Spelling at the bakery

[LuckySam]

Yesterday I bought a cake at my grocery store. I asked the girl working to write "Happy Mother's Day" on the cake. She took it to the back and returned a few minutes later and said, "I didn't realize that Mother's Day was two words, do you want me to find you another cake and start over?" She had written "Happy Mothersday" on the cake. The girl is a really nice person and it was an honest mistake but it seems odd to me that an adult could go their entire life without realizing "Mother's Day" is not one word. I remember making mother's day cards in elementary school and knew how to properly spell it. There were balloons surrounding the bakery that said "Happy Mother's Day" as well as other cakes that already had that written on them.

It will make for a funny moment when my mom sees the cake today. I just had to share my random story. This isn't the first time this has happened. My dad's retirement cake should have said "Happy Retirement Captain Chuck". The word "Captain" was spelled with the a and the i reversed and "Retirement" was missing the second e. Actually I've had many cakes with spelling errors. Perhaps they should require the employees to take a spelling test or have a dictionary available for them to use. Ha! Happy mothersday everyone! ;)

[imagirliegirl]

Oh my gosh! I'd probably take a picture of the cake and go back in ... ahem ... see the mistake? Maybe you'll get a free cake out of it! Yum! :p

[NotDesperate]

LOL, how can you not know that is 2 words? There is something wrong there!

They should require you to write down what you want it to say. Then the mistake with "Captain" might not have happened, but I would feel really silly writing down "Happy Mother's Day" though....



Anyway, Happy Mothersday everyone!!

[ManteoChik]

That's really funny, but its also sad in a way.

I was at the 7-11 the other day getting coffee. The total was $2.35 and I handed her $5.35. She accidentally punched in $10 (instead of 5) and actually had to get a calculator to find out how much change she owed me.

[imagirliegirl]

They should require you to write down what you want it to say.

Now that I think about it - the bakery we use does require people to write what they want it to say. All places should do that! Ha.

[LuckySam]

You're right, they should make you write down what you want to say. I probably wouldn't have bothered writing Happy Mother's Day though because I ASSUME people know how to spell those three words! I was wrong! Free cake is good. If it were a function where I was having people other than my family coming over I probably would have asked for a new cake but since my family seems to have the curse of the misspelled cakes it's just one more thing to joke about.

[jennylou]

mmmmm, cake.....

[imagirliegirl]

You're right, they should make you write down what you want to say. I probably wouldn't have bothered writing Happy Mother's Day though because I ASSUME people know how to spell those three words!

No joke.

You should go back to the person who did it and ask them what they were thinking. LOL

I would love to hear that explanation.

[Kanga]

How embarrassing! But really how do not know that?? I worked that same job in highschool and while it was embarrassing to ask somebody how they spelled Bill Jones or Mary Smith it couldn't have been near as bad as spelling it wrong on the actual cake.

[maxandmolly]

No joke.

You should go back to the person who did it and ask them what they were thinking. LOL

I would love to hear that explanation.
That's the thing. It's not people not thinking, it's people REALLY NOT KNOWING how things are spelled. It's appalling. And it's not just the cake decorator at the local grocery store-it's everywhere. Makes me wonder sometimes why I bothered paying attention in school-clearly no one else did.

[imagirliegirl]

That's the thing. It's not people not thinking, it's people REALLY NOT KNOWING how things are spelled. It's appalling. And it's not just the cake decorator at the local grocery store-it's everywhere. Makes me wonder sometimes why I bothered paying attention in school-clearly no one else did.

Oh gosh, I hear you. I see the things college students write and it is appalling. It drives me NUTS when classmates whine about professors who count off for spelling and grammar. You are in college! Learn how to spell!

[Ribbit]

Oh my gosh, it is just baffling how awful education standards are today. I am back in college taking some prerequisite coursework before I begin my Master's degree, and I am amazed at what some of the people in my classes write. There is a girl in one of my classes that wrote this posting on our course message board:

the thing is our professor or another student in the class i think was going to help us out with typing up those ipa codes
the thing is my question has some of those i can type what ever i have and the thing is she wants me to send it to her with those codes to her that is the thing
cause she was able to email me her questions but i have to be able to do the same even if she saw them
thanks anyways

This is for an upper division course, and the professor has stressed repeatedly that we should really be practicing professional, grammatically correct writing with our peers and professors. But this...this doesn't even make sense! How many times can you say "the thing is" in one never ending sentence? How is this girl in college??

