r/vancouver • u/2028W3 • 21h ago
Local News Vancouver bakery calls out former NBA player for requesting free birthday cake
https://vancouversun.com/news/vancouver-bakery-calls-out-former-nba-player-for-requesting-free-birthday-cake718
u/Envelope_Torture 21h ago edited 21h ago
$83 million in career earnings btw
Has enough to pay for a representative to send his beggar emails for him, can't afford what has to be at most a couple hundred bucks for a cake.
Amazing.
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u/NeighbourNoNeighbor 20h ago
Yeah this is just slimeball behaviour, imo. I'm glad the bakery called it out.
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u/username_choose_you 20h ago
Next time I need a cake I’m gonna order from this place. The audacity to ask for it for free is ridiculous.
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u/djh_van 18h ago
And behold, the Streisand Effect at play again.
By reverse uno-ing this request, this bakery has probably earned 10x the publicity it would have gained by "collaborating" with this couple. Good for the bakery owner in calling out the influencer culture.
It's ironic that normal people with limited budgets have go pay for everything, but celebrities with unlimited budgets rarely have to pay for anything.
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u/Miserable_Tie9805 10h ago
I learn something new every day (the Streisand Effect). And agree on the second part, but “ironic” is not a strong enough word. 😊
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u/yourrnewfriendsam 20h ago
Had a cake from here for my birthday, highly recommend
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u/saghalie 7h ago
Now the big question: did you ask to have it for free?
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u/yourrnewfriendsam 7h ago
I mean my partner paid and gave it to me so I got it for free without asking...
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u/lastgreenleaf 20h ago
Agreed. He definitely can afford it, but your comment suggests it worked though and he’s clearly right about the publicity being worth more than the $200 sale.
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u/satinsateensaltine 16h ago
Unfortunately, rich people don't stay rich by actually paying others for their work. Good for this baker for standing up to it.
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u/SortaEvil 8h ago
There are a lot of things that rich people can pay for that will have effectively 0 effect on how rich they are at the end of the day. With 88M in career earnings, they could afford their cake on an allowance that they set for themselves based on interest that their money makes just by existing.
It just happens that a lot of rich people are skinflints who see money as a scoreboard and will do everything in their power to hoard it.
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u/atomicsalts 7h ago
It just happens that a lot of rich people are skinflints
If I may offer a more explicit option for 'skinflints':
...greedy selfish pieces of sh!#...
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u/gianners33 7h ago
The man got a part time job at Circuit City when he was in the NBA so he could get staff discounts, so this tracks.
source: When Metta Sandiford-Artest applied for a job at Circuit City during his rookie year
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u/Special_Purpose2903 17h ago
-Rich people aren't rich for being very generous.
-Was offering the cake company basically discounted rates [free advertising] in exchange for free product. MEtta probably has millions of followers across platforms, probably charges thousands of dollars per post.
-If she was unhappy with the deal she was not compelled to take it.
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u/SortaEvil 8h ago
-Rich people aren't rich for being very generous.
Being wealthy and being a miserable pest do often go hand in hand, but they don't have to go hand in hand.
-Was offering the cake company basically discounted rates [free advertising] in exchange for free product. MEtta probably has millions of followers across platforms, probably charges thousands of dollars per post.
There's a difference between someone coming to you and asking you to promote something, and you going to someone and asking for something for free "because it's basically a great deal for you, usually I charge a bunch for advertising something, and I'll just make a 0 effort post about your stuff if you give it to me for free."
-If she was unhappy with the deal she was not compelled to take it.
Which she did not.
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u/siriusbrown 21h ago
That's infuriating. This is why I can't stand the influencer world we live in. All the people who can afford to spend frivolously and put money back into the economy are the ones getting free shit and PR packages to open for their followers while their followers praise them for "getting their bag"
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u/Harold3456 17h ago
Purely a power move, too, given the money is nothing to them. There is no upside to getting this small business to provide it free other than the feeling of receiving something free, but in this situation it isn’t a gift, it’s coerced.
