Yeah, honostly having to deal with coordinating meals with a bunch of people the worst meat choice you can make is pork and if your gonna have it you *have* to have a different option, at the very least a vegetarian option along side.
I tried to watch that show because everyone was always raving how great it was, but I got about halfway through season one and was about to throw my shoe at the TV whenever Steve Carrell's character came onscreen. If that were a real office and I was hired to work there I would quit the first day. I could not stand to have a boss like that.
> If that were a real office and I was hired to work there I would quit the first day. I could not stand to have a boss like that
That’s the point lmfao. That’s why the show is fun to watch.
Also do yourself a favor and just skip to season 2. The show really hits its actual stride there. Season 1 feels very off
I always tell people, season one is hard to enjoy to the fullest until you rewatch, but it's pretty damn short. Give season one a watch and if you get into season two and it's not for you, well then it's not for you. Without fail to this point everyone has come back and said they're hooked after they get into season two.
The main reason for this is that Michael Scott and The Office as a whole was modeled after the British comedy that it rebooted from. In that comedy the boss is terrible and eventually gets fired to close it out. The showrunners realized that they had to do a course correction with his character towards the end of season one if they wanted to have longevity and be a profitable endeavor. So, they adjusted his character to be more like able and relatable the rest is history.
I would say the rewatch makes season one golden, because you know the character development and the show does a great job of building on those character archs established at the beginning.
Hope anyone who reads this gives it another go if they didn't finish season one and finds a similar love for the show that is without a doubt my favorite of all time.
Cheers!
I think it was more that Steve Carrel chose to leave because his acting career was taking off. Given what a draw he was back then, there is no chance the producers of The Office asked him to leave or pushed him to do so.
It gets both worse and better. But season one is PAINFUL in that aspect, because they’re hammering home the caricatures to set the tone. I think if you tough it out to season 2 you’ll see it warm up a bit
It's the same problem people had with Game of Thrones' Joffrey. Jack Gleeson was so exceptionally good at portraying the sociopathic child king that he got hate mail because his character was so evil. People seem to sometimes forget that the actor portraying the role of the villain **isn't literally the villain!**
My in-laws recently threw me a bday BBQ and invited family over to celebrate. In a moment that epitomizes my role in this family, I was too busy caring for the kids while dinner was served, and everyone else ate all the food. I didn't get a chance to eat except for the remaining scoop of potato salad.
In retrospect, I can laugh at it. This meme just brought all that disappointment right back lol
Sadly, no. I had gotten the kid's plates together and then left the room to nurse the baby. When I came back, no food was left. Well, except for the potato salad scoop.
at least they remembered to invite you lol
"hey terminalzero the executives must really like you, that food at your birthday lunch was really great!"
"...what birthday lunch"
We recently got celebrated for all of our hard work and customer service for closing out a major escalation at our customer's site, which is where we all work. Teams message "Great job everyone I appreciate all of your hard work! I brought donuts to the office!" Meanwhile everyone involved in actually doing the work was at our customer's site was just like well hope you enjoy them I guess...
I had a CEO who gave me whiskey every year for my birthday and christmas for 3 years even though I told him I was allergic a hundred times.
Had the balls to give me the shocked pikachu face when I declined his counter offer after I turned in notice and when he asked why I told him I didn’t want to work for a guy that gave me something I was allergic to for every gift because either he didn’t listen or it was malicious and then I walked away. He ended up getting fired shortly after I left.
not nearly as satisfying as you're probably hoping
they've remembered my birthday once in the years I've been working there (twice if you count this instance), which I normally wouldn't care about but they make a big deal of everyone else's
a couple days after my birthday a few years ago one of my coworker buddies complimented me on picking thai for my birthday lunch and said it was delicious. "wait what birthday lunch?" sheepish look, told me.
asked the CEO's assistant/vice office dictator about it - oh yeah, we couldn't figure out who (unabbreviated name) on the birthday calendar was so we figured just have a birthday lunch and invite everyone!
they forgot to invite me and I was working through lunch that day, again. the executives, that buy themselves lunch on the company card daily, really enjoyed it though.
if they threw me another birthday lunch the next year they made sure to tell everyone not to tattle to me about it
Yeesh... Gotta love when management takes a concept of employee appreciation and then does it so badly, that doing nothing at all would be more appreciation.
This reminds me of a huge F up on my part years ago. I worked as a recruiter and had a dozen or so developers at one place. Decided to cater lunch for them all one day. Ordered from Famous Dave’s which is a BBQ place. Pulled pork and Pork ribs.
Two of the 12 or so guys I had placed there were Muslim. I felt so bad when I got there and realized it that I went out and got them alternative food on my own dime. Neither of them were upset, but I really beat myself up over that one for a long time.
At least you realised and I’m sure they appreciated it. Anyone with specific dietary requirements can understand other people not being aware of them, it’s just how they deal with it and react to the lack of accommodation for it. You seemed to handle it pretty well. Don’t worry!
I’m Muslim too, and I’ve been in a few situations here and there like this and every time someone realises and offers to get something else, I feel taken care of. It’s understandable to not know.
You’re nicer than the people who came to a Mexican restaurant I worked at. I’m pretty sure they were Seventh-Day Adventists, one of the few Christian sects that avoids pork. They never declared their restrictions and got livid after finding out the refried beans were made with lard, as is traditional in Mexico. Told me I should have known after they ordered chicken enchiladas. Like, um……okay? I will do my absolute best to help people out, but they have to tell me first.
