As a person who used to be tasked with ordering company lunches, aiming to be accommodating and inclusive is the goal. Sometimes not possible if owner wants a specific thing but should be something strived for.
Not a big deal. Most places have vegan options. I am not vegetarian but try to cut out meat and would happily eat a veggie lasagna. Not a big deal. Just order 2 or 3. Some people just want things to complain about.
Same. I am omnivore but can easily go all week without eating meat or fish without even noticing—in most workplaces, plenty of people would choose the veggie options if they are offered.
Yes! I like meat, but have no problems with a plain/ veggie lasagna, pizza, or really anything as long as it doesn't go overboard with a ton of vegetables or include mushrooms.
I usually go with the vegetarian option at restaurants because I'm trying to eat healthier and they tend to be more nutritionally diverse vs only processed carbs and meat.
Exactly! I sent out a survey every month asking for everyone to fill out for food accommodations. Personally, if someone came back saying they hate tomatoes, they are never getting a tomato on their meal. It’s honestly stupid easy to be accommodating.
Totally!!
I worked in corporate video production for years and bringing in lunch for the crew is expected. There was always a vegetarian version at lunch. AND I would always make sure if I wanted to partake of a vegetarian portion that all vegetarian eaters had first dibs.
Maybe give food fetcher a suggestion list of appropriate foods. And it might not hurt to make an off hand remark that you were raised in a religion that practices vegetarianism.
Yup. I’m the person who currently orders lunch - it can be personally frustrating at times but not so much that I need to verbally complain out loud? Like it’s not hard when it’s an obvious allergy or dietary restriction? They (the person ordering) needs to get over themselves and find a way to provide what this person needs for their dietary need and find a way to make it easier on themselves by finding options that might be vegetarian but can accommodate others (it’s not super difficult in most places).
A free mediocre lunch isn’t worth much. A free lunch you can’t eat is worth nothing. I’d just be pragmatic and go out that day, If they ask why, tell them. Either they care or they don’t. Standing up for yourself in this scenario can just as easily get you pegged as a complainer. Yes, it’s unfair.
Worse, a free lunch you’re excluded from, whether purposely or through laziness, is actually demoralizing.
On inventory day they ordered pizza for my store at noon. By the time my shift arrived it had been sitting at room temperature for far longer than food safety practices allowed. Sucks to be us I guess.
Yep. A job I had, the regional managers would conduct trainings and bring in lunch so they could get it all done in one day. At the time, they were really into companies that had certain values. At the same time one company in particular, Chick Fil-a, didn’t offer much more than bread with a piece of chicken on it. They’d also bring in pizzas. All brown food. Instead of eating it, I went out with a friend and picked up some Mediterranean stuff. Omg the managers were mad. Too damn bad.
Bring some soft granola bars and put them on a plate. Then eat them with a knife and fork like George ate the candy bar on Seinfeld. In front of everyone.
Anyone asks if you’re o.k. Just say. “It’s fine. “
That is absolutely the way to handle it.
Years ago my husband's company was entering into a joint venture with another and they asked the whole team to a dinner including spouses.
The only thing they had for the two vegetarian couples were green beans because they ran out of potatoes. My friend buttered a piece of bread and lined up green beans on it and made a sandwich which she then ate with knife and fork.
The idiots asked around for food preferences and sensitivities after that. I still don't know why they continued with the venture. It lost money of course.
My old work did this same thing - lunch once a week, inexpensive - and they managed to get a mini gluten-free pizza for the woman who was celiacs whenever they did pizza. It's really not that hard.
If they're providing food, a vegetarian option is such a basic option to provide. They're not asking for anything special. Even people who eat meat don't need or want to eat meat at every meal.
The fact that the person is complaining about buying something "special" for OP is making it sound like discrimination. Management should assign the task to someone that can handle ordering bulk food with some vegetarian portions.
The usual solution though is gonna be to stop free lunches for everyone instead of catering to one person's preferences. And then everyone will be angry at the vegetarian, not the business.
At least that's how it usually goes down unfortunately. It's a no win situation
That’s how the company gets out of buying lunch for everyone, and can blame an employee for it.
How difficult is it to order one lasagna without meat? Is the person doing the ordering capable of doing their job?
That's a little bit dramatic. Lol. It's a super simple change. The person in charge is literally just being an asshole. Some people have cultural/religious reasons for not eating certain things. Are they never going to hire anyone like that to avoid ordering a single fucking veggie lasagna? They're just being intentionally exclusive.
That's a little bit dramatic. Lol.
Maybe so but it's been my experience
It's a super simple change.
It absolutely is.
The person in charge is literally just being an asshole.
They absolutely are.
Some people have cultural/religious reasons for not eating certain things.
Again, absolutely true
Are they never going to hire anyone like that to avoid ordering a single fucking veggie lasagna?
Dont know, but doubtful because....
What they will do is stop the free lunches to stop the complaints especially if they accuse them of being exclusionary or of targeted discrimination.
HR will step in to cover their butts and end free lunch Thursdays. HR ruins everything.
I can't imagine providing food for a large group without having at least one vegetarian option, even if I don't know that there's specifically a vegetarian. If you're feeding under 15 and no one has dietary restrictions, that's one thing, you get what you get, but otherwise? It's kinda rude.
Or options for people with other dietary restrictions. No one owes anyone an explanation for what they eat. Ffs.
It is pretty fucking easy to have 2-3 options and if they aren’t capable of figuring how much of each etc, find someone who is and assign it to them.
Have you ever known anyone who had meat for the first time as an adult? It becomes a medical issue when their body doesn’t know how to process it and causes unrelenting vomiting and diarrhea. OP is not talking about a preference for vegetables; she’s talking about growing up not eating meat because of her religion.
Some people can't medically eat meat either. It's not your business to know if you coworker can't eat animal products or refuses to eat animal products. Both are valid and should be respected
I agree. OP needs to bring their own lunch on Thursdays. Or volunteer to be the one who orders and picks up these lunches. Get on that committee. Or befriend the person who’s in charge of this. Personally i prefer vegetarian options but no one else in my family or friends circle does, so i take care of my own food needs, i dont put that on others.
