It was my husband's birthday, and I wanted to have a decorated birthday cake for our dinner. So I went to our local Jewish business phone book and looked up the number of my favorite bakery. I gave the order and spelled the name to appear on the cake, and the clerk asked me for a credit card number before she would complete the order. That was understandable, as the bakery didn't want to be caught with a cake that couldn't be sold in case I never came to pick it up.

A few hours later I arrived to pick up my cake, but I was told that they had no record of my order. I was very upset, as it was only a short time until dinner. But they were very kind to quickly decorate another cake for me. I was about to pay when I remembered that I had already given my credit card number by phone, and I wanted to make sure that the credit slip hadn't been processed. The owner told me that they never take credit card numbers by phone.

Now I was really shaken, wondering who had been in the bakery who now knew my card number and was probably using it all over town. The owner asked me, "Are you sure you gave your order to Abe's Bakery?"

"Abe's Bakery? I didn't call Abe's Bakery! I called Sam's Bakery!" I paid for the cake and hotfooted it over to Sam's, and my husband had two birthday cakes that year!