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GAINES TOWNSHIP, Mich. — When a Michigan woman picked up a birthday cake she'd ordered from a local grocery store, no one would have blamed her if she'd been upset by its appearance.
But her kindness is making headlines across the country, now that the full story behind the cake is spreading.
Lisa Aldrich went into a Meijer over the weekend to pick up the cake, according to Fox 17 News. She tracked down a store employee who appeared to work in the bakery and asked if she'd write a birthday message on the cake.
"She said she would, and after a long time, she came and presented me with this cake," Aldrich wrote in a Facebook post, which included a photo of the cake. "I looked her in the eye and said thank you before I even looked at the cake."
When Aldrich took a peek at the baked good, she couldn't help but chuckle — the writing was sloppy, scribbled and juvenile — in short, it looked nothing like a professional decorating job.
"I nervously laughed and headed to check out," she wrote. "It didn't really matter to me that it looked so bad. I thought people would think it was funny."
When she tried to pay for the cake, several Meijer employees were not happy about how it turned out and insisted on getting her a new one. They even called in a manager to help.
But after a bit of discussion, they realized who the mystery decorator was.
"To my surprise … one cashier put her arm on my shoulder and said, 'The girl who wrote that has autism. Thank you for smiling and thanking her, even though she's not supposed to write on cakes, you probably made her day,'" Aldrich said.
Aldrich's Facebook post has nearly 100,000 shares, and garnered comments of praise from people impressed by her compassion.
Picked out a cake at Meijer. Asked bakery-looking-employee if she could write on it for me. She said she would, and...
Posted by Lisa Sarber Aldrich on Sunday, November 29, 2015
"What a wonderful gift of kindness you shared," wrote one commenter.
Aldrich asked the store manager to not discipline the woman who decorated her cake. She learned that the woman didn't get in trouble, and was told she should always do whatever she needed to do to serve the customer's needs.
"She did just that," Aldrich wrote.
Autism advocacy groups have shared Aldrich's story, along with Michigan's Lt. Gov. Brian Calley — who tweeted a picture of the cake this week.
"I guess the moral of the story is that kindness is important," said Aldrich.