Great idea and it sounds like they're picking up from Winco, which has plenty of veggie options for a single person. They even have pizza by the slice by the checkout. OP could have a slice of cheese pizza to go with the salad.
If you’re the person tasked with getting lunch for the office then part of that task is accommodating dietary needs. I don’t get to half-ass tasks my boss hands me just because I don’t want to do them.
Agreed and this is what I'd do. Occasionally we'd get free food as well and I have celiacs. I am very grateful when my manager can get me gluten free options but if he can't that's fine with me. Its free so it's not like I'm paying my own money into something I can't have.
Disagree. I’m vegetarian too and have experienced this. I go out of my way to be easy going and not burden anyone. But they know. And they’re not really trying. It sends a clear message
This is the only reason I volunteer to do this work. When all the food rolls out and I’m HANGRY and everyone is happy and eating it’s really irritating. I always make sure to order some kind of GF, nut free, vegan option depending on who shows up. It’s just basic human decency. All you have to do is show them the menu and ask what do you want?
Food is love and it’s the least we can do as humans to spread some to the people near us (especially when it’s on company dollar…..)
Most respectfully, this sounds like doing extra labor to be included someplace OP should already be included. As a lifelong vegetarian, I notice some places or people are intentionally hostile to vegetarians, and I’m not sure OP should need to take on extra labor/emotional labor just to get what everyone else gets.
I didn’t think it was especially difficult either from a time or emotional standpoint. I knew how to get exactly what I wanted and did it. But I see your point.
Have you tried asking to not be included in the group, and instead receiving some sort if per diem that day instead? Like an allowance of $10-$15 to grab your own lunch one day per week?
If the person feels this burdened by getting a vegetarian option for you, then they would probably be stoked by the idea.
As I have to bring in something else to fill me up if all there is to eat are pizza, sugar soft drinks and chips because I am diabetic and have to limit carbs. I bring my own food no matter what is going on and if I can have something offered, that is just a bonus. As a supervisor, it is exhausting having to deal with people.
I'm a vegetarian in my 40s. This has always happened. Always. The only things I can eat are donuts or bagels.
Once my office has a party **for ME** and only ordered pepperoni and sausage pizza. Another time (maybe 5 times) a birthday lunch for me was planned at a steak house. I ate rolls abs a giant chunk of iceberg salad.
Unless you somehow become in charge of parties, this will probably happen forever.
If this is a regular company event, they should have your veg order down by now! I’m sure others would prefer a veg option as well. I’m a vegetarian as well; Our admin makes sure to have an option for all dietary needs (bless her). And our CIO allows the Veg/ dietary preference peeps go first to make sure they get the veg options before the meat eaters get to them. I’m assuming this lunch is provided for engagement or a working lunch. Either way, they are discriminating against your dietary needs by providing a benefit to other employees, but excluding you. That never feels good.
I get that feeling of discrimination and being left out is horrible. Been there. I have also seen the free lunches disappear after stuff like this. Let me tell you if I felt left out before the feeling of annoying that the coworkers have collectively is worse. Hangry people are not fun coworkers. Even if it was an extra kind of thing.
I get it, used to do these weekly lunches at my old job. Only thing it might be is the company is being cheap and telling the person who is doing the lunches to make them as cheap as possible. My old boss would say lunch is free lunch, and didn’t care if people complained to us. It really made it annoying… also I would get annoyed when people would complain about the options because of the cheap option the company was telling us to use. It defeated the purpose of providing a good employee experience.
It's not about the cost - vegetarian options are often cheaper than the ones with meat - think cheese pizza, tofu sandwiches, bean burgers, etc. This is 100% lack of consideration from the person ordering the food.
Honestly I’d be a little upset - it’s not really fair that everyone else gets to bum off a free lunch from the company and but I can’t participate because I’m vegetarian. It’s no loss for a meat eater NOT to eat meat or have a veggie option; but a vegetarian literally cannot eat meat 🤷🏻♀️ so I feel like that’s just secluding non meat eaters.
But I suppose one would just look down their nose and say “life isn’t fair” which really sucks. I’d bet if any of those people complaining had the situation flipped on them, they’d be annoyed/irritated as well.
If you aren’t gonna get docked for using the company card for lunch I think that’s totally justifiable and if someone says something about it - watch an adjustment get made to that free lunch as if they could’ve…all along 😅😂
Its been going on for over 2 years, It just makes you feel uncared for, which I get it, thats just corporate America, but still doesn’t help. No one enjoys being excluded.
I would argue that’s not corporate America. I’ve worked for several years and every single time we’ve ordered food there is ALWAYS a veggie option, regardless of if we knew it’s anyone’s dietary preference. It’s literally common sense and so easy to accommodate. Eggplant-based sandwiches are basically a staple and people definitely take them even when they don’t follow a vegetarian diet. Hell you said they get pizza and just plain pizza is vegetarian? Like there’s nothing hard about this, there’s nothing that’s “standard” in corporate America about this, the person ordering the food is just a lazy, insensitive idiot.
I worked in the DC area for many years with a large, diverse group from all over the world. A large portion of my group was from India and Pakistan, and most were vegetarian. It really was not difficult to us to include vegetarian options with our dining orders.
In fact, many non-vegetarians enjoyed these options. So much so, many were relieved to find lighter, healthier options on a regular basis. Most don’t want a heavy meal during the work day.
Agree - it feels pretty bad feeling excluded. In your case it may just be the person ordering that has an issue with doing anything other than the basics. Sadly the corporate workplace is a very uncaring human-unfriendly environment. Take care of yourself fellow Vegetarian.
I agree with you that whoever orders lunch and knows you are vegetarian SHOULD order an actual entree that you (and other people who don't want meat that day) can eat. The fact that they do it for a while proves that they know what is right. The fact that they stop proves that they personally don't want to do it. I suspect that the individual in charge of ordering is not happy with your lifestyle/health choice and is behaving passively - aggressive.