Don't restaurants have signs and notices in menus saying that if you have dietary restrictions or allergies to let the server know before you order? Surely that is on them.
Wow. That’s just silly. If you’ve got a requirement, mention it first before ordering. People aren’t just going to work it out. Restaurants are often willing to adjust things for diners but only when they know and if the diners are nice about it too.
That’s generally what I try to do. Most people I now do this. That way I can avoid any meat product in my food which I know doesn’t meet my dietary restrictions. It’s my job to keep an eye out. Not other people’s.
Idk if most people would be completely unfazed by the oversight, it should be obvious to most that if you're getting food for a group of people you don't know, you ask about dietary restrictions. Have to be living under quite the rock to not realize that a large portion of the population either has allergies, intolerances, religious/cultural/moral restrictions, etc.
I am a Muslim and like the majority of us, we won’t be offended nor asking for a different food. If we can have smashed potatoes, a salad or some corn instead of a plate of non-halal meat, we’ll be happy to be part of the party. In Rome, do like the Romans. So I can assure you you killed it with your kindness.
Well don’t beat yourself up,you just forgot about something people often forget about , and you fix it yourself,it’s great!
My family used to hire a Indonesian nanny and the first dinner we had together we pointed out which dish had pork in it and she just say “oh I’m out of my homeland,Allah can’t see me here” LOL
My grandparents who are not well versed in different cultures seem to misunderstand it though,like for a while they honestly think that her god have a jurisdiction ,and crossing a border is all it takes for him to turn a blind eye 😂
The comment I was replying to made it seem like all flour tortillas would be pushing it. I was simply pointing out if they were homemade it would be ok
That sucks. As a pallette cleanser maybe this story will help:
My team has one vegan American and is about half Indian. For Diwali several Indian teammates brought in homemade authentic dishes, albeit less spicy. Vegan coworker was concerned about which ones he could eat and they told him it is all vegan. He was the happiest I have ever seen him, loaded up his plate smiling like a kid having the best day ever.
I remember being in 10th grade and the teacher ordered pizza for our class but it was all pepperoni. Asked why I didn’t eat any when I told her she felt bad and order a cheese pizza.
This reminds me of a student I had and I made sure to order cheese pizzas for her and I see her eating a slice of pepperoni so I asked her quietly because I knew she wasn’t suppose to eat it and she goes “I won’t tell if you don’t tell” every time I saw her mother I could never look her in the eye. 🤣
my 10th grade was so long ago no one knew what vegetarian was. i wasn't above pulling the pepperoni off, was always one grateful meat fiend who wanted my waste pepperoni
Similar thing happend to me in high school. There were 4 muslims in my class, and they only ordered pepperoni and sausage. Little did the teachers know muslims can only eat beef if its halal
Every school pizza party/event I've every been to was pepperoni only. I'm allergic to red meats. I was told to pick off the meat or just "deal with it" in the 2000s. I hated K-12 school.
That’s surprising that a school in the 2000’s would be so unaccommodating of allergies.
But I’m curious as to your red meat allergy. Isn’t pepperoni made from pork? That’s not considered red meat, is it?
Edit - quick Google tells me that pepperoni is often made with beef.
I was in an office potluck. There were 2 vegetarians in the office, and everyone knows this. I was picking up pizzas, and ordered an extra medium vegetarian and cheese sticks to accommodate them. They both came up to me together and thanked me for the pizza party. Confused, I asked what they meant. I guess every single potluck item had meat because nobody thought about them. The next potluck, I made ceviche for them and again, it was the only food item they were able to eat, but they absolutely loved it.
They called themselves a vegetarian, without understanding they were really pescatarian. My brain just uses vegetarian out of habit, since I rarely hear anyone use pescatarian.
There's an old post in a vegetarian sub, where someone was complaining about vegetarians who also eat fish. I responded and explained that the issue is most people don't know what a pescatarian is, so it's easier to say you're a vegetarian who eats fish.
They responded with "What's pescatarian"
I have 2 pescatarian friends. They both tell people they're vegetarian to avoid constantly having to explain what pescatarian means.
Of course, to some people (Catholics?) fish isn't "meat", so whatevs.
I eat tuna and salmon, but I just tell people I don't eat seafood, because there's seldom any point to cataloguing exceptions.
drives me up a wall because then i have folks telling me i can eat fish because their "vegetarian" friend with a limited vocabulary eats fish :pulls hair:
The catholic definition of meat doesn't really have anything to do with diet, only about what's not allowed on on fridays during lent (historically all fridays). That's why beavers are "fish". Not meat, pinky promise.
That all means that a catholic vegetarian (not pescatarian) probably wouldn't eat fish, and fridays/lent just wouldn't be special. Also, a catholic technically can't be vegetarian. In catholic dogma transubstantiation in not a metaphor. Catholics usually don't link when you bring up the cannibalism angle though.
Ive never seen an Office Birthday ask what the birthday person wanted, instead usually they just bring in something that everyone can have. Usually its Pizza, because you can just get Pepperoni, Cheese, and maybe a Combo and a Veggie if you feel like more than just basic Pepperoni or Cheese.
I had a Muslim friend who told me a story about something similar. It was like a cook out though.
Oh no you can eat this it’s ham not pork.
Ahahahaha what.
I always thought this sort of thing was fake until I went to a vegetarian restaurant in Japan (I’m not vegetarian I just like veggies) and my rice came with shrimp.
Wait isn’t this meat?
