Dear Vi,

This occurrence actually happened. Two anniversary parities both arrived at a restaurant at the same time. The first gave me, the manager, a box which contained a special cake. The second party presented a similar box to the waitperson in charge of that station. After dinner, when I went to retrieve the cake I was given, I found that the waitperson had already mistakenly cut and served the wrong cake to the wrong party. When the host found out what happened he was understandably chagrined. What would you have done?

David Zuchowski, Pittsburgh, PA

Dear David,

Ugh! Teach your staff to show a special cake to a party before it is cut and served and it will prevent these mistakes in the future.