[LuckySam]

the thing is our professor or another student in the class i think was going to help us out with typing up those ipa codes
the thing is my question has some of those i can type what ever i have and the thing is she wants me to send it to her with those codes to her that is the thing
cause she was able to email me her questions but i have to be able to do the same even if she saw them
thanks anyways

Wow! That's REALLY bad. It makes absolutely no sense!

I majored in journalism and am really picky about spelling and grammar. I have two friends who can't spell to save their lives! One is in marketing and has to write newsletters. How does she get by? She doesn't know the difference between too and to and she says, "Supposebly" - not supposeDly. It drives me insane. This lady I work with CCd me on an email she sent to a bank who is sponsoring an event we're having. She asked the woman to please "except" the invitation to attend our event. Um yeah ... it should have been "accept". I was really embarrassed for her.

At the local Safeway pharmacy there used to be a sign printed on the floor that read, "To insure customer privacy please wait behind this line." No one on this planet knows the difference between "Insure" and "Ensure" and Safeway is no exception. Insure refers to insurance. Ensure means to guarantee. It makes no sense to use "Insure" the way Safeway did. It was awful. My King Soopers grocery store (same one where the girl botched my cake up) also had a major spelling error on a sign printed on the floor in the produce department. It's INSANE! How many people do you think look at those signs before they go to print? I do marketing and PR multiple people proof everything I send out. Did everyone who proofed those signs think it was right?

I don't know why we can't teach people to spell. I agree with everyone. It is appalling.

[Ellyn]

That is so strange about the cake. How could you not know?

My MIL likes to make up words...and add strange endings to words:
balconized (as in the auditorium seats are balconized)
Mezerizing (as in the sunset is mezerizing)
Serrogated (the knives are serrogated)

:p
And when she doesn't know the words to nursery rhymes, she makes them up (so does my mom) - so DS is really going to be lost in school! :D

[kris97]

Another great misspelled cake story:

When I was in high school, my friend was looking at childhood pictures of her boyfriend, Brian. In one picture from when he was like five, she noticed that the cake said, Happy Birthday Brain, and laughed about it. The funny thing: no one - not his mom, his dad, or any adult - ever realized, at the birthday party or in the years since, that his name was spelled wrong.

[salysaturn]

Sad..and funny.

This reminds me of a pizza place we used to go to. The owner got the menu hung on the wall, and above each board, he had Starters...Steaks, etc. Well, he has Gourmet Pizzas, and the company painted GORMET! lol.

I used to work in a bakery. I was always afraid of spelling something wrong. I used to thank my lucky stars when people would come in with Happy Birthday Mary :)

[Ericka_Jarett]

I would go back to the store and tell the manager, just so they are aware of what happened. It's funny cause our grocery store requires you write exactly what you want
on it, even if a known holiday

Education today is a sad thing. I was working at our twins club clothing sale a few weeks ago, I was a cashier. The person that took over for me had to use th calculator to make change. All clothing was in .50 increments so not hard to figure out change in your head. My purchase was something like $6.50 and I gave her a $10, she proceeded to put the numbers in the calculator, when I and the woman working with her already told her how much change. She is 27 and raising 4 children (set of triplets). Just blows my mind, how people can't even give simple change back, they need a computer or calculator to give them the answer

[Ellyn]

When I was at McDonalds a while ago, my total was something like 4.52, so I gave the cashier 5.52. She kept handing me the .52 back - saying she only "needed" the $5 bill. :rolleyes: Duh, just give me a dollar back.

[Ribbit]

When I was at McDonalds a while ago, my total was something like 4.52, so I gave the cashier 5.52. She kept handing me the .52 back - saying she only "needed" the $5 bill. :rolleyes: Duh, just give me a dollar back.