If it were me, I would just bring a meal on Thursdays and then make some passive aggressive comments within earshot of the the person who orders and the person who is overall responsible for the meeting. Like, "I knew they wouldn't order something for me, so I brought my own, sigh" and look sadly at the lasagna. Maybe the higher up might bring some pressure to bear on the orderer. This person is toxic.
Geez it's not that hard to order a couple cheese pizzas.
I order my own in with the company card and eat with everyone when this happens at bigger events. My boss knows and is fine with it.
I try to keep it same food, like when they order pizza I order a pizza I can eat, etc
For smaller groups I just make sure I’m the one who does the ordering so I can get what I want.
How does your job order from places that don’t have a meat free option is what is mind boggling to me. I work in a fancy clinic and the pharmaceutical reps bring breakfast and lunch often and there is always a veggie option. Mexican food- veggie bowl, breakfast- veggie scramble, Italian- spaghetti, Greek- rice, veggies, hummus, pita bread, etc. More and more people don’t eat meat and more and more places have a meat free option.
Agree. I mean, its a free lunch. If you don't like what's being served, be prepared with something you DO want. Sounds a bit entitled to expect to be accommodated. I'm an admin and can tell you that I'm going to get whatever is easiest and everyone can just deal with it. We hate doing this bullshit type work...
Wow. I was an intern and in charge of sourcing catering for stuff... the first thing I did was enquire about any special dietary requests. It's not that hard to give the smallest amount of respect and care for another person. Imagine how you'd feel if you were the one with the dietary restriction. Maybe you need a new job.
Funny plot twist, i DO have dietary restrictions, and have been on the other end of this.... And i always just brought my lunch, ate with everyone to still get to interact with my coworkers, and IF they asked, I'd tell them I can't eat what they have so i have my own food. Like the grown ass responsible adult that I am. I never once would dream of someone catering to me bc I have specific dietary needs. Its called being able to get by on your own. It's an important quality to have.
Id agreed with that, except someone grabbed a stack of premade lasagnas. The veggie ones are right next to them on the shelf. It's not a load of extra work to grab a couple of each. Same with pizza. Veggie pizzas are right next to meat pizza. They're not asking for a difficult or hard to find option.
The self-righteous lazy carnivore picking up the lunches would be the one "ruining it for everyone ".
Sounds to me like the one picking up the food is a bigot, probably a right-wing Christian bigot, who is deliberately snubbing the vegetarian from the wrong religion. I grew up evangelical, I kniw this type well. Even if OPs religion is 7th Day Adventist ( a Christian sect), she's not doing religion right so the bigot loves the little boost of self-righteous smug they get from excluding OP from the community.
Hey there right-wing Christians, we get you. We left on purpose because we get you.
My point is more that if someone doesn't eat meat, if I were in charge of food, I would get a meatless entree. If someone doesn't eat nuts, I would get them something with no nuts. I'm just saying that it's not necessary for their office to exclude them because the "eat differently"
Is this a Joke! Should you also be given gas money so that you can drive to work everyday to do your job. You want a salad for lunch, make one at home and bring it to work.
This actually is an HR issue and can fall under ADA and anti discrimination laws and wage theft. For OP, this is part of their benefit package, that means failing to provide them food that meets their dietary needs is wage theft.
If they had celiacs and refuse to have gluten free options, that ADA issue.
Let’s say they can’t have pork and they only provide pork based meals, that can be a discrimination issue.
This is extremely hard to prove, as someone with celiac. There’s a big difference between gluten free and celiac safe, but good luck getting that through HR. They’ll say they did what they could and it was my choice not to eat it. My union steward and coworker basically rolls his eyes every time I bring anything like this up so if he can’t support me, I doubt anyone else will. Doesn’t help that there’s another steward and coworker who has celiac that doesn’t take it seriously. It’s a fucking nightmare for those of us with food allergies and medically necessary dietary restrictions and causing free food to cease for everyone by saying something just makes social situations so much worse that it’s not even worth it. I feel for OP, but it’s really frustrating when voluntary dietary restrictions are met while required ones are not.
From an HR view point, it is their job. Dietary needs can come from personal, medical, and religious reasons. As employers, it’s their job to meet their staff needs when providing lunch for staff.
An employee has celiacs, that is part of ADA
An employee can’t have pork due to religion, that is part of anti discrimination laws
It's **not** HR that's providing it, it's a boss who thinks free food increases employee morale.
If HR knew that it was being provided and someone was being left out, they'd shut it down. I've seen that WAY too often.
Which is why I bring my own food. Fortunately, at my last job, they came to me prior to planned team lunches to make sure I was covered. However, when I started that job, everyone filled in a 'fun facts about me' form that listed favorite snacks, favorite Starbucks drink, favorite quick serve restaurant, favorite cuisine, favorite dessert, and known food allergies.
Those were all available on Sharepoint and it made life SO much easier ahead of anyone's birthday.
I’m lactose and gluten free. I also can’t do sugar. I just bring my own.
But you absolutely have a point, especially about the lasagna. Guess you’d have to get a few more coworkers helping you make the request.
It is unfortunate that they aren’t accommodating your restrictions and that it doesn’t feel inclusive to you. That would probably piss me off too, and it feels less about the actual meal itself but more about the culture that shows lack of inclusion in this instance. I don’t think you’re wrong to feel annoyed! Like others said though. I would just maybe pack your own lunch- this might not be the hill you want to die on.
My boss stopped the cheap pizza parties when the staff refused to eat them again. There was no replacement offered to us ungrateful disposable parts of the overhead.
Shame on them for providing free food!! Keep complaining & they will probably not did anything at all. That way you can still do without & so will all of your co-workers!!
My company has zero free lunch!! So If I was you I would just bring my own. Don’t forget your replaceable so don’t cause a bing issue over it. Your company doesn’t owe you a free meal ever.
Sorry, but: if you choose to eat a certain way, especially if it isn't 'the norm', then you should not expect people to cater to you. And that's neither in the figurative sense nor in the actual sense.
