Win With Civility
August 16, 2010 Did you know August is National 'Win with Civility' Month? It's true; the internets told me so.
And since we could all use a reminder from time to time that "polite is always right," I've prepared a few handy tips.
Civility Tip #1 - Always precede a negative comment with a positive one:
Civility Tip #2 - Practice an attitude of gratitude:
And maybe your spelling.Civility Tip #3 - Instead of rudely pointing out the birthday girl's faults, try focusing on her accomplishments:
Or, if s/he has no accomplishments to speak of, then try complimenting a physical feature.
Now, you try!
Ok, well, that's not so much a compliment as it is a reminder of old age - which is never polite. Why not try opening up, instead? You know, tell her how you really feel?
Um.Ok.
Well, while I applaud your honesty, that's...not very positive.
Ok, new tactic: Is there anything you can congratulate her on? Something worth complimenting?
Ah, much better.Don't ask me why; it just does.
Thanks to Wreckporters Whitney M., Birdy, Susan K., Heather R., Andrea F., Gina G., & Janet S., who, for the record, have never had frosted cheesecake.
Reader Comments (79)
passiveaggressivecakes.com?
That first one has some of the prettiest writing I've seen on a cake in a long time...
I bet "nice clavicles" was an inside joke. Sounds like something a med or nursing student would say.
"So remember, kids: polite is always right, and successfully kicking narcotics calls for frosted cheesecake."
Because it's easier to kick one habit when you've got another to fall back on. And what could be a tastier addiction than frosted cheesecake? And it would quickly help you add on the pounds lost to heroin addiction. Or something.
Wonder if the "tolerable" one is a Pride and Prejudice reference?
Please tell me these are all friendly jokes (well, except for not going to jail and kicking opiates - those can be real).
Word verification = screblin - Wreckerator: "Hold on a minute; I've got some screblin to do on these here cakes, coz folks wants words on 'em."
The 1st and 3rd have great handwriting! (Thinking positive.)
I guess I'd rather be called "tolerable" than ... a whole bunch of nastier things.
*teaspit* Aw, geez, I just cleaned the screen yesterday!!
About lost it on the 'never been to jail'.... But I love the celebration of noteworthy accomplishments!!
~~Di
I am going to ask for my cake this year to say 32 and Never been to jail. I think that rocks.
I'm hoping the first two cakes were for people in the hospital? Or maybe the second one was for somebody in jail, and it had a tasty, iron-rich file filling?
- DB
wv: musedata, as in, "they were not a musedata their cakes!"
the subtle joke in the last cake is hilarious.
What exactly are those marks all over the 60-year-old's cake? Animal print of some sort? Confetti? Wrinkles?
For my mother's 60th birthday this summer, we got her a cake that said "Happy Birthday, you're 8 1/2 (in dog years)".
I also wondered if "Tolerable" was a P&P reference, but shouldn't they have added an "I suppose" to really nail it.
The "clavicles" one made me think immediately of this fight from Metal Gear: Ghost Babel ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV2xiEPzWWU
Yeaaaah, giant nerd hat over here. :3
Clavicals? Is that something similar to clavicles?
Poor Whitney! They hate having her around AND they nom her cake before she can photograph it! That's cold, man.
this post reminds me of Home Movies' Compliment Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75zeLwreamI
or was it supposed to???
Mmm...I'd take 'never been to jail' as a compliment if I could have that cake. It looks delicious.
Even better, I might pick up opiates if people were going to get me cheesecake when I quit! Yum :)
I think that the black things all over the 60 year old's cake are leeches. :)
I have to disagree with you on one point - "You Are Tolerable" is VERY positive. You should have seen the "You Are INtolerable" cakes they rejected!
I get so freaking confused by these cakes. How does ANYONE think putting some of these messages on cakes is a good idea?!
"Thank God my leaving WHAT?"
"See, that's why nobody here can stand you. Friggin' grammar Nazi."
Are those leaches on the 60 cake?!
