Costco Misinterprets Man’s Instructions for Birthday Cake and Results Are Hilarious

Costco will give you exactly what you know you didn't need.
by u/FlipDemStocks in funny

Throughout the years, cake decorators have fed the internet with (mostly unintentionally) funny creations. Nevertheless, this may be the first time a confection has elicited laughter due to its no-nonsense interpretation of a costumer's request.

For practicality purposes, Costco has customers submit their cake requests via a paper form, which offers little room for more specific customizations. That's why a man named Stephen Walker figured it was best to add some notes and a drawing on the back of the paper. His order reads: “No writing/no designs. Only request red frosting on perimeter for top/bottom.” To get his message across, he drew a rectangular sheet cake with a black pen, and used his daughter's magic marker to highlight the edges he wanted to be red. “I was like, ‘I got directions and a little illustration here. They can’t mess this up. Right?’” the man said in an interview with Today.

Walker showed up to pick up the cake, which was meant to celebrate his daughter's third birthday, a couple days later. “I picked it up Saturday morning and I was in a time crunch,” the man recalled. To his surprise, the red border that would match the cake topper he had selected wasn't there. Instead, an exact replica of the drawing he made on the back of the form shone bright in the center of the cake. The Costco artist managed to keep the proportions on Walker's sketch and even included the black lines of the original drawing.

Confused, but in a hurry, he decided to shrug it off. He made a joke to the cashier about it, who offered to call someone from the bakery about it, but Walker declined. “We were in a hurry, so I was like, ‘Well, I’ll just scrape it off.'”

The man then decided to make lemonade out of these lemons, and shared the funny experience on Reddit. He posted the cake form alongside a picture of the cake with the message: “Costco will give you exactly what you know you didn't need.” His post quickly went viral, earning over 110,000 upvotes and some hilarious takes. “Task failed successfully,” said one Redditor. Meanwhile another commenter appreciated the details of the drawing: “Lol, i’m impressed that they even transferred the flawed perspective.”

The comment section is filled with funny quips and considerations. “I wonder if they would have understood if you didn’t include the drawing,” one person wrote. Walker cheekily replied, “Should I try that next time?”

Despite the minor inconvenience, and the Internet's search for ways this could have been avoided (e.g. flagging an employee before submitting the form, calling the bakery, etc.), he is happy about how it all turned out. “Regardless I got an amazing cake and story to go with it,” he said in a comment. He then added, “Next time I'll stick with getting the Costco Bear.”

A man named Stephen Walker submitted a cake request with special instructions: “No writing/No Designs. Only Request Red frosting on perimeter for top/bottom.” To be extra sure, he added a drawing of what he wanted.

instructions given to costco cake customization department and the funny cake the customer got

Photo: Screenshot from Reddit

To his dismay, the cake artist then replicated his diagram, down to the red borders and proportions of the original drawing.

instructions given to costco cake customization department and the funny cake the customer got

Photo: Screenshot from Reddit

h/t: [Reddit]

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Regina Sienra

Regina Sienra is a Staff Writer at My Modern Met. Based in Mexico City, Mexico, she holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications with specialization in Journalism from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She has 10+ years’ experience in Digital Media, writing for outlets in both English and Spanish. Her love for the creative arts—especially music and film—drives her forward every day.
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