A woman listed five red flags when it comes to dealing with small businesses after she hired an independent baker for a catering job.
Chelsea Shackel (@chels_shack) elaborates on her situation in a TikTok that received 1.7 million views.
“There’s nothing worse than a small business owner with the audacity,” Shackel says at the top of the clip.
A woman’s ordeal with an Instagram baker
Shackel explains, “I’m scrolling through Instagram because I want to find a small business baker to support in my community for my birthday party.”
After doing her research, Shackel says she settled on a baker. She says, “I find a girl whose cakes I really appreciate. … I would like her to make mine for my birthday.”
However, red flags popped up almost immediately, she notes.
The TikToker says, “I read front and back her 20,000-page policy, which already came off as very argumentative and sort of rude. And I should have known.”
Nevertheless, Shackel says she reasoned that she liked the cakes and was willing to follow the baker’s stringent policies. But she also notes some other unusual provisions in the document.
“She charges like $5 for every minute you’re late to pick [the cake] up,” she says.
Shackel also explains that she was about a month out from her birthday when she submitted her cake request to the baker. According to the TikToker, the baker required at least one week’s notice for any cake orders.
“So I figure, I’m getting ahead of the game; I’m doing her a favor,” Shackel says about her early application.
However, Shackel says, the baker responded and informed her that she had submitted her cake request too early.
“’You can resubmit in November,’” the baker allegedly told Shackel.
The TikToker says, “My party is at the very beginning of November. … I’m not gonna submit my application to maybe, maybe have you accept my cake submission right before the party.”
In addition, Shackel notes that there was nowhere in the submission form to upload any reference images. So, she decided to DM the baker the photos. Again, the unnamed baker was unhappy.
After the unpleasant interaction with this baker, Shackel says she decided to get her cake from Cold Stone Creamery.
Viewers were unsurprised
Many viewers said that this kind of behavior was typical and recounted their own encounters with rude small business owners.
“There’s a girl that does fruit/ deserts looks amazing I tried twice to order/ support her, and both times she seemed like I was bothering her and almost rude. I’m like eh nah I’m good,” said one user about another baker.
“Girl YES!! Bakers and hairstylists. It’s like they think they’re doing you a favor,” laughed someone else.
“In my experience small local businesses don’t really reward the well-meaning people who give them business for altruistic reasons. Just use the BEST business. It’s up to the small biz to compete,” a third argued.
@chels_shack Will not be tagging the business name because im still kind- plz treat people better 🙂 #smallbusiness #soannoying #sorude #badbusiness #azbusinesses #cakebusiness #theaudacity ♬ original sound – Chelsea Shackel
Many bakers also pointed out that the TikToker did nothing wrong.
“Bakery owner here. Everything you did was reasonable, even super helpful,” one said.
“Bakery Owner here… you literally did everything us busy bakers love. Early request, photo reference, scoping us out to make sure we are your right fit. You did nothing wrong here,” another reassured her.
“The request to resubmit is insane!! Lol As a home baker myself, I have this cool thing called a Calendar that I can put my cake submissions in once they’re scheduled,” a third laughed.
The Daily Dot reached out to Shackel via email for further updates.
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