Autistic Bakery Worker’s Cake Goes Viral

Usually when somebody posts a picture of a badly-decorated cake on Facebook, it’s to shame the people who made it – Google “cake fail” or “nailed it” and watch the memes scroll by. But this viral cake story has a nice twist that could make you think twice.

Lisa Sarber Aldrich posted on Facebook about her experience picking up a cake at a Meijer store in Gaines Township, Michigan. She explained that she asked an employee to write a birthday message on the cake, and the result turned out kind of sloppy. But instead of raising a fuss about it, she thanked the employee and took the cake to the checkout.

“I nervously laughed and headed to check out– it didn’t really matter to me that it looked so bad–  I thought people would think it was funny. The cashiers at the self check out didn’t think it was so funny.”

It turned out that the employee was Autistic and wasn’t supposed to be decorating cakes, but she was just trying to be helpful. Other employees said Aldrich probably made the girl’s day.

As the post began to go viral, Aldrich posted updates saying the girl did not get in trouble, and no, this wasn’t an elaborate Meijer marketing ploy. Also, she’s been eating cake for breakfast every day.