Is that cream cheese frosting on the opiates cake? If so, then, heck, anything's a good excuse for that.
And Whitney's cake has such nice handwriting and smooth frosting too.
--Blue Jean
"You have nice clavicles" is a line from the TV series True Blood. Teri said that to Arlene.
I feel almost certain the "You have nice clavicles" is a quote from a movie I have seen recently. But Google failed me.
Could the leeches on the 60th birthday cake have been meant for tiger stripes? The cake is orange(ish).
The last cake reminded me of a 1 Year Clean party we threw for a friend who went through rehab to kick painkillers. The cake we got him was in the shape of a large capsule with "Percocet" written across it in the most beautiful calligraphy ever. No pictures (of course!), but he laughed so hard, he cried. Some of the guests were less than . . . enthusiastic.
Sometimes inside jokes are best left unexplained.
Can I skip the opiates, and go right to the cheesecake?
"You have nice clavacals" almost makes it, but then it misspells "clavicles." The dictionary is your friend, bakers.
On the other hand, "Sweet 16 Never been to jail" strikes me as something to celebrate. Beautiful cake (or tart or whatever it is), too. I'd eat that.
I love it!
So funny!
Hmmmm... like the comment I got on one of my blog posts: "This is the funniest thing I've ever read. If I'd never read anything at all."
http://www.danoah.com" rel="nofollow">Single Dad Laughing
"You have nice clavicals" is a True Blood Season 1 reference, I believe....Could be wrong, but I think Hoytt Fortenberry says it to a girl he's trying to impress.
"You have nice clavicles" is Egon to Janine in Ghostbusters.
It IS a True Blood line. But I was incorrect. Teri says it to Arlene! Just pulled out my DVDs to look it up! lol!
Clavicles. Dude, he couldn't even spell clavicles.
I'm totally in love with the "you are tolerable" cake. May have to use that for family sometime soon.
I'm surprised Jen didn't comment on the misspelling of "clavicles"
Alex F.,
People get tweaked at us when we point everything out. Plus, the vast majority of our readers are stinkin' brilliant so we figure they'll catch most of them.
Peace out, yo!
john
My 4 year old niece asked me to click on a cute cake in this post. As we scrolled down, she discovered that there are no cute cakes. Too bad she can't read to understand that saying no to drugs gets you a cheesecake:)
I see I'm not the only one whose mind immediately went to Pride and Prejudice with the "tolerable" one. I wonder if the recipient was a Jane Austen fan. Not sure what the deal is with the tie-dye airbrushing though...
As for the others, I'm trying to decide if I want to know the stories behind them (because inscriptions that strange have to have some kind of story attached).
I think I'm going to copy that sweet 16 one - the teens'll love it!
Your clavicles are better accentuated via use of opiates, but then you have to get the monkey off your back man. Then you get the cake. ok then. wow.
once again I just LONG to see what the wreckerator /clients look like.\ mad props on the pretty handwriting though.!
Thanks for all the compliments on the first cake, I made that and the master wrote on it.
Whitney is my friend btw and that was a surprise (and friendly) gift to her.
I am proud to say that I ordered the first cake on this post for a friend. It is, indeed, an inside joke, and one that the bakery didn't get. When a friend went to pick it up, they were afraid to give it to him, thinking someone in their kitchen had made a horrible, horrible mistake.
I laughed harder at the comments, specifically the revelation that the over-rated "True Blood" ripped off "Ghostbusters."
"You have nice clavicals"... OMG... ROFLMAOH.
Now THAT'S what I call "damning with faint praise"! (At least the baker spelled "clavicals" correctly).
My friends from breast cancer support group often say what's on the first cake, glad you found us but hate that you're here...
I like the fact the "congratulations on kicking opiates" cake looks like a big giant pill. Also that they spelled "congratulations" correctly.
I imagine the first couple of cakes ("we hate that you're here") are about hospital stays.
Love the "kicking opiates" cake. Hey, celebrate the good stuff, no matter what it is.