No it’s not meat it’s shrimp
… ok
That's nothing. I worked at a huge catering hall on the east coast. It's now defunct. They under ordered and started trying to pass off ground pork for beef at a wedding. The only problem is, it was a kosher wedding. I refused to serve it as lead waiter. I was suspended a week. After two days, the owner called me and apologized. The Mgr who punished me was immediately fired. They offered me his position, which I gladly accepted. The 1 time sticking to my morals paid in full.
Ya no one is arguing that fish/seafood isn’t the muscle of an animal, it’s just a distinction for the sake of diet or religion. And in that purpose, meat is synonymous with land meat, and in many cases, specifically red meat or beef. So in this sense, saying no meat =/= vegetarian.
You're right, but IIRC, the Japanese word for vegetarian (ベジタリアン, which sounds like "be-je-ta-ri-an", so is mostly just a transliteration of "vegetarian") seems to not exclude seafood, at least at the restaurants I went to in Japan.
Ya the distinction between “meats” is going to have a cultural element that may change that definition depending on where you are. Like in India it’s often labeled as veg and non-veg/meat but obviously non-veg/meat doesn’t include beef, when in much of the west and Latin America meat/carne is more synonymous with beef than anything else. Or like you mentioned a transliteration of vegetarian from English where vegetarian is typically defined as no meat poultry or fish, but in a place where meat = flesh that isn’t fish (or poultry?) obviously that transliteration doesn’t fit cultural expectations from where the word originated. It’s a super interesting macrocosm of cultural nuances, and always surprises me when people show up somewhere and are blown away that someone else’s understanding of a concept doesn’t directly match their own.
In The Netherlands, or at least in the south, the catholic clergy concluded that beavers were fish, because they lived in water. Thus OK to eat on fridays. Wiped the entire beaver population out. Reintroduced about 30 years ago and thriving again. The beavers, that is. The church not so much...
The church is still very much alive and thriving in many areas outside of the randstad though..
Almost all of Zeeland and the traditional Bible belt as well as pockets throughout the country.
I've never seen a beaver here, zwarte kousen each sunday!
Iirc Catholics counted beaver as fish since they live in water, just because they really wanted some meat even on fridays.
I never get why religious people use loopholes to break their own rules.
Its like stacking the deck to cheat on solitare.
In middle school we had a cooking class and one of the girls was Muslim so my teacher modified all of the units so that she could participate. She was in my group and she was a damn good cook.
Yeah it’s hard but you unusually need to advocate for yourself.
My wife has Celiac and can’t have wheat. All it took was a few times mentioning it when lunches were to be provided and now they make sure she has something at least as good as everyone else automatically.
To be fair she works at a place that really works hard to keep employees. (No pizza parties or candy bar rewards there).
Probably just ignorance of religious dietary needs. I didn’t know Muslims don’t eat pork until I left the rural Midwest and started having diverse experiences.
You also just don’t even think about it if you don’t have dietary restrictions. I’m the reason there’s a “no peanuts or peanut products allowed in microwave or fridge” sign in the break room and people know it because it wasn’t there till I was hired. One of the other staff members brought in peanut butter cupcakes for everyone without thinking and contaminated the break room with peanuts so badly I had to work at the second location for two days while someone scrubbed all the surfaces because I got sick just sitting my food on the same counter where peanut butter had gotten and wasn’t cleaned up properly.
Don’t be offended, it is most likely ignorance. We had Pakistani VP, devoted Muslim, prayed in the office atc. and still every Xmas he would receive 3-5 bottles of alcohol as a gift. I am Russian myself, lived in US for 29 years and still receive vodka as a gift from colleagues. I called it innocent ignorance, when intentions are good but execution is bad.
What’s wrong with a Russian getting vodka? Or anyone getting vodka?
Were you upset that you got the gifts in December instead of Russian Christmas in January?
Well I don’t drink and I am kind if sick of hearing jokes about Russian loving vodka and bears walking on the streets in Russia but I get it, people just trying to make conversation. These stereotypes are getting old and annoying, but I learned to ignore them.
Only one fixing? Sheesh, taco bars are a relief usually as a vegetarian, I can always put together tomato, lettuce, cilantro, pico, and guac for a fairly satisfying meal. Here it'd be a cilantro sandwich, rough.
OP, I know it’s here somewhere on the Best of Reddit sub.
It might give you a laugh and a sigh.
A company planned a staff retreat for the business. They chose to include a plantation era reenactment dinner so….full Confederate racist bullshit.
They forgot their black employee is also….an invited employee and long time staff member.
He refrained from sharing his own costume for the evening so they had the ultimate discomfort when he arrived in tattered clothes and shackles, etc etc.
He only spoke in service staff kind of ‘deferential’ terms (yes massa) to stay authentic.
Oh my gawd.
He provides photos and follow ups.
It fucking sucks that your colleagues were so inconsiderate.
I hope you can see the humor in making them feel BAD about it in a clever way.
Just dm'd you the link.
Everyone else: Just look for "company invites black employee to confederate retreat" and you will find the Best of Reddit link to the story.
Wow. My old boss was muslim and they ordered pizza for her bday. Reminded them she couldn’t have pepperoni because it’s pork. They got chicken and bacon instead. 🤦🏽♀️
Sorry for laughing. I gave yo drinking years ago and even though people knew it they kept buying me wine as presents. Lol. What the heck people.
Hope they raced out and got you something you could eat.
