Resignation letter on cake

W. Neil Berrett quit his job by presenting his boss with a resignation letter on a sheet cake.
"Cake of Resignation"

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

JudgeDredd

9, 13, 16
I don’t know the guy. People make snap judgments based on things like appearance and the form of tendering resignation. To me he appears to be an attention whore douche, while to 9 he may appear to be the most clever guy in the world and a snappy dresser to boot. If I met the guy I wouldn’t act on my prejudging, preferring to let him do whatever he likes so long as it does not go further than simply annoying me.
LogopolisMike

Not many guys can pull of a pink shirt or a cake resignation; this guy seems to not only have the balls to try but seems to be doing both. Those of us who kvetch about perceived douchness are just jealous.
agreatnotion

#17 Sure everyone makes snap judgments, but not everybody feels compelled to post those judgments publicly as a blog comment. But keep chugging that haterade if it’s what keeps you going!
Takuan

hi Jennifer! Please leave your blog link in your profile.
MooseDesign

@#46: I got a chuckle out of that, having done something similar… Although I had already quit from my job on very good terms and was traveling around Europe for the better part of the year, I continued to send them postcards and photos of me having a great time, or medieval fresco scenes of people being tortured by demons (the one from Albi in the South of France was my favorite), with the note, “Hope everyone is having fun at work!”

Anywho, kudos to the “let them eat cake” resignation… Love it!
alisong76

“Cake is kind of soft and always too sweet, and you can never finish a whole piece.”

LOL, speak for yourself. I’d probably eat the whole damn cake if I didn’t have to share ;-)
mgfarrelly

Wow, he dresses snappy and gives people cakes. He must be shunned and driven from the village. How dare anyone be different, colorful or engaging.

If you’re looking for a job Neil please come to Chicago, we like character here!
assumetehposition

#6 I’m guessing you are from the East Coast. Me too, but I understand that this is culturally acceptable behavior in California.
Axx

@13, et. al.

I actually kind of agree with #6. Without knowing more about this situation…this really does strike me as the work of a…well, ‘attention seeking person’. I am tempted to say, ‘yeah, we all change jobs from time to time. Who the hell cares that you are too?’

Since you seem to know the guy, #13, can you give us a little backstory to color the circumstances for us?
JonnyRotten

Wow. It looks like his arms go all the way down to his knees. WTF?
DaMamaJama

Heaven Forbid someone do something out of the ordinary on the web lest some of you guys label them a show-off or attention-seeker. Give the guy a bloomin’ break – no one is forcing you to pay attention to him either.

Good on him for leaving his job on good terms. You can’t burn bridges with cake and icing!
Hicham

Awsome! That’s what I call “Peice of Cake” ;)
takeshi

@ JudgeDredd:

Personally, I think the guy is way less attention-starved than you. Why, look at all the attention you’ve received! And yet, none of it was as positive as the attention the cake bearer in question has received.

Then again, anytime I see someone use the phrases “attention whore” and “douche” in the same sentence, I immediately think of the Internets and its droves of transparently envious (and usually pseudonymous) imbeciles. You’re 15, right? This ain’t MySpace, douche.

Bravo to the eccentric cake bearer!
adamnvillani

So I pointed out that a good chunk of what you choose to wear is to get attention.

It is? Maybe if I were on stage, yeah, but in ordinary life I try to be more selective about whose attention I want to attract. If I do want to attract someone’s attention, I’ll call their name or wave or something. My dictum for dressing is more like trying to find a happy medium between comfort and “Well, if someone happens to be looking at me, I’d prefer not to look like a slob.”
UFO Lover

@6 That was my initial reaction.
jackie31337

That is awesome. I know a lot of people who leave their jobs on amicable terms bring in a cake to commemorate their leaving, so why not kill two birds with one stone?

M.Whittier@41 It’s cute as hell, and clever. My only reservation (in theory) is the notion of eating food inscribed with the words “health issues’ in aqua icing.

