Elon Musk is not a man who is known for doing the right thing, but since a broken clock is still right twice a day, he may be doing just that. The Tesla CEO said that he would “make things good” with the black-owned bakery in San Jose, California that the automaker royally screwed over.
Right now, it isn’t exactly clear if Musk will end up following through on his promise to The Giving Pies or its owner Voahangy Rasetarinera, or what his plan to “make things good” even is, but Musk finished his post on X by saying, “People should always be able to count on Tesla trying its best.” Sure, bud, sure. Tesla is infamous for hurting the people of color it associates with, but maybe this’ll change pace for the world’s most valuable automaker.
Anyway, here’s what happened between Tesla and The Giving Pies: Earlier this month, a Tesla employee placed an order for 2,000 pies for the following week at the bakery. It forced Rasetarinera to put all her other orders to the side and focus on Tesla’s. Then, she started getting nervous when an invoice for the payment didn’t come through the next day, but she didn’t worry too much since she figured Tesla would never do what it was about to do. Soon after, the same employee called and doubled the order, which was worth $16,000. That’s when things turned sideways.
Here’s more information about the situation, from Business Insider:
“To fulfill the order, I had turned down other Black History Month catering inquiries, purchased supplies, and prepared for a demanding production schedule,” she wrote in her post.
After chasing the representative on Friday, she said, she got a text message “CASUALLY informing me” that Tesla had changed its mind.
”This abrupt reversal left me reeling, realizing the extent of the impact on my small business,” she wrote. “I had invested time, resources, and effort based on assurances from Tesla, only to be left high and dry.”
[…]
The change of course cost The Giving Pies $2,000, ABC7 reported.
Although the bakery has a cancellation policy, it could not recoup its costs because Tesla had not paid the invoice, NBC Bay Area reported.
Because humanity can sometimes be good, this story has a fairly happy ending. After initial reports about Tesla’s shittiness, locals in San Jose flocked to The Giving Pies to support Rasetarinera and her business, according to Futurism.
Time will tell if Musk will follow through on this promise, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
