VIRGINIAN INSTA CATERER WHO IS RIDICULED BY A WOMAN ONLINE DECIDES TO GIVE HER A BEFITTING REPLY

A lot of us plan our lives well in advance, each step with every little detail. But a lot of us do not have things planned in advance. We all hope to figure out our life plans by the time we finish college.

But a lot of times many of us question our career choices and are not even sure if that is exactly what we even want to do for the rest of our lives.

What if one morning when we realize what our true passion has been all this while, we gather the courage to make our passion a career for ourselves, suddenly a stranger comes in and smashes all the courage and tries to shatter all the confidence in the most impolite way that too for a reason so abysmal? What will your reaction be when someone tries to end all that you had built so relentlessly?

Onequa

Meet Onequa, a 24 year-old young woman from Norfolk, Virginia. Onequa had just started her food business after she went through a difficult time. She was unable to find her true calling ever since her graduation and things were never in her favor. 

Lost

Onequa graduated from college in 2014 and had no idea what her next step would be. She started working at random jobs but she knew this was not the goal. All of this confusion only resulted in unhappiness for the young lady. 

Gloomy

Experiencing the worst days of her life when she was unable to figure out where to go and what to do, Onequa was unable to even get out of bed. She would only cry in depression all day long and blame herself. 

No Talents

Onequa always thought that she had no talent out of which she could make her career. She continuously prayed for some guidance. For almost three years, it was only depression and the feeling of being lost for her. 

Realization

Then suddenly one day, Onequa realized that maybe things could start to work in her favor. After all, there was one thing that she was really good at, and that was cooking. “It was literally the only thing I did well,” she said.

New Beginning

Onequa decided that there was absolutely nothing that she had to lose if she took the risk to start her own enterprise. She was to start from scratch and there was no harm in giving cooking a try because she knew she was good at it. Little did she know someone was going to smash it all for her. 

Friends and Family

Onequa started with cooking for friends and family since she knew that all of these people would support her. Side by side, she kept posting whatever she cooked on Twitter. After all, digital media could get her the recognition she wanted. But it would turn out to be very different from what she had expected.

Step By Step

Even though things were moving at a slow pace, people had started to show interest in the budding chef’s posts. Soon, Onequa made an Instagram page as well, to post pictures of the dishes she cooked. And that is where the trouble would begin. 

All By Herself

Since Onequa had started her enterprise all by herself, she was the only one to manage all the aspects of it herself. From customer service to managing to cook, she did it all by herself. And that is how she would meet the person who would try all things to put Onequa and her work down. 

Just Another Day

Onequa had made a beautiful Instagram page under the name ‘highlyflavoured’, where she uploaded pictures of what she cooked. And truly, all of them were a treat to watch. It was on Instagram only that an unknown woman approached Onequa. 

Purpose

The woman who had contacted Onequa actually wanted to get a price estimate of Onequa’s catering services. The woman had been planning for her godmother’s wedding and seemed interested in Onequa’s work. 

The Idea

The woman who had contacted Onequa was very clear about the kind of services she wanted from her. The food menu was decided very exactly and only after all the discussions were made between the woman and her godmother, they approached Onequa.

Lavish Menu

The woman started by telling she wanted a breakfast/brunch car with an omelet station. She wanted bacon, turkey sausages, shrimp, crab meat, swordfish and other breakfast meats all in one car. Her expectations were too high. 

Challenge

It would indeed have been a challenge for Onequa to make so many dishes, all so lavish, and that too in large quantities. Wedding food is always considered to be of bad quality and taste, but Onequa always wanted to stand out in her work. 

More Demands

Apart from the breakfast car and its everlasting menu, the woman told Onequa that her godmother also wanted a wing station with “all flavors you can think of” and also a waffle station. No..this wasn’t just it either. She wanted a stuffed salmon dish, shrimps, grits, and macaroni and cheese.

A Lush Wedding

We all know how much a wedding costs, and to have such a lavish menu just adds to the cost. If this woman wanted all of these things for her wedding she must really be having a lot of money to spend.

Dessert Too

As if all these side and main dishes were not enough for the bride, she wanted desserts too after the fancy dinner. They wanted fresh fruit and 200 signature flavored cupcakes as well!

Great Chance

Onequa thought that she could really do a great job with this order and she had a feeling that she could complete the order and make everyone satisfied as well. But things were going to take an ugly turn now. 

Wedding Date

Onequa asked the woman about the wedding date to get an idea of the amount of days she would get to prepare. To her surprise, there were only two months left for the wedding from that day. It was a last minute kind of deal that the woman had presented her with. But the worst was yet to come.

The Moment

After conversing with Onequa about the money, the lady came to her final point. She wanted to have an estimate of the amount that Onequa’s services would cost. And right after answering this question, Onequa would be up for a blow on her face. 

Costing

The estimated cost was to be made keeping in mind the number of people, which was 175-200. Onequa calculated the estimate keeping the least profit margin for herself and told the goddaughter that she would be charging $28 per person, so a total of $5000 in total. 

Appalling Reaction

The goddaughter reacted as almost every customer reacts to a freelancer’s work. Their work is not considered too worthy and is always taken for granted by most of the customers. And this was the reason this woman did what she did next to Onequa. 

Sarcasm

The woman texted Onequa as if to express shock when she said, “$5,000?….”. Onequa thought that she could handle people like this woman and immediately replied saying, “Yes, I’m purchasing all food and making it, correct?” 