Good point! I hadn’t even considered that aspect of it when I sent the link to Cake Wrecks.
IamInnocent

Isn’t the point of BoingBoing to show stuff a bit out of the ordinary for us to enjoy the difference? Then enjoy!

Personally, I do believe that he is someone who seeks attention: so what? Isn’t there a bit of attention seeking into the act of commenting here too, for example?
dbarak

When I leave my current job, whenever that is, I’m going to do it with a cake too, but it’ll be in the face of our Napoleonic short-stack company president.

I hope I don’t sound bitter.
Anonymous

I’m sure this guy would drive me up the wall. That said, maybe he deserves sympathy due to the health problem he mentioned. I hope his family is okay.
Also this is exactly like what somebody would do if they were the protagonist of Science of Sleep. So even though I don’t like it myself, I guess it sort of evens out to plus karma.
Matt R.
Anonymous

Great Idea. When I resign I’ll do it with a cake too….

That’s been laced with laxatives. (Begin manical cackle)
Anonymous

#9: Not that I’m defending #6′s hasty judgement or anything (after all, who am I to scorn a man in a pink shirt?), I’d just like to point out that saying someone is “creative and trendy” is just a tad conflicting.

Just sayin’.
Bugs

Wow, I’m slightly startled by the haters. The guy is wearing something other than grey / dark blue / beige and brought his friends in work a cake. Um… clearly he’s a witch who must be burned for his crimes?

C’mon, lighten up. The whole point of BoingBoing is to be a directory of stuff that’s out of the ordinary and makes us smile. “Guy wears colours and acts unusually/kindly” qualifies.
rockbandit

Yikes. For the people making snap judgements and commenting on his pink shirt:

The photo was taken on Friday, March 13th.

Which happens to coincide with Pink Friday ’09 – to support the thousands of teachers across the state of California who were handed pink slips on Friday.

http://www.pinkfriday09.org/
Anonymous

I’m thinking “This guy is pretty apparently leaving on pretty good terms — he doesn’t mind the whole office reading his resignation letter, and he didn’t figure he’d be told to suck it by bringing in a resignation cake.

I don’t know about you guys, but given the mutual pissed-off ranking achieved before I resigned my last job, I think I’d rather resign wearing a hot-pink shirt and carrying a cake.

Good luck in the future, Neil — you’ll obviously bring a different outlook and a great sense of humor (and style) anywhere you go.

Rexall Wodehouse
(my new nom de plum, courtesy of ReCaptcha!)
Anonymous

Way to go, Neil! The cake turned out great, & it’s way better than just a resignation letter – you can’t eat a resignation letter, so it usually just leaves a bad taste in the mouths of upper management. But cake, come on, who doesn’t love cake?

And why not try to be creative in all aspects of your life? Being creative does not necessarily connote attention-seeking. It does, however, demonstrate intelligence and the ability to think outside the box.

And, really, we should all start respecting ourselves enough to dress properly for when we venture into the outside world, just like Neil here. Dammit, our grandparents would never have been caught dead wearing pajama pants or T shirts outside the house.

-carrie
danheneghan

@23, i don’t actually know him, but i do know people who dress like him. and they aren’t doing it to gain attention so much as they like the way it looks, and it follows certain trends. also, the cake thing is creative.

i guess me and #6 are both guilty of making judgments based on appearance, but at least if w. neil berrett reads my opinion, he won’t feel bad on the inside.

if neil checks his flickr comments, he knows he’s been bb-ed, and will probably read the comments here as well. personally, i’d rather make a stranger feel good than bad.
John Coulthart

Oh look…a chorus of scowling disapproval. That makes a change.

He’s cute and he shows us his underwear; that’s all I need to know. Cake-making skills are a plus.
neiltron

To address some of the comments above:

The snazzy dress is part of Formal Friday. Since the dress code at our project is casual/construction, I decided to dress up every Friday to help break the monotony of an office job.

Before Formal Friday, there was Cake Friday. I used to bring in cakes from outstanding local bakeries / patisseries like Tartine or Citizen Cake. However, I grew tired of cake, so Cake Friday was replaced by Morning Bun Wednesdays, in which I would bring in a dozen morning buns. However the lack of alliteration and the dwindling donations towards pastries provided the collapse of Morning Bun Wednesday.

