Once talked to the real estate agent that helped my mom buy in 2008 about buying a place for me around 2020. I found a decent-enough property for about 250k that i could put a house on.
A part of their advice to me was to wait for a home around $80,000 like my mom got in 2008.
I recently upgraded my RAM because it was wild how much was being used. I have to eat the cost of more RAM because sites don’t seem to minimize it at all.
Being prepared like your library card is one, definitely. Always be polite. Always. If they’re grumpy, it’s something that happened in their life. Could be their boss is crappy, someone flipped them off, etc. It’s not about you, so injecting kindness would really help make their day better.
Be prepared and kind. Again. It really is the best way to make things go smoothly.
Those two, prepared and kindness/politeness, are really it if you think about it.
Showing them they defend every single critique… is a critique. I’ve emphasized in so many ways how what they did wasn’t a big deal, how I’m not mad, how it’s ok and it’s a nothing-burger. I’ve given them literal scripts of what they could say. I’ve sent articles, videos, infographics that could help them understand and ways to be able to accept that what they did was a mistake an that it won’t make them a pariah. Telling them dozens of examples of times when I or anyone else has made a mistake and then apologized and fixed it when it was pointed out and everything was fine… nothing.
They don’t change. Like you said, the critique is the problem, it’s not the problem that’s the problem to them.
Just own it, make it right, and let some time heal any embarrassment that’s felt.
I think edible decorations are a better idea. Plastic things are cute, but they will end up in the trash. For a bakery, that would be a lot of plastic* *oops misread it as you starting a bakery! Still fun ideas ahead:
Depending on what you need, there are nuts, fresh or dried fruits, shaved toppings like coconut, cookie cutter shapes of chocolate or cookies, colorful drizzles, chocolate chips, marshmallows, pretzels, crackers, graham crackers, swedish fish, any candy really**, real flowers and foliage, cocoa powder or other powder dusting, seeds like sunflower or poppy, jello, pudding, mousses (uhh, the yummy toppings pronounced moose), sprinkles. **I’ve seen a lot of unique candy I’ve never seen in a big store at, well, another big store lol. If you have a store with a giant bulk section where you scoop what you need, they could have some funky cool looking edible things to use :)
More work involved could be 3d molded chocolate shapes, cakepop art, baking a soft super thin cake as a blanket over (you can punch patterns into it, and you can decorate on top of that) ((cool: use dye to make it a conrasting color!)), carving/making edible stuff into flowers and other designs, making mini versions of the cake to put on top,
If I need to sprinkle sugar on my poppy seed breads, I like to use fat granular sugar and sprinkle it right out the oven so, along witb a little extra sweetness, the granules stick and don’t quite melt all the way so there’s this satisfying texture on the outside like the softest sandpaper. I’m sure other kinda chunky melty things could do cool stuff.
Love it. It’s so easy to jusy say “oops” and try again. Much admiration to people who can do that and have unhindered acceptance of the world. I hope it spreads around.