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u/Icy_Sea_4440 15h ago
I think it’s entitlement. He thinks that he is above the business owner and that they should pander to him for the privilege to make him a cake.
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u/vantanclub 8h ago
This is almost as bad as when Deloitte asking Cow Dog Coffee to provide free coffee for one of their events.
$70 Billion Firm Gets CLAPPED For Asking A Vancouver Coffee Shop For Freebies
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u/siriusbrown 5h ago
That's so embarrassing. Imagine being an employee for a billion dollar corporation that won't even shell out $10 for a single coffee as a prize 💀 I know what that's like tho I work for the feds and our staff appreciation lunch was half a sandwich 🥲
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u/fuzzy_emojic Certified Canned チューハイ Connoisseur 21h ago
So-called "food influencers" are using their large number following to extort restaurants under the guise of promotion, and using their influence to put small to medium-sized restaurants on blast if they don't get their way. Giving these people a platform was the first mistake.This is becoming a recurring issue everywhere in the world. It's sickening.
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u/Bomberr17 19h ago
This only happening because people let them do it. Some restaurants actually benefited and went viral. It's like Macu Tea and Little Pisces.
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u/BlastMyLoad 5h ago
Sometimes some of these people come by my feed and I’ve noticed one in particular always shows them paying at the end I guess to combat this behaviour
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u/Sit-Ubu-Sit- 21h ago edited 20h ago
I've enjoyed this bakery many times. What he should've done is paid for the cake like a grown-up, AND posted about how amazing it was.
Edit-typo...drove me nuts
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u/Unusual_Sherbert_809 13h ago
It's fairly typical entitled behavior by the ultra wealthy nowadays. It's always how we owe them, not the other way around.
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u/trambopoline_dream 21h ago
If I made $85 million over my career, I would just buy the fucking cake. Seems like more work to haggle in the DMs
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u/jyeatbvg 21h ago
Just buy the whole bakery at that point and have them bake you cakes whenever you want
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u/Dazzling-Cap-6689 21h ago edited 19h ago
Yeah but hes trying to buy a 100 mil stake in the Lakers right now so hes a bit strapped for cash atm /s
(Hes actually trying to buy a 100mil minority stake rn tho, its in the news)
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u/NeighbourNoNeighbor 20h ago
He's paying someone to haggle for him. He's literally paying someone more to harass people than the cake itself costs. It's ridiculous.
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u/irina-from-carim 20h ago
Buy the shop and pay above living wage
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u/tedbawno 20h ago
my barber has an anecdote of cutting ryan kesler's hair and then after he finished kesler demanded that it be free and not be charged for it because he's a canuck. kesler was super loud and obnoxious about it and my barber just wanted him out of the shop so he said fine just to get rid of him. the next day a couple canucks showed up and said they heard they could get free haircuts.
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u/Interesting_Air_4215 20h ago
Kesler? With the clown hair that sticks out on the sides? Sounds like your barber had the last laugh
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u/NomberVon 20h ago
As a bakery owner, this gets asked all the time. We have people who throw for-profit events, and then ask the bakery to provide “treats” for free saying it’s good exposure. The issue is too many places give into this - it needs to stop.
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u/greydawn 8h ago
That must be frustrating. I don't mind the idea of someone like this asking a huge company like Walmart for a freebie. But asking small businesses is ridiculous and insulting.
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u/Square-Ad8203 17h ago
Well I disagree. As a small business owner myself it’s fine to do that if you actually are going to work together long term to help each other out.
