A couple of years ago, I went to a Christmas gathering which included one of those gift exchanges where everybody brings a gift. Then everyone gets a number. When it’s your turn, you choose a gift and open it, and everyone admires it. Then, the next person has the option of taking the wonderful gift you just opened, or choosing another still-wrapped gift and opening it. And it goes on until everyone has a lovely/funny/really interesting gift to take home to use/enjoy/regift to someone else, maybe at another one of those parties, where you might actually end up with that lovely/funny/interesting gift all over again. I’ve been at parties like that where the popular gift just keeps on getting swiped away, but most of the ones I attend now have a “three swipe” limit. So, if you’re the lucky third person to say to someone who used to like you, “Hey, hand that over to me,” you actually will get to go home with something you really want.
Anyway, at this particularly party I was at the latter end of the gift-openers and I got a Pie Pop Maker.
The Infamous Pie Pop Maker that I had such faith in
I really wanted to keep it, and the last person to choose looked around at all the other gifts and made me pull mine out from under the table where I was hiding it from view. When I reluctantly pulled it out, she said, “Oh. I brought that!” So, I got to keep it.
Cake balls were relatively new and popular, (the first one I ever ate was made by my sister and niece), and I thought that pie pops would be great for Christmas (and that my niece would think they were funny).
There were circles on the back side that one was supposed to use to cut the pieces of pie crust dough (twelve per batch). The edges of the circles were pretty blunt and didn’t do a good job of cutting. And, they were too small. They barely covered the cute little scooped out spaces on the inside. The directions said to put a circle of dough into each little compartment. Then add a couple teaspoons of the pie filling. Place one of the included lollipop sticks over the filling. Then put a second piece of dough on top of each filling filled compartment. Then, press the lid down. Carefully remove each crimped together pie pop and place on baking sheets. Repeat, until you’ve used up all your pie dough and/or filling. Bake ’em.
While they baked, they oozed. The edges didn’t crimp tightly enough, so you couldn’t pick up a pie pop with the stick; it would just slip out. And, worst of all, the filling to dough ratio was all wrong. There was lots of dough compared with iotas of filling. Dinner guests (my niece and her friends) graciously ate the things, and we all discussed changes I might make for next time.
Next time, I rolled the dough out thinner and used less filling. I used round cookie cutters that had sharper edges and were a little bigger. I made them for Christmas dinner. The filling oozed out. The sticks came off. There was still way more dough than you might want to go with the still small bits of filling. Kevin and April graciously ate them, and we further discussed possible changes.
Apparently there was some sort of learning curve, and I wasn’t on it.
So, I did the modern thing and went to the web site. This product was made by a well-known company that crafted all sorts of cooking and baking items, from a variety of cake pans to cooking pots and pans to tableware. I searched the web site, thinking I might find tips, suggestions, “how to use” ideas to help me be a successful Pie Pop Maker user. “Pie Pop Maker” wasn’t mentioned anywhere. Not in a list of products; not in a list of product-related recipes, not nowhere, nohow. I checked the packaging. Yes, indeed, that was the maker of this item. This orphan item. This item that no one was willing to own up to. And it wasn’t like the item was an old thing that had been lying around in my friend’s house for years. I had actually seen the Pie Pop Maker for sale at a local fabric/craft store.
And that was that. I was so angry that I put the thing back in its original cardboard packaging, wrote a letter describing my extreme disappointment about finding such a poorly-thought-out, badly-designed, completely-unsupported-by-the-company item, and mailed the Pie Pop Maker back to the company. I didn’t ask for any refund or replacement. I just wanted them to know I was so disappointed with the thing, that, instead of simply throwing it away, I sent it back to them. So there, big, old, previously-respected maker of kitchen ware. Hah!
A few weeks later, I got an envelope in the mail. From them. They wanted me to know how apologetic they were about my recent unpleasant experience with their product, Pie Pop Maker. They wanted to give me a $15.00 credit and included a catalog for me to use to choose something that I might enjoy having instead.
Breakfast burritos on my very useful and much appreciated and enjoyed plates
I went through the catalog and found a set of four sturdy, microwavable, plastic plates. They were exactly $15.00. I placed my order and received my plates, and I love them and use them regularly.
A gentle response defuses anger,
but a sharp tongue kindles a temper-fire.
Proverbs 15:1 (The Message)
I have a very difficult time imagining the kinds of people who take jobs in Customer Service. They must need huge amounts of patience and calm and tact, and lots of other positive attributes, to be able to deal with the angry, annoyed, disappointed, furious, frustrated, etc. folks who show up, wanting to have their anger, annoyance, fury, frustration, etc. assuaged, and assuaged RIGHT NOW!
I’m including a dictionary link to the word assuage, in case you’ve heard the word before but have never seen it written down, because it’s not at all spelled the way I would have thought.
In case you are interested in making your own Pie Pops (for which you do not need a Pie Pop Maker) try these sites:
and pecan pie balls
I had one of those “delightful” pie pops at a friend’s house. All dough and hardly any filling equiped with a useless stick. Fortunately, I fell back on the diabetic excuse and couldn’t eat all of mine. It’s the thought that counts.
I made pie pops one time. I didn’t have the cool maker. I just cut circle from pie dough, put on the filling and a stick (I used a craft stick), and crimped the edges with a fork. No leakage! They were yummy! Keep trying, you’ll get it.
Cake pops are another matter. Those were a nightmare!