Tuesday
Jan132009
OR...
January 13, 2009 
Only two options, but three "or"s.
Nice one, Melanie & Danny. Or Danny & Melanie. Or...
January 13, 2009 
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What's a Wreck?
A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.
Now, don't you have a photo you want to send me? ;)
- Jen
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January 13, 2009 
Reader Comments (81)
*beating head on the table* Why, why, why???
At least there are sprinkles... sort of.
LOL! How stupid are these people?
LOL!
Are you sure those aren't years? I think I see 87 and 89...
I just have to say as part time copy editor, this makes me cry a little. Or maybe I'm just dealing with my indecisive side completely being overloaded by the cascade of choices these "or"s promise.
I'd like to see what the order sheet for this cake said that could have possibly produced this.
At least they got sprinkles!
This is funny. Or sad. Definitely pathetic. Or something...
karen
I didn't realize God manufactured idiocy this big.
It's a pity that the person taking the order isn't necessarily the person who is producing the finished product.
Better yet- it's amazing that they can't EXPLAIN the order to others. As if explanation was so difficult in itself that they could justify taking the rest of the day off because that slip of paper they half-assed filled out really sapped their energy.
It's awesomely bad.
what are those balloons made of?
At least nobody is going to be jealous this way A first spot for everybody
ah, back to basics. Simple, but wreck-tastic.
What in the world??? Really, why can't we have decorators with brains to at least think "I don't think this is what they meant. Maybe I should call to make sure before I put the words in icing on this beautiful cake". It's that simple people!
I sure hope it TASTED good at least. Probably not.
"...and just put silly string or balloons or sprinkles on it, too..."
"or sprinkles, and silly string looking squirted icing or balloons.."
But those are 87s not ors. Even so one wonders... were they married in '87? Is this their 87th birthday or anniversary?
;^) Jan the Gryphon
http://gryph-wotd.blogspot.com/
We definitely have a huge drug problem in this country.
I like that in the name it even says 'or' Happy Birthday to Ernie or Joanna. Maybe those are their & signs and they just know A LOT of Ernies & Joannas born on the same day? ...Or they are just dumb.
i HATE that goop on the edges! blech. i know a certain store that loves to use that design ( they will remain nameless...*cough*) but blech. it looks like a three year old was allowed to try and frost the cake! although with all those or's maybe it WAS a three year old! eek!
I'm trying to think of something witty - but I guess I'm just speechless
This hurts my head. I keep trying to make some logic to how they got to this. I can see placing the order, "just put 'Happy Birthday' Joanna and Ernie or Ernie and Joanna or something." I can even see it being a joke about an ongoing argument over who gets top billing: Joanna & Ernie or Ernie & Joanna. But even with both of those options, I can't see how they got there. Excedrin please?
I HATE these Squiggle border cakes. Every wanna-be cake decorator that doesn't have clue how to decorate does these. I have no idea as to why people buy them.
Word verification: perinbar: the buddies the morning after the night before
Look like 87 etc to me too.
These people have some CHEAP friends!
That icing better TASTE good. That's all.
they didnt even ice the sides of the cake!
All I can say is "WOW".
I can see how the ors could be construed as numbers....but that doesn't make any sense either...
Don't hate the wreckerators everyone...they make funnies to brighten up your day...as I see it, we should love the wreckerators...celebrate them...and laugh till we cry over their inability to follow simple directions...
I feel like baking a cake for this decorator with the same edging and a carefully centered "WTF?"
*sigh*
This is either a case of the decorator being overworked or being ordered by their boss to write whatever is on the order form no matter what!
Seriously...
Yeah, I'm not convinced those are "or" ... looks like 89, 87, and something else...
Lew
Seriously? Apparently reading isn't part of the job description. :)
I remember being waited on by a trainee at a Macy's store. Her supervisor kept telling her to put her initials on my coupon. The trainee kept asking "What?" Again . . . initial the coupon . . . write your initials on the coupon. Finally the trainee says, I don't know what that means.