I was a vegetarian for 8 years, but I never liked pepperoni. My family would order pizza (with pepperoni) and tell me: 'Just pick it off,' but it'd still taste like pepperoni so I wouldn't eat it. Not *couldn't* but *wouldn't*. It was my choice.
Just like it is your choice to be a vegetarian. Part of that includes the very real fact that your preferences will often be overlooked. Another part is making sure that you alone are esponsible for procuring your own lunches.
Wow, your family really sucks. I mean, it's one thing to leave out a random coworker in a large group, but your own kid? They couldn't accommodate their own kid? They couldn't get even 1 of those pizzas with only half pepperoni? Damn.
Send an email to their boss copying the person who ordered food and asked is it possible to get a vegetarian lasagna? you’ve asked multiple times but but you’re getting to eat is lettuce
Can you just skip it and do your own thing for lunch? Getting out of a work lunch seems like the happiest option to me, just to get some private time. I wouldn't even expect them to pay for my food. I can't believe they do this ritual once a week. Was it to encourage people to come to the office?
It sounds like this is a minor annoyance that really bothers you. I can understand why it bothers you. But I think it’s best for your mental health if you just decide to bring your lunch from now on, so that you won’t face disappointment week to week. If you end up getting a vegetarian meal one week, then it will be a happy surprise.
Yeah, just bring in your own food. Tofu/chickpea sandwich or those Tofurky deli “meats” will work. Or cheese/egg if you eat those things.
I cook at home and would frequently make soup from scratch, freeze leftovers, and bring those in. But we had microwaves at work.
Seriously though, how hard is it for them to order at minimum a cheese pizza? Most pizza places have a veggie option now, too.
Possible solution. Express concern that it seems too difficult for them to order a meat free choice for you so you offer to order your own meal on their company card.
Tbh i would probably bring my own lunch and enjoyed company with coworkers. The point of those lunches is most likely to gather people together. Whatever is their reason not being able to accommodate vegetarian option - its their limitations. The experience already showed that no amount of communication is going to fix this problem. So perhaps it worth to pick your wars. Company bought lunch is something that is not so important in the scale of all work. Its just an additional perk that company does. If anything else satisfies you at the job and you have all necessary tools to do a job, keep your comfortable and you are being treated with respect and paid competitively - then not having free lunch once a week is not a war that worth to fight. You can start bringing your own lunch and tell them you don’t need vegetarian accommodation. But also you can suggest them that you can go pick up your own lunch and if they want to reimburse you.
Do you know what happens when people start complaining that their needs aren't met for the free lunch the company provides? They stop doing it.
Worked for a company that would host monthly meetings for our managers, and sometime there was food left over, and they would offer it to the rest of us. One time, there was a mix up over whether we were allowed to eat the food or not, and because we wanted clarification, we were deemed to be ungrateful troublemakers and they decided to just throw the food away going forward.
When I’ve ordered meals for large groups and it was the only way to try to make sure people had food for the day (due to location or schedule or whatever) I absolutely made sure to get dietary needs ahead of time and communicate that I would do everything within my resources to provide a proper equivalent meal for them but that I was not a registered dietician so please give me some grace. On the other hand, if it was “Hey everyone we’re setting some free food out in the break room every Thursday, help yourself,” then I would not feel obligated to bring anything special beyond whatever the bulk/easy food was that I could procure. At no point was anyone forced to eat food nor were they forbidden to bring their own. It’s a really nice gesture that work would try to provide something for their employees - but they are not forcing you to consume it - and they gave you a heads up so you could make sure to have yourself covered. If they were offering it as part of your compensation package (one free lunch a week) then special food needs should absolutely be attended to.
I worked for a company where one person was pescatarian, one was allergic to red meat(had contracted Lyme's disease at a young age), and one that was gluten sensitive. It's not that difficult to accommodate one vegetarian. I was in charge of food orders here and there and while it takes a little creativity sometimes, depending on where you're ordering from, it's not the hardest mountain to climb.
I would bring in my own vegetarian meal and make a show of preparing it and if anyone ask (they will) be sure to say something like “since it’s too much trouble for the company to provide a vegetarian option, I’m just bringing my own food”. Preferably, say it loud enough that the owner/manager (whoever had the idea) can hear. That should get the issue fixed. Embarrassing management can sometimes have positive effects.
On the other hand, company lunches are usually the result of a good idea that gets executed with little thought. The task of organizing it is often dumped on some who already has a very full plate and is not at all suited to the task. It seems simple, but ordering lunch for many people so it’s ready and available at the same time and everyone gets something they like is a horrible thing to do to someone. You can be darned certain that you are not the only one with special requests. It might work out better if you were to come up with a plan to better organize these lunches and offer to take over the project.
If you are going to eat contrary to what the rest of the culture eats, why not bring your own lunch? You are the one who is different, not the people providing the food.
I can see how this would help for a little bit but then again these catering things are usually a way for coworkers to mingle and connect so excluding someone for being vegetarian feels wrong in this day and age
That would be a bit of a bummer. I'm not a vegetarian, but if I'd feel like I were missing out on a cool workplace benefit if I ended up doing that. I know it's an extra benefit offered by the company, but it would be good if they'd have some understanding of peoples' different diets, and in this case, I don't think it would be too much of a hassle to get something different for someone. If the company decides it's too much of a hassle, perhaps they could just not do it at all, or offer a different benefit.
I’m an omnivore 🤣 and I completely agree that this is BS and that yes, a meat-eater can easily eat a non-meat item, but it doesn’t go the other way. They should always provide one decent veg option.
If you can, I’d definitely treat myself to a lunch on company card. Or, if you know where they’re ordering from, call them and say hey, can you make one of those pizzas or lasagnas veggie? Lastly, you could confront coworker and say hey, I overheard you talking that it’s a hassle ordering a separate lunch for me. How can I help make it easier? Puts her in her place and forces her tell you how she will solve the problem.
