A Little Bit Jasmin

A post about customer service will always make me think of Jasmin, one half of The Knitmore Girls. And this is sadly a post about customer service--not of stellar service, either from a specialized small business or large company, but of really excellent cake, presented just a little awry.

It's been my sister's birthday celebration this week, and to cap it off, we got a cake from our favorite local bakery. As always, they delivered a fantastically pretty cake--no misshapenness, no misspellings, a gorgeous delivery of Mom's requested color palette. There is never any CakeWrecks fodder from here.

It's the details that are bothering Mom--the details like not having the cake stuck to the plastic doily with frosting, which meant that the cake slid, and smooshed gently against the back of the box. And the detail of the box being not quite tall enough, and gently flattening some of the roses. It's a beautiful cake, like every other we've gotten there, but the details are not quite right. True that being smooshed doesn't make it less delicious, but--

This is what makes or breaks a small business. Being excellent in the details will provide you with fantastically faithful customers; being fantastic overall, but getting the details wrong, will send some customers someplace a little less expensive--perhaps to get cakes that aren't quite as delicious, beautiful, or perfectly executed, but where the employees prop the lid up if the box isn't quite tall enough.

Edited to add: They outdid themselves despite it all--scrumptious chocolate cake, and possibly the best buttercream I have EVER tasted. Yum.