This has turned into an office controversy. We actually saved the image and blew it up on Photoshop and touched it up to try to determine if it was "or" or "87". And we're still inconclusive. The 8 strongly resembles the o in Joanna, which had us leaning more toward "or" but the r in Ernie doesn't resemble the 7 at all.
This has lead to the conclusion that it's really "o7"...maybe they're 2/3 of a secret agent and they haven't quiiiite earned that license to kill yet? Okay, now we're stretching.
I'm pretty sure it's "or" written in script, not "87" or "89". If you exaggerate the loop to connect "o" to any other lowercase letter in script, you'd wind up with something that can be misread as an "8". The "r", to me, is how I was taught to do a lower case "r" in script. At least initially. Then I was informed by other teachers that script isn't supposed to be angular and blocky.
Regardless, can we all agree the placement is awful and the design is gag inducing?
Hi Folks. Here's what happened. Someone typed the order in, and those were supposed to be ampersands, and when the text was sent to the person making the cake, the ampersand character turned into a "control" character and 7, the two keys which have to be pressed to make an ampersand. It often happens, when transferring typed files from one program to another (like Word into some email editor) that special characters get shown as other things because different text editors use different specs to represent them.
I just had to close my eyes and shake me head in disbelief.
These people must really like the word "or".
Amy B.
I didn't see "or," I saw three little 87's
No, there are 4 ors! There's a tiny one floating on its on to the far right near all the side decor.
Ooops. I counted one of those ors twice. That's embarassing. I am hoping that you won't publish my comments now because of my lack of kindergarten counting skills.
Note to self: The next time I have to order a cake for more than two people, make all decisions regarding wording beforehand AND be absolutely clear on the order form. Unless I'm feeling snarky and secretly wishing for a wreck, that is.
Word verification: ingsty, the adjective form of the word formed from ink + angst, which may be applicable here...
How is it that qualified people everywhere can't find work and then the cake places hire ppl who can't read, spell, or decorate? Isn't there some sort of test to prove their skills before hiring?
I would be non thrilled to pay money for a cake and then get plastic balloons, side scribbling, and randomly placed names in the middle. :/
Then again, that explains why I do all my own cakes, yes?
pretty sure they're 87's, but still...
1) 87 what? 87 years old?? by the time you're 87 i'd say it's fairly unlikely to find two people turning 87 at about the same time
2) 1987, the year they were born...when is the last time you had a birthday cake with the year you were born plastered all over it?? Not "happy 22nd birthday" "I'll just throw '87' all over it and let other people figure it out.. MATH!!! ha ha ha!"
3) None of this explains the double appearance of the two names in the two different orders.
WHAT!?!? confusion abounds on this one
I dont even know a good word for this cakewreck! Sad...really sad...
Maybe the "or" in the middle was supposed to go in the first line, so it was supposed to say "Joanna or Ernie or Ernie or Joanna." Still inexplicable but at least makes the number of "or"s vaguely appropriate and the grammar reasonable. Or, since they do look a bit like ampersands, maybe it was "Joanna & Ernie & Ernie & Joanna."
I actually don't mind the border, which looks fun for a kid. (But plastic balloons: ugh.)
It looks like the "or" off to the right was added after the fact. So...it was added for clarification. Hmmm.
It's like a Where's Waldo -took me a second to find the 3rd "or" HAHAHA!!!
The mind reels.
The two versions of the same pair of names aside (that is bad enough, but let's pass over that for a moment) ... there are too many "or"s. And an extra comma. Or one too few commas and two too many "or"s. Or something, comma.
I'm pretty sure those are neither "or"s nor numbers. They're an attempt at fancy, cursive ampersands (the '&' symbol). Go to images.google.com and search for "ampersand" for lots of examples of the extreme variation in style of this particular symbol.