Lansing family can't have cake and eat it, too
Published December 28, 2006
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
Schneider: Lansing family can't have cake and eat it, too
Once Jim Kavalaris managed to chisel out the first serving of an unusually hard-to-cut birthday cake, he called out to his mother:
"THIS IS NOT A REAL CAKE."
Kavalaris' mother, assuming he was just being a brat, conceded that she probably should have gone to a real bakery for a high-quality cake, but she ran out of time, etc., and he should quit complaining ...
Advertisement
"No - look for yourself," said Kavalaris, motioning for his mother to come closer and see what he meant. "It's not REAL."
As in NOT CAKE.
In an e-mail to me, Kavalaris, who lives in Delta Township, described what he and his mother gazed upon: "Bubbles of the same stuff used as packing material were all over the plate, the knife and what was left of the frosting ..."
Beneath the edible icing, the cake, bought at Sam's Club at Eastwood Towne Center, was pure Styrofoam.
Double birthday
That was on Christmas Day, as the family worked a double-birthday celebration into their holiday. The honorees were Jim, about to turn 37, and his grandmother, Chrisoula Limber of Lansing, who will soon turn 96.
The cake was nicely decorated with red and green flowers on a white background and the words, "Happy Birthday Mom and Jim."
After the candles were blown out and Jim tried to cut the cake, he thought maybe it was slightly frozen and considered popping it in the microwave oven - "just to loosen it up a little."
Imagine how that would have smelled.
For display only
Responding to my inquiry, Sam's Club manager Jeff Hartsaw theorized that an employee must have mistakenly picked up a Styrofoam display cake coated with white frosting, thought it was real and added the finishing touches ordered by Kavalaris' mother.
"We'll make it right," he said.
And Hartsaw did just that. He phoned Kavalaris Tuesday and invited him back to the store. The manager gave Kavalaris:
• A refund for the original cake.
• A fresh cake decorated just like the original one.
• A letter of apology.
• A $100 gift card to the store.
"Jeff Hartsaw was very gracious," said Kavalaris, who was pretty gracious himself about the whole thing.
"I know there was nothing malicious going on here - just an honest mistake," he said, adding that while the family didn't get its birthday cake that day, they got a generous wedge of triple-layer family lore that will make them laugh for years to come.
On his way home from Sam's on Tuesday Kavalaris stopped by the City Rescue Mission, in downtown Lansing, and donated the gift card.
What do you think? Call John Schneider at 377-1175.
Copyright ©2007 LSJ.com All rights reserved.
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
Schneider: Lansing family can't have cake and eat it, too
Once Jim Kavalaris managed to chisel out the first serving of an unusually hard-to-cut birthday cake, he called out to his mother:
"THIS IS NOT A REAL CAKE."
Kavalaris' mother, assuming he was just being a brat, conceded that she probably should have gone to a real bakery for a high-quality cake, but she ran out of time, etc., and he should quit complaining ...
Advertisement
"No - look for yourself," said Kavalaris, motioning for his mother to come closer and see what he meant. "It's not REAL."
As in NOT CAKE.
In an e-mail to me, Kavalaris, who lives in Delta Township, described what he and his mother gazed upon: "Bubbles of the same stuff used as packing material were all over the plate, the knife and what was left of the frosting ..."
Beneath the edible icing, the cake, bought at Sam's Club at Eastwood Towne Center, was pure Styrofoam.
Double birthday
That was on Christmas Day, as the family worked a double-birthday celebration into their holiday. The honorees were Jim, about to turn 37, and his grandmother, Chrisoula Limber of Lansing, who will soon turn 96.
The cake was nicely decorated with red and green flowers on a white background and the words, "Happy Birthday Mom and Jim."
After the candles were blown out and Jim tried to cut the cake, he thought maybe it was slightly frozen and considered popping it in the microwave oven - "just to loosen it up a little."
Imagine how that would have smelled.
For display only
Responding to my inquiry, Sam's Club manager Jeff Hartsaw theorized that an employee must have mistakenly picked up a Styrofoam display cake coated with white frosting, thought it was real and added the finishing touches ordered by Kavalaris' mother.
"We'll make it right," he said.
And Hartsaw did just that. He phoned Kavalaris Tuesday and invited him back to the store. The manager gave Kavalaris:
• A refund for the original cake.
• A fresh cake decorated just like the original one.
• A letter of apology.
• A $100 gift card to the store.
"Jeff Hartsaw was very gracious," said Kavalaris, who was pretty gracious himself about the whole thing.
"I know there was nothing malicious going on here - just an honest mistake," he said, adding that while the family didn't get its birthday cake that day, they got a generous wedge of triple-layer family lore that will make them laugh for years to come.
On his way home from Sam's on Tuesday Kavalaris stopped by the City Rescue Mission, in downtown Lansing, and donated the gift card.
What do you think? Call John Schneider at 377-1175.
Copyright ©2007 LSJ.com All rights reserved.
posted by Walking Contradiction at 6:27 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home