These theme days provided the foundation for Formal Resignation Cake Friday. The cake was delicious and yes, I did submit a resignation letter on paper.

Thank you guys for all the support and I hope you got a good laugh out of it.
Takuan

what if he’s a cake-stalker?
jimbuck

I was gonna defend this guy with something like it’s probably an inside joke or a dare of some sort.
CountSmackula

When my time at work comes to its inevitable end, I’m planning on calling in afraid.

Afraid I can’t take this crap any more.
Anonymous

mmmm…unemployment
Anonymous

logopolismike has the right idea!
Gloria

@48: I guess sometimes people’s ideas differ on what constitutes “not a slob.” My boyfriend thinks a t-shirt and khakis is just dandy for him, while I always prefer to go out in a dress and boots.

I’m not sure why people are so offended by how other people dress that they feel they need to point out, “*I* don’t do it for this reason!” Well, then don’t. Carry on.
Sekino

Guy + tie + vest + cake = HOT
sk8rboi69

I was sitting eating lunch outdoors with a friend once. We saw a guy walk by wearing a top hat. “Pff, attention seeker” she sneered. So I pointed out that a good chunk of what you choose to wear is to get attention. Or at least avoid ‘bad attention’.

Props to Neil for being bold. You gotta be seen to be noticed :D
Gloria

I also love how because this guy is wearing a vest and a pink shirt — and the story isn’t even *about* his clothes — he’s a shallow, douchey attention whore … but God bless all those girls licking gadgets out there or playing video games in their underwear!
mermaid

yum
blutec

Oh how inspirational! I love the cake resignation! I’m the gal who brings the cookies in at work, and I have some really sweet colleagues, so when it’s my time to resign from this job, I will certainly think of something like this.
(I’m in a fight with boss right now, so resigning is a possibility in near future, I’m having fun already thinking about the mixed up cookies with just 1 word at each. Of course I’ll make sure to send an original paper letter.)
I’m sorry to read the nasty comments here about his great appearance, it makes me wonder where you live and work, I work at government in a non representative job, and am able to dress how I like to dress (I dress how I feel btw), and that’s often colorful and not very common. I never had comments like I’ve read here, but maybe it’s never spoken out loud? If I would get them, I sure would have left office long ago, but I doubt it would happen over here (Netherlands), it would be considered unwanted behavior/discrimination and that is not allowed.
(Lol, my colleagues are ‘mad’ at me at times I dress commonly, they feel I don’t care anymore… and they are right, me dressing ‘common’ happened a lot lately, when my boss started to act like a bully, and it got to me.)
Tenn

We saw a guy walk by wearing a top hat.

I semi-frequently wear a tophat. Probably around once a month or something. I was once chased after by an exceptionally drunk yet good-looking woman to be told that my hat and attire was quite snazzy.

He is quite the snappy dresser, though, and kudos for the idea. I disagree with the ‘attention whore’ statements. Many of my friends are out of the box like this, and I prefer the company of those who are willing to step out of the mundane.
Xopher

Let me just add my “yeah, what a meanie you are” to the other comments on #6.

AGreatNotion 13: And cute too! Why can’t *I* meet guys like that?

neiltron 32: AND you’re the kind of person who makes sure his coworkers are kept in pastry and goodies! You are made of win.

AndyHavens 45: For shame. (IOW that was really good, and I’ll keep my eye on you for when punwars again erupt, as they do from time to time.)
mistersite

What sucks is that nobody’s going to get to eat the cake because they have to put it in his HR file…
Auto Parts for Brains

At least he is taking things lightly. That is something that is kind of hard to do during these depressing times.
M.Whittier

It’s cute as hell, and clever. My only reservation (in theory) is the notion of eating food inscribed with the words “health issues’ in aqua icing.

In reality, probably wouldn’t slow me down at all, though.

