Pre-Order To Pre-Bake

A customer comes in around 4:45 PM. We close at 5 PM. She scans the nearly empty display case.

Customer: “Wow. Slim pickings.”

Me: “Yeah, we tend to sell out by late afternoon.”

Customer: “Well, I was hoping to get a dozen croissants.”

Me: “I’m sorry, we sold the last batch around two.”

Customer: “You don’t have any in the back?”

Me: “No, everything we bake gets brought out here as it’s ready. We start fresh each morning.”

Customer: “I don’t get it. Why not just make more?”

Me: “We bake based on what typically sells in a day, so we don’t waste food.”

Customer: “That’s just bad business. If I ran this place, you’d never run out.”

She looks at the empty tray, sighs dramatically, then gestures around.

Customer: “I mean, what’s even the point of a bakery with no baked goods?”

Me: “Running out around closing time means we did something right. Complaining at closing time means you didn’t.”