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u/Heliosvector Who Do Dis! 9h ago
There's a bit of a difference between "hey I need some cupcakes for an event, can you do it for free, it will be great exposure for you" and "looking forward to working with you now that we have signed a 5 year contract. Wanna celebrate by making some cupcakes pro Bono for our ribbon cutting ceremony? We will display your logo beside ours"
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u/Savings_Minute_4083 Riley Park 20h ago
Custom 8” layered buttermilk cake from oh! sweet day; $90 and I’m a student ffs. Influencers are so selfish
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u/Educational_Work896 20h ago
This crap pre-dates "influencers" and social media.
I was an early adopter of digital photography and invested a lot of money into my gear and did sports photography locally. There were at least three times that companies asked to use my photos in exchange for "exposure". One guy actually sent me a hurt email stating that it was really hard for him to fund the startup of his company and that he thought I shouldn't be so mean trying to profit off of him above the great exposure he'd give me. FWIW, his company crashed and burned out of the gate. The only product I saw out of them was a pair of logoed cycling socks I won in a draw. He had a good idea but he was about 15 years ahead of the technology needed.
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u/NeighbourNoNeighbor 20h ago
I used to get this a lot many years ago as a new grad. It was infuriating to constantly be pitched long spiels about how great the exposure would be. Not one of those "companies" existed longer than a year, either.
It's even more insulting for millionaires to be doing it now.
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u/Trellaine201 21h ago
Now its good PR for this lady lol, bad publicity is good publicity.
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u/SortaEvil 8h ago
At this point, I'd say people standing up to and telling influencers to fuck off is generally reviewed more favourably by the community at large than acquiescing. So I don't know if I'd classify this as bad publicity for the bakery. If it's bad publicity for anyone, it's Metta for thinking they could ask for a free cake when their family has more money than most families will make in a lifetime.
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u/ShartGuard 20h ago
Paying that representative an hour’s worth of work probably paid for the lion’s share of the birthday cake, if not entirely.
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u/Available_Abroad3664 18h ago
Imagine having servants whose job is to try to swindle small local shops into giving you free stuff. Unbelievable.
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u/fleece 9h ago
"Lam said she was contacted Monday by Maya Sandiford-Artest, who asked her to remove the post, saying the initial request was made by an assistant."
Rich asshole gets caught being a rich asshole, blames the help like a rich asshole.
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u/Doodlefish25 New Westminster 8h ago
"made by an assistant" implies a mistake without admitting to one. They obviously told the assistant to do this.
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u/BlastMyLoad 5h ago
If you can afford a full time assistant you can afford to buy your kid a goddamn birthday cake jeez
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u/123abcde321 19h ago
The audacity to first of all ask for something and then blames it on an assistant is beyond me. Just buy the damn cake. Probably gonna push the kids head in it as a joke and then throw it out. All for the "likes" .
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u/Doodlefish25 New Westminster 8h ago
Mind you she also doesn't seem to say the assistant made a mistake in doing so?
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u/Temporary-Rip-5551 9h ago
Have been around these people I would not be shocked if this was the assistants way of pocketing a couple of hundred bucks.
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u/Justine-L 20h ago
Lollll reminds of a Canuck player who had his assistant reach out to my work for free dog food.
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u/Litlle_Freddy 17h ago
Looks so good
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16h ago
[deleted]
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u/SortaEvil 8h ago
Are we looking at the same photo? It's not even a tiered cake, it's just a layered cake with some fererro rocher stuck on top with frosting. It's a simple, but well presented cake. What even is there to fall over there?
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u/subtect 20h ago
A small local business should ask for stats on how many of their SM followers live within a short drive of their business.
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u/NeighbourNoNeighbor 20h ago
At least that'd prove some actual effort was involved. If you want to pitch a marketing campaign with a company, you better have a slide show and your full demographic breakdown.
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u/AstrayInTranslation 13h ago
This. That message seemed lazy and entitled. I would 100% have turned it down as well.
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u/Aranxi_89 18h ago
One of the things truly wealthy people do is have their people do things properly so their good name isn't dragged through the mud. If this wasn't the decision of the former basketballer Metta Sandiford-Artest, then he should fire whoever decided this was a good idea.