I’ll say it: I want to go to there.
EH

It seems apparent that JudgeDredd is/was Neil’s boss.
Anonymous

cease to resist, giving my goodbye
drive my car into the ocean
you’ll think i’m dead, but i sail away
on a cake of resignation
a cake
cake

i’ve kissed mermaids, rode the el nino
walked the sand with the crustaceans
could find my way to mariana
on a cake of resignation,
cake of resignation
cake of resignation
cake

cake of resgination
cake
Brainspore

Way to give your boss his just desserts.
hiroken

@ #6, JudgeDredd

If, in general, it’s really socially acceptable to make such ignorant JUDGMENTS based on such minute things, I really do DREAD to think what people must think of you, based solely on your choice of username.
andyhavens

Thing about icing, though, is that there’s no backspace key. Which means (wait for it…)

You can’t have your cake and edit, too.
giveaphuk

I resigned from my job via a postcard sent from the croatian coastline during summer (was winter @ home @ the time). saying simply ‘dear work, I quit, love Me!’

it a great thing to do @ the time, as it allowed me to extend my trip (i travelled a 4 extra months), but when my holiday finally came to an end they weren’t that keen to hire me..

now perhaps if i had have baked a cake it might have sweetened them up a little bit more..

still i’d do it again, anyday!!
Brother Provisional

Either really funny or a total dick move.
minTphresh

who cares, it’s cake!
Editz

They’re allowed to dress like that at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard?
doplgangr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI2tceUD3os
Machineintheghost

@#3 I was curious about that too. It turns out it’s not a federal operation at all, it’s a developer:
http://www.hunterspointcommunity.com/
dwhitaker

Perhaps he was watching Demetri Martin when he came up with the idea. There are many opportunities for cakes other than just birthdays.
adamnvillani

I’m not sure why people are so offended by how other people dress that they feel they need to point out, “*I* don’t do it for this reason!” Well, then don’t. Carry on.

I was responding specifically to the statement a good chunk of what you choose to wear is to get attention. I didn’t agree with that statement, and I was explaining why. Unless it was specifically directed at the person you were speaking to at the time, and that person *did* dress to attract attention. If so, my apologies. But I felt you were directing it toward the universal “you,” and I really don’t think that’s the case for a lot of people.

People going out to nightclubs, sure, they’re probably dressing to attract attention. People who wear flashy colors, yes. People who deliberately wear clothing that defies conventional norms, yes. But really, that’s just some people, some of the time.
JudgeDredd

The cake combined with his clothing choice screams, “Look at me!” Attention whore douche.
Anonymous

Just because I can’t believe no-one’s said it before:

There is no cake.
LaurGrob

brilliant. who doesn’t love cake?
Spor

A True Champion!! Congratulations, Neil!!
danheneghan

@#6 or he is trendy and creative. why do you have to hate on someone’s joy?
Telecustard

If I ever resign my job, I shall deliver the message, scorched with a magnifying glass onto the side of a large slab of beef jerky.

Cake is kind of soft and always too sweet, and you can never finish a whole piece. Beef jerky is hearty and tough and salty. I think in the end, the jerky would come across as more sincere and direct. Symbolically, it’s a pound of flesh, which could be a cool ritual to rid oneself of any lingering feelings of obligation.

Cake is rather more open to interpretation. Bad news with icing goes down better?
Telecustard

Oh cripes. Eponysterical.
Raian

You’ll start to miss that cake in the unemployment line
agreatnotion

@ #6 Actually he’s a fantastic, sweet guy who is anything but a douche.
Xopher

But see, this cake is NOT a lie!
jworick

Love this! Quitting never felt so sweet!
Dr Triffid

Beef jerky would be easier to retain in one’s permanent file.
Cupcake Faerie

@#6

I think someone got up on the wrong side o’ the bed this morning….

If the fella is allowed to dress like that everyday (for three years), it must of been a pretty cool place to work. Maybe it was “Dress to the nines Friday”?

Not a douche, just a fancy dresser!

But I did read the cake’s message and it came across as being a little saccharine…