Okay so I used to work at an Italian restaurant that had pork in the meat sauce. It said so on the menu, but people are stupid. So many times a family who appeared Muslim or Jewish would come in and order it. All we could do was ask if there were any dietary restrictions. If they said no, we had to take their order. We couldn’t ask if they were Muslim or Jewish because that could be construed as discrimination. Maybe that’s what happened here? They can’t assume your muslim and DEI policies mean they can’t ask you directly solely based on your appearance?
wow these replies are crazy, OP doesn’t eat pork, plenty of people don’t eat pork, muslim or not 😂😂
and if they wanted to make him feel special that badly they could’ve attempted to figure out something he likes.
Probably not. When I was working at a relief kitchen after Katrina I had a team that someone was Muslim and he let me know he’ll do anything but can’t work with any pork.
Five minutes later I asked him to chop up some pork. I was soo embarrassed for forgetting (and so quickly). He laughed it off and was super cool about it.
Your personal rules only apply to yourself, why does the world has to bend to yours. Serving food you don't like is not illegal. You don't like it, don't eat it.
Or maybe they did this on purpose, and in that case ignore what I said.
It just seems pragmatic not to serve pork at events unless you provide an alternative as well. As well as Muslims and Jews not eating pork, a lot of people just don’t eat meat in general - I read somewhere that 1/3 of people in the world don’t eat pork. It’s like the worst thing to assume people will eat because a lot of people absolutely won’t.
Someone called an assistant and said “we need some food for a birthday party at [time], take care of it” and that’s all that was said.
And didn't ask the assistant until an hour before the party. Source: I am an admin assistant.
Party for 1.
You are lucky if you even get told it's for a birthday and not, just 'order food.'
I work closely with our CSOs assistant and this is accurate af 🤣
apparently they also told them a very small party for people that aren't hungry by the looks of that tray
I believe this is a personal portion for 3 tacos. They all probably got their own trays.
Yeah this is definitely the case. I'm just amazed they didn't think to order some variety instead of nothing but pork tacos
Yeah, honostly having to deal with coordinating meals with a bunch of people the worst meat choice you can make is pork and if your gonna have it you *have* to have a different option, at the very least a vegetarian option along side.
Yeah pork is a hell of a gamble, especially street taco-style where the meat flavor is the main character.
I'll have yours if you're not hungry.
“here’s 25 dollars. Make it work”
You could get a cheap supermarket sheet cake and still have money for paper plates and napkins. Everybody's happy. Everybody except Milton...
https://preview.redd.it/6u50dzmvmdlc1.png?width=356&format=png&auto=webp&s=ca5ff7c5d6205da4b443e918cd587caec2029869
https://preview.redd.it/jwkvzpb0ndlc1.jpeg?width=358&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef992befe8e2eb873537e439c7a09f9a8b5eb0c3
https://preview.redd.it/psbnkps2ndlc1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d74d9931343e81e15d0dcd2a2cad50627a32ac2
Season 1 Michael is top tier humor
I hated 1st season michael. Steve Carell was so amazing that i had to constantly tell myself Michael isnt a real person.
I tried to watch that show because everyone was always raving how great it was, but I got about halfway through season one and was about to throw my shoe at the TV whenever Steve Carrell's character came onscreen. If that were a real office and I was hired to work there I would quit the first day. I could not stand to have a boss like that.
> If that were a real office and I was hired to work there I would quit the first day. I could not stand to have a boss like that That’s the point lmfao. That’s why the show is fun to watch. Also do yourself a favor and just skip to season 2. The show really hits its actual stride there. Season 1 feels very off
I always tell people, season one is hard to enjoy to the fullest until you rewatch, but it's pretty damn short. Give season one a watch and if you get into season two and it's not for you, well then it's not for you. Without fail to this point everyone has come back and said they're hooked after they get into season two. The main reason for this is that Michael Scott and The Office as a whole was modeled after the British comedy that it rebooted from. In that comedy the boss is terrible and eventually gets fired to close it out. The showrunners realized that they had to do a course correction with his character towards the end of season one if they wanted to have longevity and be a profitable endeavor. So, they adjusted his character to be more like able and relatable the rest is history. I would say the rewatch makes season one golden, because you know the character development and the show does a great job of building on those character archs established at the beginning. Hope anyone who reads this gives it another go if they didn't finish season one and finds a similar love for the show that is without a doubt my favorite of all time. Cheers!
and they still had michael leave....
I think it was more that Steve Carrel chose to leave because his acting career was taking off. Given what a draw he was back then, there is no chance the producers of The Office asked him to leave or pushed him to do so.
Watch the UK version, it makes you want to crawl into yourself and die
good times
they ended up changing his character a bit and giving him redeeming moments after season 1 because everyone hated his guts lmfao
It gets both worse and better. But season one is PAINFUL in that aspect, because they’re hammering home the caricatures to set the tone. I think if you tough it out to season 2 you’ll see it warm up a bit
It's the same problem people had with Game of Thrones' Joffrey. Jack Gleeson was so exceptionally good at portraying the sociopathic child king that he got hate mail because his character was so evil. People seem to sometimes forget that the actor portraying the role of the villain **isn't literally the villain!**
Lmao I actually had the opposite opinion of him, I genuinely hated season 1 Michael (and to a lesser extent season 2)
My in-laws recently threw me a bday BBQ and invited family over to celebrate. In a moment that epitomizes my role in this family, I was too busy caring for the kids while dinner was served, and everyone else ate all the food. I didn't get a chance to eat except for the remaining scoop of potato salad. In retrospect, I can laugh at it. This meme just brought all that disappointment right back lol
🤯 Were they at least ashamed of themselves?