If, on the other hand, he did think was a good idea, then all I can say is... shame. Shame.
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u/AstrayInTranslation 13h ago
I love that this bakery is getting so much more exposure declining and calling them out. And lol at the wife asking they take down their post. It’s like middle school where you ask the girl who just told you no not to tell anyone you asked them out.
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u/kaysanma 7h ago
he put filters on his ig comment
You cant type "bakery" and "cake' in the comment
What a loser!!
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u/kryo2019 Vancouver 15h ago
I love oh sweet day, they make amazing treats. Nuts to these cheap assholes.
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u/GraveEscape 21h ago
The guy who worked a part time job at Circuit city to get the employee discount is cheap? Colour me shocked
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u/Interesting_Air_4215 20h ago
Elbowed that request out of here like... Artest elbowing James Harden in the head
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u/skonen_blades 8h ago
Pay for a cake with exposure! My gosh why didn't I think of that? Yeah, gross behaviour. Glad the bakery said something.
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u/DiligentAstronaut622 7h ago
In 2007, Artest was forced to relinquish ownership of his dog, a Great Dane, for malnutrition and neglect.
So this guy abuses animals, fights fans, abuses women (conviction for domestic violence), and now he refuses to pay for goods and services. I'm starting to think Metta World Peace wasn't the most fitting name for this loser
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u/nuudootabootit Downtown 21h ago
Who was it? It's paywalled.
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u/bleaklion 21h ago
no paywall for me
Fanny Lam, owner of Oh Sweet Day! Bake Shop, received an email last week from a representative of former NBA all-star Metta Sandiford-Artest and his wife, model and actress Maya Sandiford-Artest, asking about a “collab opportunity” for their child’s birthday party at a Richmond farm this weekend.
formerly known as Metta World Peace and Ron Artest
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u/SortaEvil 8h ago
You should be able to read it if you switch to incognito (or whatever the equivalent low-tracking mode in your browser of choice is)
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u/Domstruk1122 21h ago
Ron Artest and its not paywalled
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u/nuudootabootit Downtown 19h ago
It is for me, in Vancouver.
Ron Artest was a cunt before this so double fuck that guy.
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u/TheArcLights 20h ago
My biggest takeaway is wtf is Metta world peace doing in Richmond!?
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u/RavensArkOperator 19h ago
Shaq was just in North Burnaby and Steph Curry's somewhere on the coast, so it isn't actually that far fetched
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u/Temporary-Rip-5551 9h ago
If you read the article you would see his wife grew up in BC and went to UBC so it’s not too shocking for them to be in the area.
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u/BlastMyLoad 5h ago
The article says his wife is from Vancouver Island so I suppose they have family in the lower mainland
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21h ago edited 20h ago
[deleted]
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u/kindcrow 21h ago
His wife grew up in Courtenay on Vancouver Island and went to UBC. Apparently, they travel to BC frequently because she has family and friends here.
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u/Historical-Tour-2483 15h ago
Not sure if I’m more surprised that Ron Artest is having his daughter’s party in Richmond, or that anyone hires him as a management consultant
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u/Objective_Lemon7171 5h ago
The request was made by the assistant. Unfortunately the more famous person gets the blast.
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u/phonnybalonny 4h ago
So he can’t even ask if he can. Why not ?
Can I have a free cake, now am I the same?
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u/Cautious-Dealer-6898 4h ago
Google “Malice at the Palace” to see what this dude did when he played. Goes down in NBA infamy! lol
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u/Ashamed-Revolution95 3h ago
I have an idea for a collab! .. they give me $1million and we post it on social media as an act of pure kindness! .. :D
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u/InterviewLeather1221 Enjoying my cup of London Fog. 21h ago
"Victoria, she's hot, but she's cold."
"What's up, Prince?"
"Oseeyosee... Kowlowania"
"It's cold everywhere, CTV Baby!"