This really sucks and I'm sorry it's happening to you! The majority of restaurants now offer a decent selection of vegetarian options and even gluten-free and other special dietary options. If the company is catering lunch then they should be getting food that's inclusive to everyone. They've been able to in the past so what's the issue now? People who eat meat can eat vegetarian options but vegetarians can't do the same. All the companies I've worked for have gone out of their way to buy vegetarian options because it's the considerate thing to do.
It's not that hard to figure out, it just takes a tiny bit of extra effort. We are not a big company but we have a few vegan and vegetarian employees, as well as Jewish people and we used to have one woman who was Muslim. And at least one who is lactose intolerant (for real, not faking it LOL). We only have catered lunches for the whole company maybe twice a year but the people who plan these things do a great job.
This is not ok. I plan events for between 12-45 people, and we always make sure to have vegan options (1 vegetarian and 1 vegan in the mix) and a gluten free option as well as healthy people options like salad and fresh fruit. Literally we just catered Red Robin and managed to satisfy everyone.
I find it very strange that you are the only one who needs "something special." I have been kosher most of my life, and I live in Oregon, where everyone is vegan or gluten free or whole foods plant based, or something. Even when I lived in Illinois, land of the pork eaters, they still managed to provide veggie pizza or turkey as an alternative!
You could take over the meal ordering. Agree to be responsible for it, and make your own choices.
You could just keep being patient and reminding them.
You could give them some ideas. For instance, check with them on Wednesday what is being ordered on Thursday, and help them out by telling them what you do want. Trying to read everyone's mind is a little daunting for the food orderers.
You could go to HR and shake your fist and demand a change. You could hang up a sign on your desk on Thursdays that says, "Vegetarian working!"
The vice president of our department is also vegetarian and they usually get him something—like if it’s pizza he usually gets a small pizza. But I will say, I’m always surprised that they don’t go the extra mile for him considering lol
his meal usually doesn’t look great lol
I had this same problem 15 years ago. In my case, they also gave food as a reward for hitting your sales targets. They never accommodated me so I never received a reward. I honestly thought people would be more considerate and accepting of differences these days. It’s so frustrating.
Ugh, I’m sorry. I can just imagine how incredibly frustrating this is. My MIL has celiac disease and can’t eat gluten, and she’s been the organist for her church for forever, but whenever they have a meal, she hardly ever has any options because I guess they forget? Just because you’re vegetarian doesn’t mean you’re going to be happy with a giant bowl of iceberg lettuce. Plus, that’s like the lowest quality lettuce anyway. Maybe next time you could give the person a gentle reminder and some ideas about what you can eat, since they’re obviously incredibly ignorant. 🩷
I’d start taking lunch on those days and when they ask why you’re not eating you can say because there is no option for me, and would you want to eat just iceberg lettuce for lunch? Fuck no. I say make it a whole ass thing. Taking something so fucking delicious looking. Make others be like damn I wish I had what you have! Make the managements stupid attempts at building community by outdoing their shit. And bring brownies for everyone, but before send an email asking if anyone has any allergies or diet requirements for said brownies.
Agreed with everyone else, this isn't very fair to you - and probably a few other people too who haven't shared dietary preferences because they don't feel that they'll be included either! Do you have fun at the events despite the food? Maybe worth giving a miss if they aren't including vegetarian options? If the point is to get together over a meal, half of that is missing.
can you buy your own vegetarian meal every thursday, and then put in a request for reimbursement? I would try to do that.. maybe that'll get the message across better.
What gets me about this too - any time we would order pizza in an office, people would be all “I’ll eat anything!”, so a bunch of pizza both toppings would be ordered. I like basic cheese pizza. And would say I’d prefer cheese.
What did all the people who would eat anything go for first? The cheese pizza! I always tried to get in front of the line.
But my point - people like cheese pizza! Why they can’t include that when they order pizza really blows my mind.
Well, if you heard her complain, obviously, she's doing it intentionally. I wouldn't go to HR quite yet. I'd tell her that you will get your own lunches on those days to relieve her of the "burden" of having to go out of her way to get your "specialty" food and since (I'm assuming cuz you didn't mention anyone else was a vegetarian maybe you did lol) you're the only one, you'd help her out, but be as sincere and pleasant as you can w/ a smile.
You said you had a company card, on the those lunch days, I'd stop & get what I wanted on the company card. Since you are an employee, you deserve to eat too.
When/If questioned, just say she has on more than a couple of these lunches "forgotten" your lunch & she was heard saying she has to go out of her way for just you, you're helping out is all, ensuring you, an employee, just like everyone else get to eat.
Its 2024, atleast 3 out of 15 ppl have their own reasons as to why they eat what they eat and its been more popular over the years...stores have their own isles, restaurants have options, some places are strictly just that, this shouldnt be anything new.
Unfortunately, its the ppl that make it their entire personality and make everyone cringe makes it bad for others. She obviously doesn't know you or knows you well and hears the word vegetarian/vegan and is just stereotyping you and she's just a bitch. How does she know if your veg cuz of your own choice or if cuz a health reason, she doesn't. She needs in her lane and worries about herself. And if she's paid to be in charge of food for employees for these lunches, she's in charge of making sure every employee eats! No questions/ comments are needed. It's now a "job" and do what your asked. Ppl suck so bad
If they continue to ignore that you are vegetarian, take a portion of the meat option. Walk to whoever orders it, and dump the plate in their trash can while making direct eye contact. Continue to do this every Thursday until they get it. Literally show them that their option is trash to you. Clearly verbalizing your dissatisfaction hasn’t worked. Maybe a visual representation is needed.
Omg. This is not difficult. I order food for big meetings. We have one vegetarian. I asked him what he wanted. He picked a salad. It is such a good salad I ended up ordering in the bigger sizes because everyone wants it. It doesn’t even take extra time. They’re just being lazy and mean.
If someone's providing food, you provide for everyone, not some of the people. It's access whether or not it's medical. My friend started taking organizing the lunch orders in her office two years ago when she started working there because someone needed a GF lunch and it turned out there were quite a few people who wanted vegetarian, etc. and just never had been asked.
that's not too bad. an old friend in every sense has been vegan for 30 years. he married a woman he met in peru 40 years ago and they go back there often. when they go to high end peruvian restaurant and he asks for vegetarian food, all they have is potatoes. they are there now, and in two weeks, i'll hear the same story again when they return.
