The Mother-In-Law No Cake Designer Wants To Meet
Sometimes, you never know how bad it is until it’s too late. A part-time baker, who we’ll call Missy, found herself in that situation when she helped a couple, and the groom’s Greek mother, design a wedding cake. The couple, along with the mother, arrived one morning. Missy noticed the tension between the bride and her future mother-in-law. “The older woman comes back in and asks what she missed,” Missy recalled. “[Her son] shows her the designs they like and she automatically starts to complain. It was like listening to a cranky version of Goldilocks.”
When Missy asked how many people would be at the reception, the bride said there would be 40 guests, but the mother intervened and said there would be 200. After a back and forth between the two women, Missy tried to bring some order to the room, but it didn’t matter.
“Why did I even bother coming if no one will listen,” asked the mother.
“I don’t know why you insisted on coming,” the bride fired back.
“My son is getting married! It’s my right to be here,” the mother cried out.
“He’s marrying me. I don’t need your input.”
The mother said she needed a smoke break and walked out. Missy watched as the son was sent out to his mother to try and salvage the meeting. Then Missy and the bride got their opportunity to begin planning. They devised a system where a special password would be required for any future changes.
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And Then The Phone Rang…
Afterwards, the groom’s mother started to call the bakery staff. Missy picked up the phone and heard from someone who was trying to impersonate the bride on the other end of the line. Almost immediately, Missy remembers the mother-in-law’s distinct Greek accent and their first meeting. Missy did everything she could to prevent the mother from messing up the cake. Missy asked the woman to provide the passcode, so they could get started with the changes. The mother didn’t know anything about the system. Staying in character, Missy said that the woman could prove that she was the bride with ID, and they could proceed. When she was received silence, she knew the mother-in-law was planning another scheme.
Later on that week, “I’m running between the back and the front when I hear a familiar accent speaking loudly.”
The mother came in and asked to change the order, and when the other employee saw the flags in the file from the phone call, she asked the woman for some identification. Missy explains, “This isn’t acceptable to the mother-in-law, who turns to the other customers and complains about how ‘unprofessional and unaccommodating’ our bakery is. My co-worker asks the mother-in-law to not bother the other customers, and she responds by calling the poor girl a ‘stupid brat.'”
What followed was a back and forth where Missy told the woman to either provide some identification or get out. The mother-in-law stormed out of the bakery and jumped into her car.
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“Open The Door! I Can See The Lights On!”
“The mother-in-law returns to the office when the bride comes in along with her fiancé, who looks furious while the bride looks close to tears.” Missy recalled. The mother was “absolutely smug”, but her expression quickly turned “sheet white” when she saw her son among their ranks. The groom called out his mom when she started speaking in Greek. “Mom, no. [The bride] doesn’t speak Greek and you know it. What are you doing here?”
The mom argued her case and demanded to go to another bakery, but Missy called her out for trying to call and make changes to the cake. The bride agreed that the cake was finalized. Following the meeting, the mother stormed out into the wild. Upon the woman’s departure, Missy yelled that the mother was banned from the bakery. Another morning, Missy was back at the bakery getting everything prepped when she heard the phone ring. The voice screamed for someone in charge, “immediately.” Before Missy could finish her sentence, that voice on the other end butted in, “Don’t lie! You are not closed.”
Missy tried to convince the woman that the bakery wouldn’t open for a few more hours, but was quickly cut off. “You lie! I know you are open now! I can see the lights on!” Missy continued, “The only way this woman could see the kitchen light is if she is at our front door with her face against the glass. I proceed to have a panic attack.”
Missy texted a warning to her manager asking for help. Missy’s manager arrived quickly, and Missy finally started to calm down. They went outside where they found 20 half-smoked Marlboros right outside the door. “I had swept the entrance before I went inside, so we think she camped for a good while,” Missy recalled. What would this mom do next?!
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That Settles Things, Right?
The manager decided to end this once and for all. “She called the couple and told them that she would call the police the next time the mother showed up,” Missy said. “She would understand if they switched bakeries and would refund their deposit, but she would not allow her employees to be harassed. The bride apologized for the mother-in-law’s actions, and didn’t want to switch bakeries because both she and her fiancé were ‘impressed with our professionalism. They also supported calling the police.”
During a meeting with the bride, Missy learned that the mother-in-law acted this way since the engagement. She showed up randomly without warning, took over planning, and left messages. The problem seemed to start with the girl’s fiancé. He would never stand up to his mother. “I reminded her that this was her wedding, not her mother-in-law’s. She told her fiancé he could go marry his mother if he wanted to please her that much,” Missy wrote.
The bride took Missy’s advice to heart, as she informed her that the mother-in-law was no longer allowed to help with the planning. She was also banned from the wedding. The bride gave her future husband an ultimatum: if his mother is there, his wife will not be. He agreed to these terms. The endless phone calls became background noise for Missy and the other bakers. “I overhear my coworker getting upset on the phone again, so I eavesdrop,” Missy wrote. “You girls are so unprofessional! Now will you help me, or do I have to go elsewhere?” the woman yelled. Missy told her, “I think it would be best if you went elsewhere. I am who you will be dealing with from now on, unless you want my manager.” Missy quickly yelled out, “You are not the customer. Now, is there anything unrelated to your son’s wedding I can help you with?”
Unhappy with her options, the woman hung up on Missy.
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The Bride Had To Go To Desperate Measures To Get The Woman Out Of Her Life
Missy and the bride bonded over how the girl’s mother-in-law tried to control both their lives. The bride came in for a coffee, and immediately Missy knew something was wrong. “Her fiancé asked her to not only re-invite his mother to the wedding, but to let her plan more,” Missy recalled. “Instead of telling her to flee, I told her to think about what she really wanted in her relationship.”
The bride thanked Missy for everything and said she would talk to her fiancé about her wishes. Missy was not surprised when the bride called her later in tears. She ended things with the fiancé and the wedding was off. “He told her that he supported whatever decision she made, while telling his mother that his fiancée was being too controlling,” Missy wrote. “He said she didn’t understand the importance of family to Greek women and said he didn’t want to marry if his mom couldn’t attend.”
He tried to backtrack, but the damage was done. She was tired of dealing with her fiancé’s unwillingness to stand up to his mother, along with the crazy woman herself. With the crazy cake lady out of her life, the bride had a sense of freedom she so longed for. “She is changing her wedding into a ‘celebration of freedom,'” Missy wrote. “She invited all of her friends and family.”
Wanting to get revenge on her ex’s mother, the bride decided to make the cake bigger just to rub it in the woman’s face. Missy said her new friend worked through it with her friends, who helped move the ex out of the house quickly. “She is still in the rage phase of the breakup, but is feeling betrayed,” Missy explained. “Her ex tries manipulative games to get her back. She never falls for it.”
Who can blame her for wanting nothing to do with that guy and his mom? The crazy once future mother-in-law won’t be missed by anyone at the bakery, or anywhere else.
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