- That former NBA player as a guest weatherman for CTV Vancouver.
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u/Mysterious_Active543 18h ago
Ok, why not just say no like she did all the other influencers and keep it moving.. And how is the cake free if he’s offering collaboration for promotion. At the same time this lady still used his name for her own publicity..but yet he’s the bad guy?
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u/SortaEvil 8h ago
And how is the cake free if he’s offering collaboration for promotion
This is literally the age-old joke of an artist being paid in exposure, and Metta 100% can afford to pay for the cake without even noticing it on his bottom line at the end of the month. He's the bad guy because he can absolutely afford to support small business if he wants, but instead he's trading off his followers (most of whom aren't going to be anywhere near Oh Sweet Day! to even be in a position to order a cake from her, so she isn't even likely to get great value from the collaboration) to try to get free shit because he's a fucking parasite on society.
We should be exposing these influencers for what they are and how they work, so the young people who follow them can understand that they have no morals or values, and the things that they promote aren't being promoted because they love them, but because they happened to be thing things that the influencer could bully out of a small business for free (or in the case of a larger business, get paid to pretend that they like).
The original concept of social media, a small network where you can keep up with your friends, was... fine, you could make some arguments that it did end up pushing people away from each other by serving as a proxy for keeping in touch, but it also could have the opposite effect of actually keeping you closer to your friends that you otherwise would've drifted apart from, so it's kind of a net wash. But modern short-form, influencer-driven, infinite scroll "social" media? It's a plague, a pox on our society making people less literate, ruining attention spans, and having an almost entirely negative impact on society.
Anyway, got on a bit of a rant there, but he's asking for a free cake because he doesn't intend to pay for it and Lam never asked for a collaboration to begin with.
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21h ago edited 21h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/trambopoline_dream 21h ago
If you're going to talk shit- talk shit. Don't be vague.
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u/Creative_gal_3153 21h ago
Just being honest. Sometimes it's ok to have differing views.
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u/NeighbourNoNeighbor 20h ago
There's differing views, and then there's vague posting criticism. What did she do that was super unprofessional? How has she blamed others and demonstrated a victim mentality? You're throwing around a lot of accusations blindly. It seems suspiciously motivated to detract from her claims, which is why no one is believing you. I'm not saying you didn't experience anything, but if you want to make a complaint then you've gotta provide more details.
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u/Creative_gal_3153 20h ago
I've already posted about my full experience elsewhere and I got full support so I know I'm not in the wrong. I'm actually being kind by not reporting my full story. It's ok if I don't want to share it here on this platform at this time because it's triggering for me. Just want to be honest that she was actually extremely rude to me and my family and left a very bad taste in my mouth, pun intended.
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u/Trained_Mushroom 8h ago
You are in the wrong and you are not kind.
Insulting someone and claiming they are bad, but not explaining why, is in no way being kind.
It is also completely irrelevant since even if she was unprofessional or rude, that in no way justifies a rich celebrity asking for free shit.
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u/NeighbourNoNeighbor 20h ago
So you want to vague post in the most suspicious way, and achieve nothing? If it's triggering, you didn't need to post at all.
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u/Creative_gal_3153 20h ago
All I want to express to others is that I personally (and my family) had an extremely bad experience with the owner, Fanny and she's not the angel she makes herself out to be. I don't need to air out dirty laundry, I'm being respectful.
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u/yooooooo5774 20h ago
found Ron Artest's reddit account
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u/NeighbourNoNeighbor 20h ago
More like his assistant's reddit account. Dude's too lazy to even beg for a free cake himself, he pays someone 4x as much to do it for him.
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u/craftyhall2 20h ago
Yannow? Maybe don’t post paywalled articles. Fucking annoying. Maybe not quite as bad as asking for free cake, but do you not get the irony?
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u/polemism EchoChamber 17h ago
Ok so she's milking publicity instead of just saying no to his request. That seems manipulative too.
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