soon found that a package of
dinosaurs cost $19.99 and that the
Indiana Jones action figures have been
discontinued.
Holly did more math in her head: $39.99
cake + $19.99
dinosaurs = Holly
not having to go out and try to find something cheaper later.
Holly also mentally evaluated the
Indiana Jones cake with the super cool boulder. Holly agreed to ANY toy that Reid suggested (
Star Wars) because
theoretically it couldn’t be
called an
Indiana Jones cake if there wasn’t
actually anything Indiana Jones about it.
So Holly went home with some expensive
dinosaurs and the promise of a
Star Wars cake with a super cool boulder.
When Holly returned to Target’s bakery
for the first cake she was
delighted to notice that the
price on the cake was not what she expected.
Holly was super proud of herself for not having a mental breakdown in the middle of Target’s bakery.
She
quietly mentioned that the price of
$46.99 was higher than the promised
$39.99 and that her cake DIDN’T EVEN COME WITH A KIT.
A different
Target bakery employee realized the beginning of
Target bakery rage and
quietly reduced the price.
Holly went home with her
super expensive cake.
And then added the
super expensive dinosaurs.
And then admitted it was a
super great cake – so great that it’s volcanic lava defied gravity.
One cake down and only one to go…
I’m so sorry to hear about your experience 🙁 I also work for Target, specifically in the bakery dept. as a manager. The bakery does not have a limit on the number of kits that can be ordered, as long as they are not out of stock on our ordering system and they can order whenever they like, it usually takes about a week to get the kits in once ordered. Also, the bakery team member should have explained to you why the sizes of those cakes had minimums; I usually pull out the kit and/or recipe card to show our guests so they understand why certain cakes have to be a minimum cake size. These are set by DecoPac and Bakery Crafts. For example, we currently have a cake available called the Cars Pit Stop Signature Cake. It comes in either a stacked cake or a large sheet cake, minimum of 1/2 sheet worth of cake. This is because of the amount of cake needed minimum to actually make the cake so the large decopac kit fits on the cake along with the licensed design that we have to stick to.
The dreaded security glass you speak of is actually a sneeze guard. It allows our guests, especially children, to enjoy watching our cake decorators work while keeping the food safe for consumption. I find a lot of guests just simply watching our cake decorator work on her cakes, because well, she does amazing work. The bakery you visited should have come out from behind their counter to service you and take your cake order, it is actually in our best practice to do so. In fact, I like to, as well as most of my employees, get the kids involved if they are old enough; asking them what flavor cake they’d like and how they spell their name, etc. while getting the okay from the parents.
I do apologize for your experience, it should have never been handled that way and I do hope that you have a more positive one the next time you visit a Target bakery, if you ever do. I know I’ve enjoyed making guests experiences positive in our store and hope that your post is an eye opener to that bakery and other bakeries offering subpar guest service. I loved your post by the way, it was definitely entertaining and loved your diagrams you included especially the route your kids likely to take around the store, I’ve seen that one before many times while at work.
I LIVE at Target! And adore y’all. I have ordered other cakes on other occasions. This was just a funny experience. Thanks!
Holly- I found your post as I’m planning to purchase my sister a bday cake soon. To get a cake at Target was my first thought. I happen to work for Target and am horrified by your experience. It really does not reflect at all what Target is striving to achieve in terms of service and a GREAT experience. I will see what I can do to ensure that the right people know about your experience. You’re a great mom–funny too. I love your pictures to illustrate!
1. I freakin hate your comments thing cuz it ATE MY ORIGINAL ONE saying that my email address was invalid. GAH!!!!!
2. One more time but with a comment that won’t be NEARLY as witty as the original one was:
I read this on my phone the other day but for some reason the drawings wouldn’t show. I’m so glad you reminded us today!
YOu’re a lot nicer than I’d have been. I’d have demanded that they cut the cost of the cake by AT LEAST half the price of the toys I had to buy to finish their job. GRRRR..
Ah, well… glad it all turned out well in the end.
Happy belated Birthday to Reid!!!
xoxo
Oh, Holly . . . somehow, I’m not all that upset that we don’t have a Target (at least for today).
But, I’m now dying for left over cake . . .
Hee hee Hoo! Everybody knows lava can’t spell Happy birthday Reid! Love this Holly.