Unfortunate Walmart Cake Fail Accidentally Insults Toddler

When you place an order at the Walmart bakery for your toddler's birthday cake, you probably agonize over the perfect choice — should you get dinosaurs or clowns, unicorns or rainbows, cats or dogs? You probably agonize over the perfect message to emblazon the cake with, too. Nowhere in this scenario do you picture a cake for your toddler that says, "Happy birthday, Loser," but that's exactly what one Missouri mom got when she ordered a cake for her 2-year-old daughter, Elizabeth (via Today).

You're probably thinking it's a long way from "Elizabeth" to "Loser." And you're right. But Melin Jones, Elizabeth's mom, did not order a cake with the message, "Happy birthday, Elizabeth." She ordered a cake with the message, "Happy Birthday, Lizard" — Lizard being Elizabeth's nickname. Cute, right?

Unfortunately, the Walmart employee heard "Loser," not "Lizard," and Jones didn't notice the error until she got the cake home. What happened next brought Jones and Lizard their 15 minutes of viral Internet fame...

As they say, pics or it didn't happen. But, of course, this being the Internet, the adorable snap ended up getting Jones her fair share of judgement. 

"I hurried and carried the cake and Liz into the house, put the cake down on the table and put Liz in the chair to send a picture to my husband of the cake," Jones says in her Facebook post. And to her critics that say she shouldn't have subjected poor Lizard to such nastiness? She explains, "Liz wasn't told to look at the cake, she can't read so she didn't know what the cake said, we didn't tell her what it said and she doesn't even know what a loser is. She just happen[ed] to be looking at the cake when I took the photo."

All's well that ends well for this family, who clearly takes things in stride and turned lemons into lemonade. "My husband and I laughed about it together when he got home, enjoyed every bit of the loser cake (eat up, mom of the year! you deserve it!) and later that evening I made another trip to Walmart for another cake for her party," Jones said. As for the Walmart employee who made the unfortunate error? Jones didn't have the heart to point it out, for fear of the bakery worker getting in trouble with management, or mocked by coworkers. 

In the end, the loser cake will be a funny memory that Lizard will laugh about for years to come, no harm done.