You should have said, "Oh, okay...could you give me back the 48 cents in pennies please?" :rolleyes:

[Kimberland30]

Okay, the Mother's Day thing is really sad, I mean who DOESN'T know it's two words? But I will say that I've sometimes misspelled things on a cake because I'm not used to writing on them (I guess I'd be SOL if I worked at a bakery). Sometimes it's easily explained and not always because someone isn't 'educated enough'. Case in point...

I was at a conference in a hotel last weekend and one of the manager's was putting up "Congratulations X and X" on the sign up front. Well, he left the T out of the congrats, and didn't seem to realize it. My friend and I were watching him and she went up to him and told him. He didn't even realize he'd missed a letter. Uneducated? No, I think it's more of an error. It happens.

I'm misspelled "birthday" on cakes before. But good for me I just took off the writing icing with a knife and started over. :)

[salysaturn]

I just went to a show Saturday, and the front of the program read:

"Join the Chorus as they celebrate THERE 6th Annual...." sigh :(

[gardenmommy]

I blame text messaging for the horrible grammar and spelling that my nephews and their friends exhibit. He gave me a birthday card once and it had so many errors I thought he might have had a stroke while writing it.:rolleyes:

[diam124]

Just blows my mind, how people can't even give simple change back, they need a computer or calculator to give them the answer

Well, I'm really good at spelling and always have been, but I'm TERRIBLE at math. :o I just can't do it in my head and especially not when I'm feeling pressured, so I can sympathize with needing a calculator! I think it's some sort of processing error in my head where I need to see it on paper. My DH insists he doesn't believe me that I got an A in AP Calculus in high school, but I swear I did!

[imagirliegirl]

I just went to a show Saturday, and the front of the program read:

"Join the Chorus as they celebrate THERE 6th Annual...." sigh :(

Ugh! That would drive me nuts.

I was watching TV the other day and a Kia commercial came on. They have Kia's on sale!

The Kia's what? Its windows? Its wheels? It's plural not possessive! Don't they have people to edit their commercials?

I seriously will not shop somewhere that misspells things on their ads, signs, commercials, etc...

[Jenyfer9]

For the longest time there was this cookie store at our local mall that had a display monster cookie out (you know, the ones that are like sheet cookies) that said "It's You're Birthday!"

Aaaarrrggghhh!!!

[salysaturn]

AHHH!!!!! I know, for some reason grammar errors drive me crazy. The biggest one for me is A LOT is 2 words.

[PG-rated]

This is a mistake that happens all the time, but it still surprised me to see it in a major motion picture:
We went to see "Iron Man" a couple of nights ago, and there's a scene with a montage of magazine covers. One said something like, "At 21, Stark takes the Reigns." DH said later maybe they were trying for a play on words. Um, no. Just bad grammar.

[Anna Low]

I remember one of the subjects I took in grade school was spelling. Granted, I'm practically an senior citizen compared to most of the people on this board, but one would think that spelling would be a pretty standard subject for kids. However, my greatest downfall has been spellcheck. My email and word programs both have autocorrect, which makes me very lazy if I'm typing fast.

[mrschica]

At least it didn't say "Hoppyberfsday" on it, now that would've been so very awesome.

[udsweetpea]

I'm sure you all have received the email that accompanies this picture of a cake made at Wal-Mart. I can imagine the conversation before this...
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff127/tetrabinary/walmart_cake.jpg

[imagirliegirl]

At least it didn't say "Hoppyberfsday" on it, now that would've been so very awesome.

Oh, Bren, thank you. That is what Brad is getting on his cake this year. :D

[mrschica]

Oh, Bren, thank you. That is what Brad is getting on his cake this year. :D


That is why you are so cool, however, the laws of the universe dictate everything backwards, so I don't doubt someone will actually spell it right that time even though you intend for it to say Hoppysberfday. LOL.

