Back on March 12 I had a posting up about social white lies. It was my opinion then that even most of these white lies can backfire on you, and the best path to take is to tell the truth. Just now I received the following via email, and I do believe it makes my point for me.
THE WHITE LIE CAKE
Have you ever told a white lie? You are going to love this, especially all of the ladies who bake for fund raising events:
Alice Grayson was to bake a cake for the Ladies' Auxiliary in Tuscaloosa , but forgot to do it until the last minute.
She remembered it the morning of the bake sale and after rummaging through cabinets, found an angel food cake mix and quickly made it while drying her hair, dressing, and helping her son pack up for school.
When she took the cake from the oven, the center had dropped flat and the cake was horribly disfigured and she exclaimed, "Oh dear, there is no time to bake another cake!"
This cake was important to Alice because she did so want to fit in at her new community of friends. So, being inventive, she looked around the house for something to build up the center of the cake.
She found it in the bathroom - a roll of toilet paper. She plunked it in and then covered it with icing. Not only did the finished product look beautiful, it looked perfect.
Before she left the house to drop the cake by the bake sale and head for work, Alice woke her daughter and gave her some money and specific instructions to be at the bake sale the moment it opened at 9:30 and to buy the cake and bring it home.
When the daughter arrived at the sale, she found the attractive, perfect cake had already been sold. Amanda grabbed her cell phone and called her mom.
Alice was horrified! Everyone would know! What would they think? She would be ostracized, talked about, ridiculed!
All night, Alice lay awake in bed thinking about people pointing fingers at her and talking about her behind her back.The next day, Alice promised herself she would try not to think about the cake and would attend the fancy luncheon/bridal shower at the home of a nearby neighbor and try to have a good time.
She did not really want to attend because the hostess was a snob who more than once had looked down her nose at the fact that Alice was a newcomer and not from the founding families of Tuscaloosa , but having already RSVP'd , she couldn't think of a believable excuse to stay home.
The meal was elegant, the company was definitely upper crust old south and to Alice's horror, the cake in question was presented for dessert; Alice felt the blood drain from her body when she saw the cake!
She started out of her chair to tell the hostess all about it, but before she could get to her feet, the Mayor's wife said, "What a beautiful cake!"
Alice, still stunned, sat back in her chair when she heard the hostess (who was a prominent member of the community) say,
"Thank you, I baked it myself.."Alice smiled and thought to herself, "G-d is good."
7 comments:
Cute, but it's hard to believe this is a true story. It sounds more like an episode of I love Lucy.
And this just might be a reason for why some people don't want to receive home baked shalach monos--you never know who did the baking and what yiou might be getting as a surprise ingredient.
I'm not sure I would put this in the "social white lie" category.
It doesn't really prove your point--the protagonist was "rewarded" for lying.
Not sure I agree she was rewarded mother in israel. She was clearly in agony up to the second the woman claimed to have baked the cake. She was afraid she would be found out. Her days were ruined leading up to the other woman's lie. The other woman is clearly going to pay for her lie.
And what if the other woman who will publicly be embarrassed because she claims she baked the cake goes looking to get even with whoever did bake the cake? The first woman still can't relax because she could still be found out.
MII, I don't think so.
The protagonist attempted to avoid a lie. What she did with the cake was fine until anyone went to eat it. She was going to stop that. The snooty hostess lied, and we are left anticipating her comeuppance when she goes to serve the cake.
I agree it sound like I Love Lucy, but I laughed hard at this one.
Okay, the cake-baker did three unethical things, in my book. The first is the worst.
1. She tried to pass off a failed cake to a fund-raiser. Would any of you really do that? Being new in town is no excuse. She could have called up the organizers and said, "I feel terrible, but my cake didn't come out. I can't possibly let you sell it. Please accept my donation instead of the cake." Don't forget that it was only by chance that she encountered the cake later. Having her daughter buy it back to save face was a dumb idea. By the way, it's very common for organizers of sales to buy the best stuff for themselves in advance. One of the perks.
2. As soon as she saw her cake, she should have warned the hostess. Instead she waited until the last minute.
3. When the hostess was about to cut the cake, the baker could have gone to the woman and whispered, "I have something urgent to tell you! Please don't cut the cake" or pulled her aside to explain. Yes, people would have wondered but even though the hostess did a not nice thing, what the baker did was just as bad and she embarrassed her hostess. Anyone who ended up serving her cake would have ended up embarrassed. And the hostess would have been grateful (maybe) and she would have made a friend.
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