Cake Wrecks: The People's Court Edition
July 27, 2011 Guys, I get a lot of wreck reactions via e-mail. I've seen multi-page rants IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS from bridezillas, blistering sarcasm from disappointed parents, and more "LOL"s than I can count. I've even known one or two brides who had to take their bakers to court to get a refund.
However.
I've never - ever - seen someone sue a baker for over $4,300 over a misspelled name on a $55 cake.
If you can't see the video because you're at work, count yourself lucky. Frankly, I was ready to bash my own head in after the first three minutes. That lady gives crazy a bad name.
Oh, and here's the wreck in question - or at least part of it:
The judge reads the baker the riot act over the cracks in the icing, but also points out to the mom that if you saddle your child with a ridiculously spelled name (it's pronounced "Kiesha" but spelled "Keshia") then you pretty much have to expect people to screw it up for her entire lifetime. And so stop sweating the small stuff already.
Good advice all 'round, wouldn't you say?
Oh, and if *I* were that baker, I think I'd have replaced the cake with something a little more appropriate:
:D(Then I'd direct Ms. Crazy Pants to this blog for an eye-opening dose of perspective.)
Reader Comments (226)
A slight over reaction perhaps? Remember the Python sketch set in the restaurant featuring the dirty fork...?
Life is far to short to sweat the small stuff. Just plain scary that cases like this are even let in the door, but I guess it makes for "entertaining" TV.
wv: buffies (n) a person(s) who follows or otherwise adores people that are in particularly good shape. Those with six pack abs and great calves.
A little anger management perhaps?
Jackie
Hello, my name is
Billiminlilyitta.
The "i" is silent.
Remember - don't sweat the petty stuff. And don't pet the sweaty stuff.
OK, this is a silly case, but at least the judge has a grip on reality. Nancy Grace on the other hand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIDfloVJ4Pk
Crazy Cakes needs to shut up. Seriously a $4300 for a misspelled NAME? Oy!
And to Rob, the finance, RUUUUUUUNNNNN!!!!!!!! You don't want THAT girl and THAT CRAZY CAKE for your WIFE/MIL!!!!!! RUN RUN RUN if you know what's good for you!
WV: equal - really? A real word?
Rob? Does this frighten you...?
Well you know, that's what happens when you give your kid a screwed up name with a strange spelling.
Although my name is Kelli with an "I" dangit.
Oooh I can't wait to see all the comments for this post. Haiku Joy already has me laughing.
But, but but... are you SURE you want to have a post about a crazy woman who brings frivolous lawsuits? Is there a lawyer in your family?
:-)
They have to pay these people to be on that show.
Who would do it otherwise?
I have been repeating my name and spelling it for people ever since I could spell. My kids have common names because of it. I still have family who were around when I was born say and spell my name wrong. So yeah, this mother needs to take a chill pill if that was the worst thing that ever happened to her.
WV Horpu - It could be worse, she could have named her child Horpu.
Oh my god, how ridiculous. If you're going to get so upset about your daughter's name being misspelt, spell it right to begin with. I have an unusual name myself, and I've never flipped so much over it being spelled wrong, let alone my mum getting upset!
Wv: untice. The opposite of entice.
Judge Milian is awesome. She doesn't suffer fools easily (I've seen her getting really mad!)
As for the nutter suing the place, wtf was she thinking? Cray-cray is right! *shakes head*
Wow..... I am going to go with the judge here and say if you can't sweat the small stuff you shouldn't have kids. Seriously...
I totally understand where the mother of the future bride is coming from.
Although my name is spelled S-U-B-E-E, It is pronounced "Throat Warbler Mangrove." You can't imagine how many people get it wrong.
WV:poignom-pronounced "pigman."
You were right - right about at the three minute mark I was ready to hit my head against the desk!
Crazy mom should have spelled her daughter's name right to begin with and then there wouldn't have been any problems. But then again, she couldn't even say the word "ask" correctly - it kept coming out as "aks".
Yes, Rob needs to run away from both of them as fast as he can as quickly as he can.
So let me get this right. People rant in all caps on multiple pages to you??? Is it your job to fix the crappy bakeries who hire inept high school drop outs around the world?
Nuts.
Shelley in Southern Illinois
Where "youins" is used daily in random conversations.
As in "What kind of cake are youins tryin' to sell me here?"
Definite over reaction.
I remember seeing a case on The People's Court when Wapner was still the judge. The woman sued because her wedding cake had yellow flowers instead of peach ones; she claimed it ruined her wedding. Wapner asked her if she ate the cake and if it tasted OK. She replied "yes. but...". Wapner cut her off and dismissed the case. It was awesome.