[scout]

Grammar mistakes and spelling errors drive me crazy too, but I did want give you a different perspective. While there are plenty of students who don't care about education and don't listen in class, I'm wondering if the bakery worker has a legitimate learning disability. I'm a teacher, and I have students with learning disabilities mainstreamed in my classes. They get the same education as my gifted students and average students, and they try twice as hard. They're not stupid or lazy....they just have a learning disability. I often wonder where my students will work when they grow up, and it makes sense that some of them would work as a cashier or at a bakery.

That doesn't excuse receiving an inferior product or service by any means, but I just wanted to throw my two cents in! ;)

[solongtogo]

the bakery I go to makes you write your message out on paper beforehand, so if there is a spelling error, it's your fault, not theirs :D You'd think more people would do that.

[L&D Nurse]

Thought you would like this - I even wrote down what I wanted: "Happy 1st Birthday Thomas." :rolleyes:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3005/2508239835_e2b19455c9.jpg

[Alegna]

Correcting Typos (http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-typo-guys-0521may21,0,701362.story)

I thought of this thread when reading this article.

[TX Sweetheart]

Earlier, DH was playing a Prince of Persia game on the Wii and he messed up a move he was supposed to make and the pop-up on the screen said "You swung the controller to soon"

[LuckySam]

Maybe they thought your son should be Thomas the 1st. It sounds very regal. Ha! Wow, you even wrote it down for them. Did they say anything to you when you go the cake or did you figure it out after you'd left the store?

And the Wii game - don't multiple people review things before they're sent to the public? Especially something like a Wii game?

A few months ago I was driving through town with my parents and husband when my husband saw a marquee sign (the ones with the plastic letters you put up manually) that the city maintains. He pointed out the message on the sign read "Drive Careful" rather than "Drive Carefully". Ironically a few days later the local paper printed an editorial from someone pointing out the same mistake. No one can spell! :rolleyes:

[amyintn]

I think it's a fairly common mistake when one is decorating something that other people are going to see, i.e birthday posters, cakes. Granted, yeah, have the customer write it down to help guarantee no mistakes.

I use to decorate cakes on the side for friends and I swear, every single one I made some kind of mistake from concentrating so hard on making the writing look good:

Twin are twice the fun (missing the "s" in twins)
Happy Birthday Lenne (supposed to be LeAnne)

...and many, many more. I'm notorious for leaving letters out of words on cakes. And I have a college education with a degree in English;)

[polkadot]

We just had our end of the year program for Kindergarten and we always use the same theme..." Good-Bye Kindergarten Hello First Grade"

So we ordered two cakes one was to say Good-Bye Kindergarten and the other to say Hello First Grade. When we called the bakery the woman admitted she could not spell Kindergarten, so we spelled it out for her...correctly. TWICE!

We get our cake and how is it spelled...

Good Bye KINDERGARDEN...like where you grow flowers...;)
so i guess it doesnt matter how many times you spell it they can still get it wrong..

[Mrs. M.]

http://photos.ramseym.com/pictures/blog/happy_nov_dec_bday.jpg

Be careful what you write down for the baker.

[MichelleRenee]

Correcting Typos (http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-typo-guys-0521may21,0,701362.story)

I thought of this thread when reading this article.

I have to laugh at the errors in that article!

[HGMorgann]

A recent Subway Restaurant competition (co-sponsored by Scholastic) for kid's story writing had two misspellings on their original advertisement. They spelled United States as Untied States (not doubting that one) and Gift Basket as bakset.

That's pretty sad seeing that its a contest for writing! I do admit I'm pretty bad at properly placing apostrophes in the correct place.

[MichelleRenee]

That's pretty sad seeing that its a contest for writing! I do admit I'm pretty bad at properly placing apostrophes in the correct place.

That is pretty sad! When I was in 6th grade I won a spelling bee and they spelled my name wrong on the plaque hanging in the lobby.

[Daniel's Kitty]

Spelling errors on cakes and similar stuff annoy me, but I REALLY hate when I get mail from somebody that wants to invest my money or something, and they didn't even spell check.

My husband would have a horrible time though, if he had to decorate cakes or something similar since he has pretty bad dyslexia that was ignored through school. I help him out typing or writing things for him, and I always have to ask him what names are.