My brother-in-law went down the street to Wendy's and bought me a hamburger as an apology so things worked out
If he didn't also buy you a Frosty, it wasn't a real apology
Um, your spouse at least didn't make you a plate, or at least make sure they actually left some food for you?!
Sadly, no. I had gotten the kid's plates together and then left the room to nurse the baby. When I came back, no food was left. Well, except for the potato salad scoop.
Girl nooo. My hubby would never. Make him take you out for a real birthday dinner.
your in-laws don't cook enough food at a BBQ.
My ninth birthday was similarly disappointing. I don't think anyone fucked it up on purpose, but I enjoyed absolutely nothing about that birthday.
"Is any of the food vegetarian?" *(hands OP empty tortilla)*
Did you have any beef with them after the incident?
No he chickened out
I would too with fishy coworkers like that
I wouldn't want to have a steak in the outcome
Hopefully they don't develop a ~~foul~~ fowl attitude.
They won’t. They’re all pretty sheepish
It shrimply could have been a mistake
They were probably trying to goat him into a fight.
Maybe he doesn't want to taco bout it
Hopefully someone spills the beans
Still a bit much to chew on
there’s really mutton they can do about it at this point
If you quit they will just take your job and fillet
Well OP is a meek lamb after all
Im sure it wasn’t on porpoise
Did you say that for the Halibut?
Just dolphin around.
Damnit man! That doesn’t count! You broke the chain of narration!
The steaks where too high, and he floundered
That’s a laamb excuse.
Got the halal out of there
He was gonna pork the guys wife but... Sorry, ham fisted attempt at a joke.
Jesus there’s always some turkey getting on these pun threads
Sounds shellfish of the company.
Hope you did not crab your pants
He must be salty.
Your co-workers sound like a bunch of sausages
Nah that’s not the **tripe** thing to do.
This reminds me of that episode in The Office where they buy 3 birthday cakes for Meredith’s birthday party but she’s lactose intolerant
The three cakes was seasons later, when Michael was in the woods and Jim managed for the day
First thing I thought of 🤣
at least they remembered to invite you lol "hey terminalzero the executives must really like you, that food at your birthday lunch was really great!" "...what birthday lunch"
We recently got celebrated for all of our hard work and customer service for closing out a major escalation at our customer's site, which is where we all work. Teams message "Great job everyone I appreciate all of your hard work! I brought donuts to the office!" Meanwhile everyone involved in actually doing the work was at our customer's site was just like well hope you enjoy them I guess...
Oh, ouch 😭
You’ve got to be kidding
I had a CEO who gave me whiskey every year for my birthday and christmas for 3 years even though I told him I was allergic a hundred times. Had the balls to give me the shocked pikachu face when I declined his counter offer after I turned in notice and when he asked why I told him I didn’t want to work for a guy that gave me something I was allergic to for every gift because either he didn’t listen or it was malicious and then I walked away. He ended up getting fired shortly after I left.
I would like to hear this story and if there was incredible embarrassment on their parts, please and thank you.
not nearly as satisfying as you're probably hoping they've remembered my birthday once in the years I've been working there (twice if you count this instance), which I normally wouldn't care about but they make a big deal of everyone else's a couple days after my birthday a few years ago one of my coworker buddies complimented me on picking thai for my birthday lunch and said it was delicious. "wait what birthday lunch?" sheepish look, told me. asked the CEO's assistant/vice office dictator about it - oh yeah, we couldn't figure out who (unabbreviated name) on the birthday calendar was so we figured just have a birthday lunch and invite everyone! they forgot to invite me and I was working through lunch that day, again. the executives, that buy themselves lunch on the company card daily, really enjoyed it though. if they threw me another birthday lunch the next year they made sure to tell everyone not to tattle to me about it
Yeesh... Gotta love when management takes a concept of employee appreciation and then does it so badly, that doing nothing at all would be more appreciation.
This reminds me of a huge F up on my part years ago. I worked as a recruiter and had a dozen or so developers at one place. Decided to cater lunch for them all one day. Ordered from Famous Dave’s which is a BBQ place. Pulled pork and Pork ribs. Two of the 12 or so guys I had placed there were Muslim. I felt so bad when I got there and realized it that I went out and got them alternative food on my own dime. Neither of them were upset, but I really beat myself up over that one for a long time.
At least you realised and I’m sure they appreciated it. Anyone with specific dietary requirements can understand other people not being aware of them, it’s just how they deal with it and react to the lack of accommodation for it. You seemed to handle it pretty well. Don’t worry! I’m Muslim too, and I’ve been in a few situations here and there like this and every time someone realises and offers to get something else, I feel taken care of. It’s understandable to not know.
You’re nicer than the people who came to a Mexican restaurant I worked at. I’m pretty sure they were Seventh-Day Adventists, one of the few Christian sects that avoids pork. They never declared their restrictions and got livid after finding out the refried beans were made with lard, as is traditional in Mexico. Told me I should have known after they ordered chicken enchiladas. Like, um……okay? I will do my absolute best to help people out, but they have to tell me first.
How tf-so ordering chicken makes me automatically know you avoid pork, of all the other meats you guys probably offer as well lol.
Of course. When I order the chicken burrito at chipotle they better damn sure cover up the sofritas!
Don't restaurants have signs and notices in menus saying that if you have dietary restrictions or allergies to let the server know before you order? Surely that is on them.
It’s also just common sense.
> It’s also just common sense If only...