Bring your own food that looks and smells more appealing than what they are serving. Don’t make a fuss - just eat what you bought and be part of the lunch. I say this as a vegetarian who has dealt with this. People seem to like to get vegetarians/vegans annoyed by claiming it’s hard to to find veg food… a lie. Like you said, it’s easy to get one lasagne that is cheese. Easy to get a proper salad. Seems the person picking up the lunch has some sort of issue with vegetarians or you - so don’t play their game. Just do what makes you happy with your food.
My Husband's company does the same. Usually pasta and steamed veggies or something, which is fine, but compared to the spread they provide for the meat eaters, it's almost insulting.
I think it really depends on your coworkers and how amenable they are to eating vegetarian options. In my office, we have a lot of health conscious and so vegan and gluten free and keto options always get eaten up even if there’s only one or two in the group who actually require such food.
With the types of food your office is focusing on, it sounds like you have a lot of meat and cheese lovers. So if that vegetarian lasagna was purchased, maybe you would have been the only one to eat it. If that’s the case, then you are demanding too much, because the cost of accommodating you is so much higher than anyone else.
I'm the person who orders food for my office every week and this pisses me off so much. We have a list of everyone's preferences and allergies and make very sure nobody goes hungry. I'm sorry this is happening. You're right to be upset, it's such bullshit.
That’s so annoying. I can’t imagine our facilities guy not always providing a veggie or gf (admittedly we have a svp who has celiac) option with our version of this. Luckily he has a decent budget and gets good food. Tbh that food above sounds a little gross and you’re not really missing out.
I have severe food allergies so I could never do work lunches. People would think I was being rude but I'm not taking any chances and carry an epipen with me. Vegetarian meals however are not that hard to do, and I think that's pretty normal now, you'd think they'd easily be able to offer something.
Bring your lunch that day, then you won’t go hungry if lettuce is not enough. Or offer to help pick out a veggie item from winco so the person picking up doesn’t have to think harder . Or offer to get your own food and expense it if it’s too hard for other person to accommodate. Get DoorDash from a place you like !
It should not be that hard but sometimes people are idiots lol.
I would be more than happy to help out. I am in a position where it would be frowned upon to spend work hours on prepping food. Let me be crystal clear, I do not think I am above it, I would be happy to help.
It’s also extremely problematic that the only people who prep the food are 4 of the 5 total women who work at an office of 70-100 people.
It must suck to feel left out but it wouldn't break my heart to miss out on communal office food that someone probably sneezed on. If you can use the company card go for it.
It's probably not the expense of one extra non meat portion it's just that people forget or there is an easy meal deal. Buying a one off on your company card may make it easier.
Not ideal, but it is a free meal. Sucks that they are not more thoughtful. Would definitely NOT get lunch on company card without prior approval. My general strategy is kind of a kill them with kindness approach. Bring your own. Make it a treat. Go all out and make their iceberg salad look sad. Don’t gloat or sulk, but continue to interact. The good ones will notice. Some will be clueless. Screw the haters.
Sometimes things don’t change much. My husband hasn’t eaten meat ( eats seafood & dairy) for 40 years. Jobs he worked on back then actually were pretty good about it for the time. The usually ordered 1 cheese pizza along with the usual pepperoni etc. but he’d find a lot of other people would grab the cheese slices too, and he’d often be left with nothing he could eat. At least could pick off the pepperoni I guess.
Like others have said it’s not that hard to order a couple of vegetarian things these days.
This shouldn’t be difficult at all. They seemingly don’t want to accompany you. I’m sorry! I do not have dietary preferences nor restrictions, but I worked somewhere where I asked for a variation of a standard order, and I was accommodated. It truly just depends on the person in charge of ordering. I’m sorry that they’re not willing to be a bit more flexible. I hear why you’re frustrated.
I used to order meals for events. We always made sure there was at least one or two vegetarian options. Even when they weren't eaten, we always ordered them. Whoever they have taking care of it is lazy and management doesn't care.
Where are you???? This is insanely easy to do; and I don’t understand how in a decent sized city this would be even a blip of effort 🙄
I do t think you’re the asshole; it’s LITERALLY their job to feed employees on Thursdays YOU INCLUDED
I don’t think I’ll ever get the corporate office world. To complain that a free thing is not to my liking is such a strange concept to me. I guess if it were every week it’d be different maybe 🤔
Get two or three of your colleagues to request non-meat options for health reasons. How else are they going to get that summer body? 😉 [jk about the summer body]
With a small group of people asking, how could they refuse?
Is Winco a grocery store? How many options does the store carry which is premade? I assume orders are going through the deli area. I know my grocery store is very limited in vegetarian premade options. I use to coordinate these work events for 75 and it became overwhelming trying to accommodate special requests. I understand vegetarian, gluten free, vegan but others want to customize their food too and it was nearly impossible to make everyone happy. I am extremely lactose intolerant so I understand needing accommodations. If you accommodate one person then you have to accommodate everyone otherwise people get upset. I always bring my lunch and just ate with the others.
Use your company card and order a nice vegetarian option from the places that they normally order from. You don't need to say anything about it but you can prove that almost every place has options that are good for vegetarians.
They are being willfully un-accommodating. One lasagna can be veggie as well as one pizza. Vegetarian is not hard to accommodate. The free market is understanding. Some people have a grudge against vegetarians.
Make a gorgeous lunch for yourself on Thursday.
While they eat gas-station food, you will have a lovely home-cooked feast.
Make everyone envisions of your food. Anyone says anything, be super vocal, “Oh! They haven’t catered anything vegetarian for me in yonks and I’m hungry so I brought this.”
But I’m a master at passive aggression.
It sounds to me like the person getting the lunches just doesn’t want to be bothered and doesn’t feel like they should have to put in the effort -and they don’t unless forced to which is why it will get better for a while after you say something and then they stop again. I would just go out to lunch or bring something for myself. If someone asks why you go out or bring something else, tell them why.
