Bad Attitude Betty LOVES Good Customer Service (And Cupcakes)!

Cleveland Cupcake Co.So, my knocked up baby sister’s baby shower was last weekend!  Sure, it’s kind of weird to see someone you knew before they had teeth all “with child,” but Small is a LOVELY (if snarky) pregnant lady, and her shower was fantastic.  Her geniusy friend Liz (who, at this point, is basically my Bonus Friend With Purchase) hosted—in a skirt she made herself, natch!  There was tasty food, and wine (no party for or near my sister could ever be boozeless), and Small’s clever friends and family decorated the CUTEST onesies ever destined to be barfed upon!  (Mine featured a drawing  (upside down, so The Unborn can look down at his tummy and see things right side up) of Adrian and me (labeled “Tia y Tio”), next to a palm tree, next to an array of things my unborn nephew might have questions about (because babies don't know ANYTHING)—chiles, cheese, movies—along with my cell phone number, so that he knows who we are, where we are, and with what we can help him.  Only Adrian looked kind of goggle-eyed and scary, and I looked kind of smeary-mouthed and scary.  I’ll be lucky if this kid calls me…ever.)  Anyway, I didn’t take a single picture of any of it.  You all have rich inner lives and baroque imaginations…you’ll be fine.

My big contribution to the party (aside from my gift, and a potato salad that I Cleveland Cupcake Co.KNEW I over-spiced…Dijon mustard + horseradish + dried jalapenos + overnight rest = TOO MUCH) was CUPCAKES!  Liz said, “Could you bring something desserty?”  I asked Small, “What do you want, desserty?”  Small said, “Cupcakes?”  I googled “Cleveland cupcakes,” and WAH-LAH, I was fatefully linked with the Cleveland Cupcake Company!

Cleveland Cupcake Co.Look, I am a Horrible Customer Service Magnet.  I try—OH GOD HOW I TRY—I’m polite, articulate, respectful, sympathetic with customer service peons (having been one MANY a time myself, often IN COSTUME), but MY STARS, if I don’t have a sign on my head (or voice, or penmanship) that says “KICK THIS WOMAN IN THE TEETH.”   (Adrian is officially in charge of ALL customer service at our house.  I don’t even open the cable bill anymore (I WILL link to my 2,300+ word screed to Time Warner Cable, if you want), and I WILL NOT approach an airline gate counter, upon pain of divorce (which seems easier than maintaining a marriage IN AIRPORT JAIL).)

So IMAGINE my surprise and delight at the speediness and professionalism Cleveland Cupcake Co.of the Cleveland Cupcake Company!  They’re two women who source the best that Cleveland has to offer (which is both more and awesomer than you might originally think), and who then NOT ONLY make some of the best stinkin’ cupcakes I’ve ever had, BUT ALSO have the customer service awesomeness to back them up!  I needed to know if they delivered, so I emailed their info address…within an hour or two, they’d gotten back to me—NOT ONLY do they deliver, BUT they do so for $5.  Five dollars!  People in Los Angeles won’t punch you in the face for five dollars!  Then—and this is KEY—THEY ACTUALLY DID DELIVER, LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY, AND THEY DID SO BY THE PROMISED TIME!  AND THEY DELIVERED WHAT I HAD ORDERED!

I have several friends who met their spouses online.  This felt sort of like that…Cleveland Cupcake Co.I never thought it could happen to me, until I clicked on their link…it was love at first sight… (Actually, I was apprehensive as hell.  I was trusting the desserty fate of a pregnant lady’s party to the INTERWEBS?  O, me of little faith!!)

Anyway, the cupcakes?  Listen:  “Level Orange:  This cupcake is a ginger based cake with dark chocolate and fresh orange juice added to the batter. It is then topped with a dark chocolate ganache and a candied orange rind.   Raspberry:  Vanilla bean cake with a fresh raspberry balsamic reduction folded gently into the batter. This cupcake is topped with a light cinnamon cream cheese icing.  The Cave:  Traditional black bottom cupcake topped with a three chocolate ganache and freshly chopped bacon. You may have to sit in a dark room alone with this cupcake. He means business.”  Plus, a vegan peanut butter, a stout-with-Irish-cream-frosting kind… Do they sound good?  Because they were RIDICULOUSLY DELICIOUS, SRSLY, IT WAS INSANE.

Look.  Life is short.  Customer service is terrible and terribler.  (At least, where I'm sitting, it is.)  Let’s endeavor to give our money to people who WANT it, who APPRECIATE it, who (MOST importantly) DESERVE it!  And VIVA LA CUPCAKES!

Comments

[Mommers]

The potato salad was delicious, with enough zip that it wasn't boring, but not so much that people who have never been further west than the Mississippi didn't enjoy it a lot. Between that and the cupcakes, you rocked that shower!

[h.]

well, i'm no liz, but i'm glad the potato salad went over well (even if you ARE my mom, and thus technically unqualified to make any such assessment). :D

[megan]

Thank you so much for your kind words! We absolutely loved baking for your shower! (insert blushing cheeks and one more exclamation point) you rock. seriously.

xoxo
Megan and Lisa

p.s. um, double bonus points for a fabulous blog.