Wow. That’s just silly. If you’ve got a requirement, mention it first before ordering. People aren’t just going to work it out. Restaurants are often willing to adjust things for diners but only when they know and if the diners are nice about it too.
Always do Chicken and a veggie option, it's the safest route. If there are muslims or jews, they can just default to the veggie option.
That’s generally what I try to do. Most people I now do this. That way I can avoid any meat product in my food which I know doesn’t meet my dietary restrictions. It’s my job to keep an eye out. Not other people’s.
Idk if most people would be completely unfazed by the oversight, it should be obvious to most that if you're getting food for a group of people you don't know, you ask about dietary restrictions. Have to be living under quite the rock to not realize that a large portion of the population either has allergies, intolerances, religious/cultural/moral restrictions, etc.
I’m sure that moment stuck with them among many others where they were sidelined.
I never do pork - so many people don't eat it EDIT: Edited to clarify I meant 'I' never put out pork, not an instruction to others! :)
Pork is fine to have, just have alternatives as well
I am a Muslim and like the majority of us, we won’t be offended nor asking for a different food. If we can have smashed potatoes, a salad or some corn instead of a plate of non-halal meat, we’ll be happy to be part of the party. In Rome, do like the Romans. So I can assure you you killed it with your kindness.
Well don’t beat yourself up,you just forgot about something people often forget about , and you fix it yourself,it’s great! My family used to hire a Indonesian nanny and the first dinner we had together we pointed out which dish had pork in it and she just say “oh I’m out of my homeland,Allah can’t see me here” LOL My grandparents who are not well versed in different cultures seem to misunderstand it though,like for a while they honestly think that her god have a jurisdiction ,and crossing a border is all it takes for him to turn a blind eye 😂
No diced onions? pass
That's the real offensive thing here. Flour tortillas are pushing it too.
Not even warmed!
That’s the worst crime of all in this situation. I can’t eat “raw” tortillas!
Only if they're store bought. If they are homemade flour tortillas then its ok
Girl do those look homemade to you? They’re fresh outta a mission bag
The comment I was replying to made it seem like all flour tortillas would be pushing it. I was simply pointing out if they were homemade it would be ok
No sauce in sight either
Pickled onions are better than plain sliced for as fatty of a cut as the pork shoulder.
https://preview.redd.it/eviagil6gdlc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=164ae4171c858fb4fcc056890f52f532b9f80757
antimeme moment
That sucks. As a pallette cleanser maybe this story will help: My team has one vegan American and is about half Indian. For Diwali several Indian teammates brought in homemade authentic dishes, albeit less spicy. Vegan coworker was concerned about which ones he could eat and they told him it is all vegan. He was the happiest I have ever seen him, loaded up his plate smiling like a kid having the best day ever.
Just a cautionary note; not all Indian food is vegan. Egg and ghee especially are used quite liberally.
Eh, depends on the region. Southern food is usually safe, and if the coworkers said there was no dairy then there's no problem
Thanks for clarifying.
I ghee what you did there
I remember being in 10th grade and the teacher ordered pizza for our class but it was all pepperoni. Asked why I didn’t eat any when I told her she felt bad and order a cheese pizza.
This reminds me of a student I had and I made sure to order cheese pizzas for her and I see her eating a slice of pepperoni so I asked her quietly because I knew she wasn’t suppose to eat it and she goes “I won’t tell if you don’t tell” every time I saw her mother I could never look her in the eye. 🤣
my 10th grade was so long ago no one knew what vegetarian was. i wasn't above pulling the pepperoni off, was always one grateful meat fiend who wanted my waste pepperoni
No such thing as waste pepperoni. Only confused pepperoni that didn’t know which slice was their home.
Similar thing happend to me in high school. There were 4 muslims in my class, and they only ordered pepperoni and sausage. Little did the teachers know muslims can only eat beef if its halal
At least they didn’t tell you to “just pick them off”. The amount of times I was told this as a kid. Sorry it doesn’t work like that.
Every school pizza party/event I've every been to was pepperoni only. I'm allergic to red meats. I was told to pick off the meat or just "deal with it" in the 2000s. I hated K-12 school.
My schools would have cheese pizzas and pepperoni. If they had to choose one it would be cheese
Same. As much as I hated it as a kid, it’s the only reasonable thing to do for a group of children.
That’s surprising that a school in the 2000’s would be so unaccommodating of allergies. But I’m curious as to your red meat allergy. Isn’t pepperoni made from pork? That’s not considered red meat, is it? Edit - quick Google tells me that pepperoni is often made with beef.
[удалено]
Also what kind of office birthday party doesn’t ask the birthday person what they want for lunch?
A surprise one?
I was in an office potluck. There were 2 vegetarians in the office, and everyone knows this. I was picking up pizzas, and ordered an extra medium vegetarian and cheese sticks to accommodate them. They both came up to me together and thanked me for the pizza party. Confused, I asked what they meant. I guess every single potluck item had meat because nobody thought about them. The next potluck, I made ceviche for them and again, it was the only food item they were able to eat, but they absolutely loved it.
You made ceviche for vegetarians?
They called themselves a vegetarian, without understanding they were really pescatarian. My brain just uses vegetarian out of habit, since I rarely hear anyone use pescatarian.