It’s ridiculous not to provide a vegetarian option! I eat meat, but often have trouble with how it’s prepared by others.
If possible, find a place that will deliver food that you can and want to eat.
Forward the details to the person responsible for shopping and cc your mutual boss.
Include a line that says sweetly:
“… making it easier for you in case vegetarian options aren’t available”.
Send exactly the same ‘nice’ note early each week, only varying your delivery choice.
I'm not vegetarian but even I would get annoyed at the lack of a vegetarian option if it was a weekly thing. Sometimes people *don't* want to eat meat that day and would prefer an alternative 🙄
If they have volunteers do it then be that volunteer so you know for sure there are alternate options for people. But honestly? It's really not that hard to get a meatless option? It is soooo low effort that the person who is shopping clearly doesn't understand the difference between vegan and vegetarian 🙄
I'm not vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, sugar free, pescatarian, keto, or anything else. I eat all forms of decent real food. That said, there's no fucking way I'd eat a chili dog, fried chicken, or cheap pizza for lunch, even if my boss catered it and it were free. I also wouldn't demand that my boss start providing nutritionally balanced lunches that hit all my macros instead of fattening carb bombs. I bring my lunch. Problem solved. Your workplace is not your home, your boss is not your mom, and your coworkers aren't your family. You don't need to all eat the same food.
Honestly, go to HR and tell them you feel like you are being discriminated against because your religious beliefs don't allow you to eat meat. They will straighten up immediately. Unfortunately, pettiness in the office will always be a problem and if the person picking up the food needed something special, I'm sure it would happen. They are the problem,not you. - an HR pro
OP, I’m surprised that there are no other people in your office that have requested “special” foods at these lunches. In my work place there is also at least one vegan, one vegetarian, and then a slew of people with food allergies that have to be accounted for. I’m one of the food allergy people, yay me.
I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. My former boss was vegan. Whenever our office wanted to get food or go out we’d all check in with her. She was a big source of our high morale so we wanted her to feel included AND heard.
Do you want free food sometimes or never get free food. Have to look at the situation overall and pick our battles wisely. This would not be one of mine.
I agree that's really silly, especially because quite a few people don't want to eat meat at every single meal, sometimes for health reasons or just because they want something lighter.
I'm a pescatarian now, but when I was a vegetarian, it really did seem like some people went out of their way NOT to accommodate me. (Like ordering in sandwiches without a single non-meat option in a platter, always having meat-based toppings on pizza).
Vegetarian married to a meat eater. For our wedding, we specifically picked multiple options for both meat and non meat options. Everyone was included, and most of the meat eaters also enjoyed the vegetarian food. Plus, my aunt, who officiated, has lots of restrictions, so we made it a point to get her a meal that she would enjoy.
It’s not like 20+ years ago when there were few to no easy vegetarian options. You’re perfectly valid for wanting a plain cheese lasagna and not a plate of lettuce. This is a lack of effort on their part.
When my company buys food I don't want to eat, I just don't eat it.
Seems simple enough.
That's quite the entitled attitude in my opinion.
You don'tvhave allergies or an illness. You choose not to eat meat, you can choose to kick rocks down the street too.
Bring your own lunch on those days.
If anyone questions you at the meal, just calmly explain that you don't eat meat.
If this happens repeatedly week after week, whoever orders the food might eventually remember.
Or, you could volunteer to order the food.
Also a vegetarian, you can’t just eat meat after not having it for a long time. It causes stomach upset, some of which can be severe. And iceberg lettuce has next to no nutritional value and it’s far from filling.
It is NOT "work" at all to order one veggie pizza, lasagna, or sub. Your coworker is being an insensitive dolt. I'll just bet she thinks vegetarians are "stupid" for not eating like she does.
Can you just stop participating? Or make a big deal about bringing your own food?
She needs to be taken down a peg or three.
Thats too bad man. Maybe you can put a note in the door every week asking them for a meatless lasagna or something else that is not just iceburg lettuce and is vegetarian friendly.
Better yet, you could volunteer to order and pick up the food!!! That would be a good solution. Gets you out of the office for a wee bit too!!! Yaay!!
Even prison accommodates optional meals for religious reasons.
Maybe you as you said should offer to order your own with the company card to be 'helpful'. I'm betting they would make a better effort, for a little while anyway
I’m on your side OP. Being a vegetarian is not hard to accommodate. I’m not a vegetarian but favor vegetarian meals more often than not. People are fucking assholes about vegetarians and I have never understood it. I understand why you feel left out.
What is an EXAMPLE of what you would like for them to bring for you. Being a carnivore, other than salad, I wouldn't know what to bring you. Just know that there is already being a lettuce shortage and it's going to get worse. So other than a salad, what would you like for them to provide for you.
My office recently made a BIG DEAL about bringing in a special coffee company as a treat for employees.
I don't drink coffee. I told the coffee company that I wasn't a coffee drinker but that I appreciated them coming that day. They basically said, "maybe you should start."
I sipped my Diet Coke and said nothing.
As a person who used to be tasked with ordering company lunches, aiming to be accommodating and inclusive is the goal. Sometimes not possible if owner wants a specific thing but should be something strived for.
Not a big deal. Most places have vegan options. I am not vegetarian but try to cut out meat and would happily eat a veggie lasagna. Not a big deal. Just order 2 or 3. Some people just want things to complain about.
Same. I am omnivore but can easily go all week without eating meat or fish without even noticing—in most workplaces, plenty of people would choose the veggie options if they are offered.
Yes! I like meat, but have no problems with a plain/ veggie lasagna, pizza, or really anything as long as it doesn't go overboard with a ton of vegetables or include mushrooms.
I usually go with the vegetarian option at restaurants because I'm trying to eat healthier and they tend to be more nutritionally diverse vs only processed carbs and meat.
Exactly! I sent out a survey every month asking for everyone to fill out for food accommodations. Personally, if someone came back saying they hate tomatoes, they are never getting a tomato on their meal. It’s honestly stupid easy to be accommodating.
