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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

shop assistant refused to sell me slice of cake I wanted!

104 replies

Birdsighland · 29/06/2014 15:58

I should post this in aibu, but...

I went to a grocery shop today. I went to the bakery section and told the assistant I'd like a slice of a nice chocolate they had. It was a rectangle shaped cake, already cut into squares like a tottenham cake, with quite a few squared already removed. I pointed to the corner slice as I liked the look of it and it's topping.

At that point the assistant said she could sell me one of the other squares, but not that one. She said it wouldn't be good for the next customers! There was some mention of the shape of the pieces left and exposing them. I left the counter. This was an already cut cake all for sale remember.

When I reached the checkout with my other items, I thought a little more about it and thought it bizarre and went to seek a manager to see why I couldn't buy the piece of cake. I found some sort of a supervisor who went halfheartedly to the counter. The first assistant and the supervisor then had a bit of a conversation, in Turkish I think so I couldn't understand them. He was decidedly unfriendly and said she said the sides of the adjoining pieces would be exposed and dry out. There were many bit of the cake missing so most pieces were exposed and which ever piece I was given would expose at least one but mostly two sides of adjoining pieces anyway (same as removing the corner I had chosen). The cake had already been completely cut up completely for sale. He hummed and hawed, but eventually sold me the slice. No attempt at any customer service.

I have never been refused an item on sale like this before. In fact in most deli's, it is 'which one do you want?'

Are they rubbish shopkeepers or should this customer have been grateful for any allocation of the item?

ps I had it after my lunch, and very nice it was too.

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 29/06/2014 16:40

Id have got loads of friends to go in and buy all the other slices then when the corner slice was left alone id have gone in and said "oh is that all you have left?"
Ok I wouldnt but I love hatching plans

BuildYourOwnSnowman · 29/06/2014 16:40

If you remove one piece you are exposing two sides on two pieces but one of those sides already has an exposed side. Whereas removing the corner exposes two pieces that had never been exposed! So if no more slices were sold there is potentially one extra piece that has dried out before tomorrow and can't be sold.

However, if they were not following an orderly pattern yanbu!

I did once see someone at my canteen arguing for a corner slice of lasagne when half was gone. They were very upset not to get it but the server was adamant it would make it much harde for them to cut the remaining slices. It was quite a gloppy vegetable lasagne so I could kind of see his point.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 29/06/2014 16:43

It's an 'invitation to treat', isn't it? Shops can refuse to sell you anything.

Was it a bigger piece, OP, with more sprinkles and icing?

MrsWedgeAntilles · 29/06/2014 16:43

Some people just aren't cut out to be shop keepers. They've obviously missed the turning for a quiet life in monastery or as a rose grower or something.

When I was getting married I went to a t-shirt printer to have some t-shirts made up for the hen and stag nights and the day after the wedding. I got the guy to make me one as a test and when he brought it out he'd burned it in the printing machine. When I pointed this out to him he offered it to me for half price. He got really angry when I explained that I wouldn't wear a scorched t-shirt so I'd be throwing my money away but I would be happy to pay full price for one that wasn't burned. For some reason this produced an incredible amount of rage in the wee man and he then told me to please leave his shop in Anglo Saxon. It was very satisfying to tell him that I had wanted 25 t-shirts printed and I would now be taking my custom elsewhere. :)

Birdsighland · 29/06/2014 16:44

Well Choccy, it had especially nice big blackberries on it. It also had chocolate icing on two sides as well as the top. Don't see how it was particularly denied to me as it was for sale and I wanted to buy it. It's purchase wasn't (for all the bluster) going to inflict more harm on it's remaining neighbours than another choice really. It only became a point of contention because the assistant refused to sell it to me for what appeared to me to be a bizarre reason. Her delivery of the reason was in a kind of brusque manner as well.

By the way way, the supervisor rejigged the square order so all seemed to be hunky dory. Blasted cakegate.

OP posts:
HannerHet · 29/06/2014 16:49

It's probably nothing to do with the cake drying out. The bit you wanted was probably fresher and they wanted to get rid of the older stuff first. I work in a cake shop by the way. Was the bit you wanted nearer to you and the bit they wanted to give nearer to them?

Birdsighland · 29/06/2014 16:51

It did look like a very nice piece, Lying. I think the assistant just liked the power of her station as the dispenser of cake!

