You call me cute, and I punch you in the face.

I can't count the number of times after telling someone I'm a baker, the response has been "Oh, how cute!"

I have a problem with this.

Baking a batch of cookies at home in your kitchen is cute. Making your Dad a birthday cake in your little 4 quart kitchenaid? Adorable. Puppy equivalent, I'm sure. But when go to work when most people sleep, your back aches from standing all day and not getting a break, your hands crack and burn from the flour and cornmeal, or you're up to your elbows in batter, it's not cute, or glamorous, it's freaking hard work.

It seems like only actual bakers understand how un-cute the actual job is, and frankly, just plain not respected like it used to be. It used to be all men, who dedicated their lives to being bakers. Women weren't allowed to work in kitchens, and they sure as hell weren't respected when they started to. I think people have this mental image of a modern day bakery being all women in frilly aprons... and hell, maybe some places it is, but it's still a male dominated field, and I know I'm the only girl in my department at work. Anyway, I don't want to get into a feminist debate, but just sayin'.

Maybe someday being a chef, pastry chef, or baker will have the same respect and prestige as being a programmer, or an engineer, or any 9-5 cubicle job. I think chefs and pastry chefs have both come a long way, but being a baker still seems to have that humble ring to it.

I'm not saying I want to change the world or anything, but I would like someone to eventually say, when I tell them I'm a baker, "Wow, that's a lot of hard work", and I'll smile and say, "You're right, it is".