On Saturday, Cara Koscinski ordered a cake online from a Publix in Charleston, South Carolina, in celebration of her 18-year-old son's graduation from his Christian-based high school homeschool program. According to Koscinski, she typed in "Congrats Jacob! Summa Cum Laude class of 2018" on a Publix website allowing customers to order cakes with customized inscriptions online.
But she got an error message stating "profane/special characters now allowed." In Latin, cum is the preposition "with" and "summa cum laude" translates to "with the highest distinction."
In the "special instructions" textbox for the bakery, Koscinski explained that "summa cum laude" is a Latin term that is not profane. She even included a link to a website explaining the meaning of the phrase, the Washington Post reported.
However, when Koscinski's husband and her sister went to the store to pick up the cake, they realized, upon arriving home, that the cake said, "Congrats Jacob! Summa —- Laude Class of 2018."
Koscinski's son, Jacob, was "absolutely humiliated," Koscinski told The Post.
— Alex (@TenguSnake) May 22, 2018
"It was unbelievable. I ordered the special graduation edition cake. I can't believe I'm the first one to ever write ‘summa cum laude' on a cake," she noted.
On Monday, Koscinski called Publix and described the incident to the assistant manager. Publix offered to remake the cake, but she declined.
"No, you only graduate once," she told the assistant manager, according to The Post.
— Janice Hough (@leftcoastbabe) May 22, 2018
Publix in the end gave her a $70 dollar refund for the cake and a store gift card.
Koscinski also shared her experience on Facebook Sunday.
"How utterly ridiculous and I will be speaking to a manager for a refund. Shame on you Publix for turning an innocent Latin phrase into a total embarrassment for having to explain to my son and others (including my 70 year old mother) about this joke of a cake. My son was humiliated!!! I seriously couldn't make this crap up!!!!" Koscinski wrote in the caption.
The post, which includes photos of the cake, has already been shared more than 500 times.
"That shows their bakery employees ignorance. I'd expect this from Walmart's bakery but not Publix. There is no way I'd pay $70 for a cake they didn't follow simple directions making. If it was such a problem why didn't they notify you by phone so you could choose not to have
— — - written across your ridiculously over priced cake?!?" one Facebook user commented.
"Evidently the person or people who is/are responsible did not graduate with honors. Far from it. Ignorance is not bliss," another wrote.
