Man Quits His Job, Lets Them Eat Cake

March 25, 2009

Andrew Phelps

Berrett's cake was a hit with his boss and co-workers. — Neil Berrett and his delicious resignation "letter."

Neil Berrett had brought sweets to work every Friday as a way to celebrate the weekend.

But he recently decided to splurge for a special occasion: his resignation. After three years in database management for a San Francisco firm, Berrett delivered his notice in icing — on a sheet cake.

"Please accept this cake as notification that I am leaving my position with NWT on March 27," the cake read. "Sincerely, W. Neil Berrett."

His resignation shocked co-workers a bit, Berrett says, but he says his boss did enjoy a slice. Berrett posted a photo of himself with the cake on Flickr, and the blog Boing Boing picked up the story.

"Once it got on Boing Boing, it just spread like wildfire all over the Internet," Berrett says.

He says he is swamped with e-mail requests for interviews. The story ran in Norway's largest newspaper and Berrett's friends say he appeared on Chinese television.

"It brings such joy to me to learn that the Internet loves my cake. ... It's really made my resignation the best resignation ever."

Now that Berrett is unemployed, he plans to travel to Berlin (with a stopover in Norway) to start a photography career.

This program aired on March 25, 2009. The audio for this program is not available.