The Blow

When the woman replied to Onequa’s text, it really showed the kind of person she was. She questioned the price yet again, but she did not stop there. To make things worse, she started putting Onequa down with her rude and harsh words. 

Lowering Down

The woman texted Onequa saying, “Yeah lol but why that much” and wrote the worst thing after this that Onequa had ever come across. She added, “you’re an Instagram caterer it’s not like you have your own legit restaurant lol.” 

Ill-Mannered

It really seemed that the woman was nothing else but ill-mannered. A moment ago she had had no problems in ordering food for her godmother’s wedding from the same instagram caterer and now she thinks that Onequa is not even worth it? 

Calm And Poised

Onequa did not lose her calm after reading the woman’s message. She maintained her poise and politely replied to the text saying, “What does that have to do with me purchasing all food products for 200 people and making it?”

Not The End

The woman seemed to have no control over her words. It seemed like she was full of superiority complex. She sends another message, as rude as the previous one, stating, “I’m pretty sure you have a great plug lol every good caterer does. She said $2100, take the opportunity or leave it (her exact words)”. 

The Impossible

The woman seemed to be impossible to Onequa. How can she expect a caterer to make such elaborate dishes in just 10 dollars and 5 cents per person? And on top of it she was not even polite in keeping her offer in front of Onequa. 

Unimaginable

Onequa could not even understand what on earth did the woman mean when she said that ‘take the opportunity or leave it.’ Where even was the opportunity? Onequa knew what she had to do next and she had no doubts about it. 

Best Reply

Onequa knew what kind of a person she was dealing with so she was ready with her reply to the lady’s question of taking or leaving the opportunity. She quickly replied, “Tell luv I’m good! Enjoy!” And she left with the most savage kind of reply. 

No Blames

We can never say that Onequa left the conversation abruptly. She did the right thing because very often freelancers and their work is looked down upon. Their hard work is never acknowledged and their skills are not valued either. 

Roguish Woman

There is a very thin line between being an ignorant person or being a rogue person. This woman could not be excused because of not having any detailed knowledge about the costing of food. She had decided to pretend to be ignorant to get the best out of the situation. 

On Twitter

Onequa decided she would take the matter to twitter. She posted all the screenshots of the conversation she had with this woman and the whole twitter family immediately stood up in Onequa’s support and started replying to her tweet. 

New Name

The whole Twitter family that was involved in Onequa’s tweet had given a new name to the woman since she was unnamed all along. And collectively they all called her a ‘scoundrel’. Yes, each of them knew what she had really done. 

Misconception

The woman must have thought that she was keeping the offer of the year in front of Onequa when she had said ‘take it or leave it’. But Onequa knew what she had to do without any second thoughts to it, and the internet was also on Onequa’s side and thought she did the right thing. 

Support

Everybody who came across Onequa’s story was horrified that what kind of clients she was dealing with. One user thought that the woman had really been talking senseless stuff and that Onequa was right to say she’s “good luv”. 

Reasonable Price

A lot of Twitter users also said that Onequa’s rate was not even unreasonable. Many of them had organized their own wedding or for their friends and relatives and they knew how high prices the caterers actually quote and how pocket-friendly a rate had Onequa offered for such a lavish menu. 

The Alternates

It is obvious that if you go to a good-rated restaurant then the price per person would be around $28 only. So Onequa’s price was not absurd at all and since even such a short period of time was given for all the preparations, Onequa made the best decision by waving the woman goodbye. 

Missing Out

All those people that supported Onequa thought that the woman who had been so unreasonable had really missed out an opportunity of a lifetime. The rates were honestly very low compared to all the cooking that she was asked to do. 

Comparisons

One woman even tweeted when she had started to read the threads, she had thought the total price quoted by Onequa would be around $10k and when she saw $5k, she was in for a shock. She had herself paid $30 per person at a restaurant for a menu as simple as a continental breakfast.

Impressed Audience

Many people said that they would be more than happy to accept an offer like that for their functions. There was no room for negotiations in Onequa’s offer since it was already more than reasonable and the only amount that would be covered was the purchasing of raw food. 

Unaccepted Humiliation

Everyone wants a perfect wedding for themselves but not everybody has a lot of money to spend on their wedding. And it is understandable that everybody has their own budget. What is not understandable is that what is the need to expect something that you know might be out of your budget. 

Unkind

You should be realistic while planning a function as grand as a wedding. You should not demand service or facility that your budget cannot buy and especially not humiliate someone in trying to make them lower their prices to as low as half of what they’d asked for. 

Head Held High

Onequa was lucky enough to have got people’s support in her case and so she could still walk with her head held high and had not lost her confidence. She did what she had to do, and people encouraged her for taking the right decision. 

Lost Morale

A lot of times clients undermine the confidence of the professionals. Almost every independent worker must have suffered what Onequa went through, but she was strong enough to walk out confidently out of the situation and not let things affect her.

Good Over Bad

Onequa had to face one rude woman that wanted to demean her confidence. But there were hundreds and thousands of people who were there to support her against that woman. Before posting about the incident, Onequa had about 339 followers on instagram, which have increased to 50,000! 

Wrong Offer

Since Onequa had just started her business and was just two months into her work when the woman contacted her with such a big order, Onequa ended up quoting a real low price but the woman still continued to devalue her work. 

Lesson Learned

Onequa was sure of how to treat people like that woman in the future. She was never again going to make the mistake of putting a wrong offer in front of a customer. Onequa said, “I realized people will downplay your worth, dreams, and talents – but only if you allow them.”