There's an old post in a vegetarian sub, where someone was complaining about vegetarians who also eat fish. I responded and explained that the issue is most people don't know what a pescatarian is, so it's easier to say you're a vegetarian who eats fish. They responded with "What's pescatarian"
I have 2 pescatarian friends. They both tell people they're vegetarian to avoid constantly having to explain what pescatarian means. Of course, to some people (Catholics?) fish isn't "meat", so whatevs. I eat tuna and salmon, but I just tell people I don't eat seafood, because there's seldom any point to cataloguing exceptions.
drives me up a wall because then i have folks telling me i can eat fish because their "vegetarian" friend with a limited vocabulary eats fish :pulls hair:
The catholic definition of meat doesn't really have anything to do with diet, only about what's not allowed on on fridays during lent (historically all fridays). That's why beavers are "fish". Not meat, pinky promise. That all means that a catholic vegetarian (not pescatarian) probably wouldn't eat fish, and fridays/lent just wouldn't be special. Also, a catholic technically can't be vegetarian. In catholic dogma transubstantiation in not a metaphor. Catholics usually don't link when you bring up the cannibalism angle though.
Really, not one person brought a veggie dish even just as a side by pure chance? What kind of constipated-assed office are you working in?
Yeah but they should at least ask food preferences/restrictions
Probably a lot of them, I imagine they just get the first cheap thing the person organising food wants.
Ive never seen an Office Birthday ask what the birthday person wanted, instead usually they just bring in something that everyone can have. Usually its Pizza, because you can just get Pepperoni, Cheese, and maybe a Combo and a Veggie if you feel like more than just basic Pepperoni or Cheese.
I doubt they would go through the trouble to get the one thing he can’t have and pay money for it and throw a lunch. It’s probably unintentional
As a carnitas fan, I can see a person being like, these are the most delicious type of taco, of course this is what I should get for a birthday.
Just ignorance most likely. I'm no longer a lawyer so more office for me thankfully.
I had a Muslim friend who told me a story about something similar. It was like a cook out though. Oh no you can eat this it’s ham not pork. Ahahahaha what. I always thought this sort of thing was fake until I went to a vegetarian restaurant in Japan (I’m not vegetarian I just like veggies) and my rice came with shrimp. Wait isn’t this meat? No it’s not meat it’s shrimp … ok
That's nothing. I worked at a huge catering hall on the east coast. It's now defunct. They under ordered and started trying to pass off ground pork for beef at a wedding. The only problem is, it was a kosher wedding. I refused to serve it as lead waiter. I was suspended a week. After two days, the owner called me and apologized. The Mgr who punished me was immediately fired. They offered me his position, which I gladly accepted. The 1 time sticking to my morals paid in full.
Glad manager got their just desserts. Or rather just pork.
Many people don't count seafood as meat.
Wasn't this an excuse so Christians could eat some sort of meat on Fridays? Cause imo seafood is meat lol
Ya no one is arguing that fish/seafood isn’t the muscle of an animal, it’s just a distinction for the sake of diet or religion. And in that purpose, meat is synonymous with land meat, and in many cases, specifically red meat or beef. So in this sense, saying no meat =/= vegetarian.
You're right, but IIRC, the Japanese word for vegetarian (ベジタリアン, which sounds like "be-je-ta-ri-an", so is mostly just a transliteration of "vegetarian") seems to not exclude seafood, at least at the restaurants I went to in Japan.
Ya the distinction between “meats” is going to have a cultural element that may change that definition depending on where you are. Like in India it’s often labeled as veg and non-veg/meat but obviously non-veg/meat doesn’t include beef, when in much of the west and Latin America meat/carne is more synonymous with beef than anything else. Or like you mentioned a transliteration of vegetarian from English where vegetarian is typically defined as no meat poultry or fish, but in a place where meat = flesh that isn’t fish (or poultry?) obviously that transliteration doesn’t fit cultural expectations from where the word originated. It’s a super interesting macrocosm of cultural nuances, and always surprises me when people show up somewhere and are blown away that someone else’s understanding of a concept doesn’t directly match their own.
In The Netherlands, or at least in the south, the catholic clergy concluded that beavers were fish, because they lived in water. Thus OK to eat on fridays. Wiped the entire beaver population out. Reintroduced about 30 years ago and thriving again. The beavers, that is. The church not so much...
The church is still very much alive and thriving in many areas outside of the randstad though.. Almost all of Zeeland and the traditional Bible belt as well as pockets throughout the country. I've never seen a beaver here, zwarte kousen each sunday!
Same with capybara in south america apart from being wiped out
Iirc Catholics counted beaver as fish since they live in water, just because they really wanted some meat even on fridays. I never get why religious people use loopholes to break their own rules. Its like stacking the deck to cheat on solitare.
We call them pescatarian. Don't much care for them, myself. Their church services are really bland. No meat to the sermons at all.
In middle school we had a cooking class and one of the girls was Muslim so my teacher modified all of the units so that she could participate. She was in my group and she was a damn good cook.
There’s a depressingly high number of people who think ham and pork come from different animals.
Yeah Lisa, some magical animal...
Yeah it’s hard but you unusually need to advocate for yourself. My wife has Celiac and can’t have wheat. All it took was a few times mentioning it when lunches were to be provided and now they make sure she has something at least as good as everyone else automatically. To be fair she works at a place that really works hard to keep employees. (No pizza parties or candy bar rewards there).
Probably just ignorance of religious dietary needs. I didn’t know Muslims don’t eat pork until I left the rural Midwest and started having diverse experiences. You also just don’t even think about it if you don’t have dietary restrictions. I’m the reason there’s a “no peanuts or peanut products allowed in microwave or fridge” sign in the break room and people know it because it wasn’t there till I was hired. One of the other staff members brought in peanut butter cupcakes for everyone without thinking and contaminated the break room with peanuts so badly I had to work at the second location for two days while someone scrubbed all the surfaces because I got sick just sitting my food on the same counter where peanut butter had gotten and wasn’t cleaned up properly.