OP posts:
CasperGutman · 29/06/2014 16:52

YANBU. They should have just rearranged the pieces if they cared about the number of sides exposed. And they should cover the cake if it's going to be out for long enough to get dry .

Birdsighland · 29/06/2014 16:56

Well, yes Hanner. But it wasn't even rows of squares left.

Maybe 'we don't want to give you fresh cake' would have sounded worse.

OP posts:
LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 29/06/2014 16:59

I would have done the same as you, Birdsigh but with far less restraint and dignity... I would have wept, clung on to the counter and refused to move. It does sound like a lovely bit of cake. To the victor the spoils and you showed that shop assistant who was the ultimate cake-queen! Grin

Laquitar · 29/06/2014 17:01

Wow op
are you one of those people who set a target and they always have to reach it? Even if it is a specific piece of cake (grin). I always wanted to be like this.

Your post remind me of my young days when wr lookedfor the biggest piece of cake or lasagne and we asked for that piece. We had no shame.

thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 29/06/2014 17:03

God I love tray bake. I'd have not wanted to sell you the cake either but that's because I'm greedy Wink

quietbatperson · 29/06/2014 17:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheFairyCaravan · 29/06/2014 17:09

I'd never heard of a Tottenham cake till this thread. Ironically DS2 and I made a tray bake with pink icing and sprinkles t'other day!

DH always asks for a specific cake or piece of cake if he buys any when we are out. I never have the nerve, he hasn't been refused!

marared · 29/06/2014 17:10

I thought you were going to say you asked for a middle piece too! I wouldn't shop there again, and if possible let them know why.

HappyAgainOneDay · 29/06/2014 17:12

Laquitar

Nothing to be ashamed of there. It's a question of value for money and, if you've been able to buy a piece of cake larger than its neighbour, you've done well.

quietbatperson · 29/06/2014 17:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SirChenjin · 29/06/2014 17:22

I've worked in cafes, and what you do is you give the customer what they want - unless it's your first born child, or your virginity (it was a long time ago...) on the counter right there and then, or something equally unreasonable, obviously.

I also have no shame in asking for a specific bit of cake - why pay the same price for a small bit when you could have the biggest bit? I used to always make sure I gave the customer the biggest bit there was - unless they had been PITAs, in which case they got the smallest bit.

OP - YANBU

OscarWinningActress · 29/06/2014 17:29

Best thread ever Grin.

I always feel a bit sorry for adults that request specific portions in shops/cafés. What are you, six?

frignorant · 29/06/2014 17:30

I've only read the first few posts and got sidelined by the word brouhaha. What a fab word.

Birdsighland · 29/06/2014 17:38

I could have accepted it if there was a credible reason. Thing is, I was visiting the Mediterranean last week. My experience of the food freshness, quality and service was excellent. We were lucky as all the places we dined at were recommended to us. So my standards are artificially high at the moment based on that. The amazingly fresh food is still fresh in my mind. Meat and animal welfare an issue though, but seafood was great.

There was a dodgy skimpy piece I just KNEW (well, suspected) she was going to fob off on me (at the same price as the more lush squares). If I wanted a sad piece of cake, I could easily bake that myself. I think she was just kind of rude with it and I was smarting in the long wait in the queue for the till. Not especially demanding normally. Don't think I was demanding today. I think the assistant was a bit demanding considering I was going to be the one paying for her choice for no good reason. I am beginning to be less careless about the value I'm getting for the money I'm spending.

I shall enjoy the other half of my cake after dinner and then think no more of it.

OP posts:
BalloonSlayer · 29/06/2014 17:40

What's Tottenham cake?

< hopes against hope that OP has produced a malapropism of Battenburg Cake - would make my day >

BalloonSlayer · 29/06/2014 17:41

oh it does exist! It' school dinner sponge with pink icing.

< disappointed >

diddl · 29/06/2014 17:46

If there was a queue & she wanted to just get the piece that was easiest/quickest for her, I would understand.

If the squares already removed were done so randomly, that suggests that others had chosen what they wanted!

Seems really odd to me!

Birdsighland · 29/06/2014 17:51

As an aside, wasn't the Tottenham cake idea of Quaker origin? Every square is supposedly fair and equal in size and content.

OP posts:
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