Today I won Employee of the Year. And I felt like crap doing it.

[WillParkinson]

I went to our Employee of the Year luncheon today. As a vegan I was prepared to not eat since I don't like to make my dietary and life choices impact anyone else (as far as them having to do stuff for me).

I spoke with the HR director this morning before I left for the hotel and she mentioned that they had ordered a vegan lunch for me.

Well when we sat down to eat there was a salad with bleu cheese and a big strip of bacon on it. I politely declined it.

Then came the entree. A plate of vegetables. With grill marks on it. I looked at it and the Food & Beverage director asked me if something was wrong. I said I was wondering how they got the grill marks on the vegetables. So he went to the Chef and whispered to him. The Chef looked at me and said, "It's vegan." I said thank you and asked how he got the grill marks. He said they put them on the hot grill. We cook steaks on it, but it was scraped down."

I just looked and pushed the plate away and said sorry, I can't eat this. Then they started making a big deal out of it trying to get me some fruit or something. I said no thank you, please just let it go.

I felt like an idiot because they went through trouble for me and I refused to eat it. I know that I was right in not eating it, but with everyone at the table staring at me because I wouldn't eat and trying to make it better, I just felt worse.

(cross-posted in the Lounge but wanted to share with my veggie friends, too.)

[flvegan]

1. Congrats on your award!

I'd likely have opted to not eat that either.

[WillParkinson]

4. Thank you...

And thank you again for the support. Coming from you it means a lot. :-)

[nankerphelge]

2. I woud have eaten the vegetables...

Here's why:

http://www.goveg.com/effectiveAdvocacy_personal.asp

[WillParkinson]

3. This wasn't an ingredient in a dish that I had to come home and research...

This was a grill where we cook a lot of meat.

The author is welcome to his/her beliefs. We each choose veganism for different reasons.

As for what the author has to say: Our fanatical obsession with ingredients not only obscures the animals’ suffering—which was virtually non-existent for that tiny modicum of ingredient...I guess it depends on what level of comfort you have. I, personally, choose not to eat any animal ingredient if I can avoid it. Yes, I've thought something was vegan in the past and have eaten it only to find out later that it was not. I try not to stress about it but make myself aware for next time.

I am not trying to convert anyone. My choices are my own. If you were comfortable eating from the grill then by all means, enjoy. I've served vegetarians who were quite comfortable eating something (portobello mushroom sandwich) that was cooked on the grill.

However, I work there. I know what the grill is like. I know what scraping the grill means and what it does. I also know that if I did just eat it then the Chef would have assumed it was OK for the next person we were asked to prepare a vegan option for.

This was my personal decision just as eating it would have been yours. I understand what you're saying, but I hope you understand where I'm coming from as well.

[CrispyQ]

5. Corporate events are the absolute worst!!

Years ago a company I worked for had a 25th anniversary celebration - a picnic with sandwiches & chips & that kind of stuff. Every single sandwich had meat on them. Not even a cheese sandwich! One of the HR ladies was walking around & noticed my veg friend & I were not eating. She asked why & we told her there wasn't anything vegetarian offered. "Well there's pork & beans, you guys!" I couldn't help but give her a 'what the fuck?' look. She walked away not understanding what our objection to pork & beans was. :eyes:

When things like this happen, the unspoken message is, "Can't you set aside your silly convictions for one meal so we don't have to feel awkward?"

I hate, hate, hate corporate events!

[Ignis]

7. Bang on, that's definitely the upspoken message.

I like to ask in return, "Can't you set aside your silly aesthetics and eat Puppy Dog Tartare for just one day?"

I'm a pretty popular guy. ;)

[Goblinmonger]

9. At the high school where I teach

we had "soup day" in conjunction with an inservice. I was not up on the rotation to bring food for this event but someone told me they were bringing a cream of broccoli soup made with vegetable broth for me (I'm not vegan, but ovo-lacto). I thanked them and thought it was pretty cool. The foods teacher was in charge of warming up the soups due to her proximity to equipment. I found the "special" soup and saw ham in it. The foods teacher came up to me and said "This is the vegetarian soup that X made for you. I put some ham chunks in there for flavor but you can just pick them out because I made them big chunks." I just walked away without saying a word but :wtf: how can a foods teacher not realize I wouldn't want to eat that anymore?

[Chan790]

10. Nobody is that stupid except willfully.

If she hammed your soup, she did it to be unpleasant. You would not believe some of the mean-assed shit I've seen people do out of spite, because they disagree with someone's personal decisions about animals and animal products, and then try to hide behind naivety.

I'd have called her on it.

[CrispyQ]

13. I went to a restaurant that had a nice salad bar -

not just greens, but couscous, pasta & a couple of other decent veg salads. Someone had sprinkled bacon bits on the entire salad bar! I asked the waitstaff if they were going to bring out fresh salads, & was told that management decided to wait until it had all been eaten before refreshing.

They gave me my baked potato free of charge. Big of them, huh? :eyes:

[WillParkinson]

14. Ooooooh....

How generous.

[Ignis]

6. The worst part about corporate food options is the uncertainty.

I, like you, don't like to make my dietary/lifestyle choices impact others. If there's a family dinner that I know won't have vegan options, I'll bring my own rather than forcing someone else to make something outside their comfort zone.

But in the work environment--and remember, I work mostly in and around San Francisco, California--I've lost track of the number of times I've been promised that someone has researched vegan food options and is absolutely feckin' certain that I'll be served vegan food at a corporate event, only to show up and find out that either it has"just a little bit of cheese in it" :eyes: or had someone offer to take the bacon off of my salad for me.

These days, I just keep a bag of nuts and a Primal Strip in my laptop bag for this sort of screw-up. But it always results in everyone fussing around me to get me to eat something and/or people giving me the stink-eye for being so "inflexible" and "not a team player." Part of the whole point of these group feeding exercises is team building and bonding, but HR is rarely willing to go 100% to make sure vegan diets are accommodated.

Can you imagine the stink if HR at any public corporation told Jewish and Muslim employees that the only food options at the Annual BBQ Lunch event would be roast pig? Lawyers would line up around the block.

---

I'm really sorry that your special day was...not, Will. Hang in there! :hi:

[WillParkinson]

8. Next week I have an all day training course...

The last time my "vegan meal" had mayo on it. The lady who was running it was understandably annoyed because she said that she was told vegan would be no problem. She was amazingly nice about the whole thing.

Next week I'm going to take some vegan eggless salad and potato salad with me.

[Exultant Democracy]

11. I hate when you have a nice big table trying to help.

[WillParkinson]

12. It's not that they were trying to help that was the problem...

It's that I felt like I was making a scene because I wouldn't eat the food that was prepared for me.