My mother decided to spell my name Kimberlee....not the traditional Kimberly or Kimberley.... would I go balistic and sue the cake maker? No. I would have had the cake say "Congrats Tom and Kim" instead!
That lady crazy!! And I do feel bad for the guy... he farts wrong, he gonna be in trouble!!
Kim
aka kadterp
Good grief!! And she threw out her daughters awards! My gosh someone needs to touch base with reality now and again.
The cracked cake is one thing, but a misspelled name is almost always an easy fix. I've only misspelled a name once and that is when I was first starting out with cake decorating. But I have fixed a lot of misspellings done by other decorators, and I've never had problems. The cake shouldn't be cracked like that, though I still think they should have provided a picture of the whole cake.
Bottom line is that lady should get the cake for free, but that's it.
For goodness sakes! I have a last name that is hardly ever spelled or pronounced right, but I laugh about it. What else can you do? I agree, take a chill pill, get a refund for the cake and let it go!
I work in a call centre taking personal messages for people, we have to spell every single name as we type the message... I HATE people with unusual spellings!! "Jeff Smith, that's J E F F S M I T H?" "NO!!!!! It's G E O P H S M Y T H E!!!! God, don't you know how to spell? Are you in India? *offended sigh*"
(for the record, no, I am in Australia and yes, this is a real spelling!)
My 6 yr old nephew showed me this which I found very appropriate!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhkJKYdtDvY
I'm VERY sympathetic to the misspelled name cause-- my own grandfather never got mine right, and mine is *constantly* misspelled AND mispronounced. I think the worst spelling was "Elysse". Lovely name but only one letter right! But at least in my case it was because my father picked a name that isn't common in English; in the case in the video, it seems that the mother was simply illiterate. But even so, one just learns to sigh and correct, when it's wrong again, and learns some tricks (e.g. when someone's writing it down, don't say it before you spell it)
The daughter seems to be a bit more sensible, and she's the one that has to live with her mothers poor naming decision. But the mother-- wow. Seriously, letting that ruin the entire party celebrating your daughters engagement??? Yes, you made it clear that it was the one thing that mattered to you, and the facility screwed it up badly. But still, your daughter's marrying a guy who isn't fleeing despite the craziness of his future MIL. Nor is he insisting that his future wife minimize contact with you. Instead, he's standing with them in court. Celebrate that! And make sure that the wedding cake's done right…
Wha is it with people giving their kids these oddball names??? No wonder we are becmong a wussy nation, we whine about EVERYTHING< and we do not let go-we have to be compensated for the smallest amount of "suffering"
You know the old saying about before you marry a woman, take a good look at her mother? Run Rob, run for your life....
My name is mispronounced and spelled wrong all the time, exactly why I gave my kids straight-forward names. Throwing out awards because of a misspelling is crazy. She overreacts big time.
Kelli.....is the I silent? LOL
I get my named spelled wrong ALL the time and it's a really simple name. It's annoying, but it's not worth $4,300.
I love Judge Millian though. It was hilarious when she asks the groom-to-be "Does this frighten you?". That "Help" cake is perfect and should totally be his groom cake.
She is "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs"....
Seriously? A forty five hundred dollar lawsuit over a misspelling on a fifty five dollar cake? You have got to be kidding me. Sure, these people have a right to be upset but to put a lawsuit on that? You've got to be kidding me.
These people need to get a life!
Actually it's an odd name any way you spell it, were did it come from?
Just to say my .30 something niece is called Tamsyn because her Dad had forgotten the piece of paper with the correct spelling on it when he went to register her birth, and my husband got our dead sons name tattooed on his arm and told the tattooist the wrong spelling,Geriant instead of Geraint, luckily he would have jseen the funny side and it's typical of my dear hubby.
Couldn't view the clip, but I can only imagine. Love the People's Court! The comments are cracking me up too!
wv: rebad: 1) When you do something that's really bad. 2) When you do the same bad thing again.
Just seen anonymous answer...Geoffrey is the proper way to spell Geoffrey ,it's my husbands name.
Av shorder variant spelling of shroeder.
I do not think she should have won $4,300, so the judge made the right decision. THAT being said, I think some bakers and this is one of them have forgotten how important their cakes are to the party. The mom was crazy: yes. BUT she did emphasize the spelling of her daughter's name over and over. This should have been double checked by the baker and the cater.
I say this because I am CRAZY when I order cakes for my children; we did a trial run for my daughter's Sweet 16 cake. This is because one of my children died 10 yrs ago, her last birthday cake was completely wrong. When the decorater offered to fix it I was in a hurry and said, that's ok she will have plenty other birthdays. But 6 months later she died. So, yes when I order a cake I want what I ordered and I want my children's names spelled right. (They don't have strange names but if you cannot read your order form then you should not be a professional baker!)
