Can I Get A Cake Decorator Who Speaks English?
10/14/2009
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Via Ann Althouse, who cracked up when she read this in bed this morning, I see that there's a book, a website, and a New York TImes article devoted to really bad cake decorating. Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong is the name of the book, and the obvious point is that that this is partly caused by mass immigration. When you get mistakes like the one on the cover, or a cake that has the words "Leave Blank" or "Nothing" printed on it, because the order taker and cake decorator, told to leave it blank or print nothing on it, didn't understand, you are dealing with people who can't really speak English.   That also applies to this one, where the person ordering wanted Congratulations, (as small as possible.)

The author, interviewed by the  New York Times said that English is frequently the problem:

”There are good excuses, I’m sure, for all these wrecks,” she said. ”The person who took the order didn’t speak English very well. Someone was at the end of a very long day. We all slip up. But when you do it in the bakery department, it just so happens it’s a little more obvious.”[When the Icing on the Cake Spells Disaster, By David Hochman, October 13, 2009]
And it really isn't the order taker's/cake decorator's fault they can't speak English. It's the employer's fault for hiring someone who can't speak English. Of course, to a certain extent they're required by law not to discriminate against people who really can't speak English, so if your cake shows up looking like this, blame the Federal Government.
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