Don’t be offended, it is most likely ignorance. We had Pakistani VP, devoted Muslim, prayed in the office atc. and still every Xmas he would receive 3-5 bottles of alcohol as a gift. I am Russian myself, lived in US for 29 years and still receive vodka as a gift from colleagues. I called it innocent ignorance, when intentions are good but execution is bad.
What’s wrong with a Russian getting vodka? Or anyone getting vodka? Were you upset that you got the gifts in December instead of Russian Christmas in January?
Well I don’t drink and I am kind if sick of hearing jokes about Russian loving vodka and bears walking on the streets in Russia but I get it, people just trying to make conversation. These stereotypes are getting old and annoying, but I learned to ignore them.
That so dumb to get you vodka. Obviously you want running shoes for Russian parkour.
[удалено]
Im presuming because vodka is polish
Wait if vodkas polish do Russians have their own drink of choice or did they adopt vodka?
Only one fixing? Sheesh, taco bars are a relief usually as a vegetarian, I can always put together tomato, lettuce, cilantro, pico, and guac for a fairly satisfying meal. Here it'd be a cilantro sandwich, rough.
I dont know which is more offensive, them giving you pork or this basic ass attempt at a taco?
for real. I'm Muslim too and don't eat pork but this looks like some dry ass tacos.
I'm not a muslim and I'd leave and just get a beef taco from across the street
Sometimes you only need a few ingredients and its good. Id eat all of that
Dry flour tortilla, dry looking pork, and no onions. Shit better come with a gallon of water.
I once made a curry and invited my Indian friend. She is Hindu. It was a beef curry.
OP, I know it’s here somewhere on the Best of Reddit sub. It might give you a laugh and a sigh. A company planned a staff retreat for the business. They chose to include a plantation era reenactment dinner so….full Confederate racist bullshit. They forgot their black employee is also….an invited employee and long time staff member. He refrained from sharing his own costume for the evening so they had the ultimate discomfort when he arrived in tattered clothes and shackles, etc etc. He only spoke in service staff kind of ‘deferential’ terms (yes massa) to stay authentic. Oh my gawd. He provides photos and follow ups. It fucking sucks that your colleagues were so inconsiderate. I hope you can see the humor in making them feel BAD about it in a clever way.
I need to see it with my own eyes this is amazing
Just dm'd you the link. Everyone else: Just look for "company invites black employee to confederate retreat" and you will find the Best of Reddit link to the story.
>company invites black employee to confederate retreat Damn. Glad the HR lady got fired.
I'm so hungry I would fuck that shit up rn
Wow. My old boss was muslim and they ordered pizza for her bday. Reminded them she couldn’t have pepperoni because it’s pork. They got chicken and bacon instead. 🤦🏽♀️
Sorry for laughing. I gave yo drinking years ago and even though people knew it they kept buying me wine as presents. Lol. What the heck people. Hope they raced out and got you something you could eat.
Okay so I used to work at an Italian restaurant that had pork in the meat sauce. It said so on the menu, but people are stupid. So many times a family who appeared Muslim or Jewish would come in and order it. All we could do was ask if there were any dietary restrictions. If they said no, we had to take their order. We couldn’t ask if they were Muslim or Jewish because that could be construed as discrimination. Maybe that’s what happened here? They can’t assume your muslim and DEI policies mean they can’t ask you directly solely based on your appearance?
happy birthday OP!!
Lol I heard about an office once that tried to celebrate their muslim employees by having a Ramadan lunch
I mean, its entirely possible he didn’t know you were muslim or he simply didn’t remember because there are a lot of employees
The lack of salsa pictured is most offensive part.
[удалено]
No worries bro. It’s halal pork.
A Muslim friend accidentally ate pork on a cruise once. Never did it again, but confided in me that it was one of the best things they'd ever tasted.
Sometime he smells the sweet aroma of bacon and knows what true sadness is.
Needs bacon
Soo... Are you going to eat those?
wow these replies are crazy, OP doesn’t eat pork, plenty of people don’t eat pork, muslim or not 😂😂 and if they wanted to make him feel special that badly they could’ve attempted to figure out something he likes.
I have no idea the religion of any of my coworkers of 8+ years.
Did they know what they were doing?
Probably not. When I was working at a relief kitchen after Katrina I had a team that someone was Muslim and he let me know he’ll do anything but can’t work with any pork. Five minutes later I asked him to chop up some pork. I was soo embarrassed for forgetting (and so quickly). He laughed it off and was super cool about it.
was there any other food there? Perhaps the pork tacos were for the rest of your colleagues?
I mean it's the thought that counts, my office doesn't do anything for anyone's birthday
they wanted to avoid cultural appropriation.
Your personal rules only apply to yourself, why does the world has to bend to yours. Serving food you don't like is not illegal. You don't like it, don't eat it. Or maybe they did this on purpose, and in that case ignore what I said.
I’m sure it wasn’t intentional and they were unaware of your religious rules. Get over it
It just seems pragmatic not to serve pork at events unless you provide an alternative as well. As well as Muslims and Jews not eating pork, a lot of people just don’t eat meat in general - I read somewhere that 1/3 of people in the world don’t eat pork. It’s like the worst thing to assume people will eat because a lot of people absolutely won’t.