My High School boyfriend was named Geoffrey. People were always calling him Joffrey. As far as I know, He never sued anyone, but he did get teased (by me) a lot.
WV-siestne-That chapel with the purty pictures on the ceiling as done by a cake wrecker.
Boy, if I had a nickle for everytime my name was misspelled, mispronounced, I'd be set for life. LOL
My name is mel -- the "i" is not only silent, it's invisible -- you can't imagine the number of things I've had to have re-printed..
This video was hilarious, and I really laughed at the ending when the defendant’s friend revealed her information.
My sympathy to Kiiisheai, err, Kisheaii, err…Keeiisha1a….well, actually, to Rob….
@Kalendi 10:50 -- I have the same problem, though mine usually comes out as a naughty word...
wv-redai: My son's name, pronounced "Bob"
I read the comments first, so I'm going to skip the video. I have little tolerance for idiots, and from all appearances, this woman is their queen.
I've had my name misspelled before--Malinda, Milinda--and not once have I felt the urge to sue over it. If you want your child's name to be spelled correctly, it helps to spell it conventionally...and still spell it out for people when the spelling matters.
Anonymous @ 10:53, I love Brian Reagan! However, I'm always surprised when I see him because when I hear his recordings, I picture somebody else in my head...and I haven't figured out who that "somebody else" is.
My husband said, "It's not the BAKER that spelled her name wrong." (As in, it was the mom -ha!) He also said it was like the best of both worlds for me -obv, I lurve Cake Wrecks, but I also <3 People's Court, specifically Judge Millian (whose name I prob just spelled wrong). The "Help!!!" cake's topper was the same one we used. And as you can guess, the spelling & pronunciation of my name gets butchered all of the time. We get a good laugh. I've been called "alien" more times than bears mentioning.
PS: CeeCee -Where's Freddy?
Mother of the bride
wants to be Leela when grown;
akses for an eye-patch.
"Does this frighten you?" My guess is that he's down with it. Maybe his family makes hers seem normal. Maybe he suffers from Severely Atypical Man Syndrome and craves constant drama. On the other hand, 4300 Washingtons makes a nice 'dowry'. Nudge-nudge.
There are just some people who make one say, "how about the two of us trade problems for a day, 'mkay?"
Sending people to this blog for a dose of perspective ought to be the primary conflict-management strategy worldwide.
Step 1: Cain wants to kill Abel.
Step 2: Cain and Abel sit down and view Cake Wrecks.
Step 3: Cain and Abel fall off their respective chairs, laughing. Problem solved.
wv: macklef. "For the last time, it's 'Macklef'. How can you not have encountered that name before? Everyone in my family is named 'Macklef' -- even the dog. It cuts down on confusion."
My name is Larisa and rarely do people spell it wrong. What makes me most nuts? On Facebook when people will comment after me, to me, and put 2 S's in my name.
I named my kids Karen and Curtis.
wv: vabili. I'm sure the I's are silent.
If I had a dollar every time my name was misspelled and/or mispronounced, I'd be...able to buy a decent used car. Maybe.
Seriously, it's NOT that serious.
Nikki aka Ricki aka Vicki aka Mickey (and every spelling variation thereof)
Rob needs to dodge that bullet and FAST.
The mom's (crazy) reaction makes me wonder if she meant to name her daughter "Keisha" but misspelled it herself on the birth certificate. Then she gets to shift the blame to everyone else who will spell it wrong the rest of her life.
I mention this because a friend of mine has an unusual name, since her daddy spelled it wrong on the birth certificate.
It happens.
I think Rob should run. Fast. As far as he can.
My name is always being mispronounced and spelled wrong here on the mainland USA so naturally I gave BOTH my kids names that would insure those things would happen to THEM too! Just because those things make like bearable when you can laugh (sometimes at and sometimes with) people. If that were my son I would tell him he could only marry that girl after her mother dies of a heart attack the NEXT time her daughter's name is spelled wrong.
Ooo. How 'bout those 'artsy' names like (no kidding) K-a? It's pronouced 'Kuh-dash-uh' A coworker tells me she knows a guy who's legal name, it's on his paycheck after all, is M@ (Matt).
On the other hand, why not yooneek spellings. If mispelled on an arrest, claim 'technicality' loophole?
ok. off to my anger management class
honestly it kinda looks like it might be spelled right, the crack goes right where the "i" would be...But ya she just needs to chill
But wait...there's more...the next hot thing in confusing names for children: ALL the letters are silent!!
mel (remember - do not pronounce the silent, invisble "i")
wv-watell: They misspelled my name...oh, no...watell I do, watell I do....?