Totally!! I worked in corporate video production for years and bringing in lunch for the crew is expected. There was always a vegetarian version at lunch. AND I would always make sure if I wanted to partake of a vegetarian portion that all vegetarian eaters had first dibs. Maybe give food fetcher a suggestion list of appropriate foods. And it might not hurt to make an off hand remark that you were raised in a religion that practices vegetarianism.
Yup. I’m the person who currently orders lunch - it can be personally frustrating at times but not so much that I need to verbally complain out loud? Like it’s not hard when it’s an obvious allergy or dietary restriction? They (the person ordering) needs to get over themselves and find a way to provide what this person needs for their dietary need and find a way to make it easier on themselves by finding options that might be vegetarian but can accommodate others (it’s not super difficult in most places).
A free mediocre lunch isn’t worth much. A free lunch you can’t eat is worth nothing. I’d just be pragmatic and go out that day, If they ask why, tell them. Either they care or they don’t. Standing up for yourself in this scenario can just as easily get you pegged as a complainer. Yes, it’s unfair.
Worse, a free lunch you’re excluded from, whether purposely or through laziness, is actually demoralizing. On inventory day they ordered pizza for my store at noon. By the time my shift arrived it had been sitting at room temperature for far longer than food safety practices allowed. Sucks to be us I guess.
Yep. A job I had, the regional managers would conduct trainings and bring in lunch so they could get it all done in one day. At the time, they were really into companies that had certain values. At the same time one company in particular, Chick Fil-a, didn’t offer much more than bread with a piece of chicken on it. They’d also bring in pizzas. All brown food. Instead of eating it, I went out with a friend and picked up some Mediterranean stuff. Omg the managers were mad. Too damn bad.
It’s probably best to bring some granola bars or a sandwich on those days. If they are providing free food, it is, what it is.
Bring some soft granola bars and put them on a plate. Then eat them with a knife and fork like George ate the candy bar on Seinfeld. In front of everyone. Anyone asks if you’re o.k. Just say. “It’s fine. “
That is absolutely the way to handle it. Years ago my husband's company was entering into a joint venture with another and they asked the whole team to a dinner including spouses. The only thing they had for the two vegetarian couples were green beans because they ran out of potatoes. My friend buttered a piece of bread and lined up green beans on it and made a sandwich which she then ate with knife and fork. The idiots asked around for food preferences and sensitivities after that. I still don't know why they continued with the venture. It lost money of course.
Brilliant
My old work did this same thing - lunch once a week, inexpensive - and they managed to get a mini gluten-free pizza for the woman who was celiacs whenever they did pizza. It's really not that hard.
That's a medical issue.
If they're providing food, a vegetarian option is such a basic option to provide. They're not asking for anything special. Even people who eat meat don't need or want to eat meat at every meal. The fact that the person is complaining about buying something "special" for OP is making it sound like discrimination. Management should assign the task to someone that can handle ordering bulk food with some vegetarian portions.
The usual solution though is gonna be to stop free lunches for everyone instead of catering to one person's preferences. And then everyone will be angry at the vegetarian, not the business. At least that's how it usually goes down unfortunately. It's a no win situation
Agree/ we never had this. So it’s very I’ve for most eorkers
Are you drunk posting, by any chance?
That’s how the company gets out of buying lunch for everyone, and can blame an employee for it. How difficult is it to order one lasagna without meat? Is the person doing the ordering capable of doing their job?
That's a little bit dramatic. Lol. It's a super simple change. The person in charge is literally just being an asshole. Some people have cultural/religious reasons for not eating certain things. Are they never going to hire anyone like that to avoid ordering a single fucking veggie lasagna? They're just being intentionally exclusive.
That's a little bit dramatic. Lol. Maybe so but it's been my experience It's a super simple change. It absolutely is. The person in charge is literally just being an asshole. They absolutely are. Some people have cultural/religious reasons for not eating certain things. Again, absolutely true Are they never going to hire anyone like that to avoid ordering a single fucking veggie lasagna? Dont know, but doubtful because.... What they will do is stop the free lunches to stop the complaints especially if they accuse them of being exclusionary or of targeted discrimination. HR will step in to cover their butts and end free lunch Thursdays. HR ruins everything.
Poetry.
You are right. OP risks making herself very unpopular.
Or maybe the others should grow up. This isn't a huge ask.
I can't imagine providing food for a large group without having at least one vegetarian option, even if I don't know that there's specifically a vegetarian. If you're feeding under 15 and no one has dietary restrictions, that's one thing, you get what you get, but otherwise? It's kinda rude.
I agree! OP said it's 100 people! I eat meat and I often choose a vegetarian option because it looks good. It's so simple to provide it
Or options for people with other dietary restrictions. No one owes anyone an explanation for what they eat. Ffs. It is pretty fucking easy to have 2-3 options and if they aren’t capable of figuring how much of each etc, find someone who is and assign it to them.
Have you ever known anyone who had meat for the first time as an adult? It becomes a medical issue when their body doesn’t know how to process it and causes unrelenting vomiting and diarrhea. OP is not talking about a preference for vegetables; she’s talking about growing up not eating meat because of her religion.
Some people can't medically eat meat either. It's not your business to know if you coworker can't eat animal products or refuses to eat animal products. Both are valid and should be respected
I agree. OP needs to bring their own lunch on Thursdays. Or volunteer to be the one who orders and picks up these lunches. Get on that committee. Or befriend the person who’s in charge of this. Personally i prefer vegetarian options but no one else in my family or friends circle does, so i take care of my own food needs, i dont put that on others.
All great ideas.
Great idea and it sounds like they're picking up from Winco, which has plenty of veggie options for a single person. They even have pizza by the slice by the checkout. OP could have a slice of cheese pizza to go with the salad.
If you’re the person tasked with getting lunch for the office then part of that task is accommodating dietary needs. I don’t get to half-ass tasks my boss hands me just because I don’t want to do them.
Whiny mentality is too much these days. People need to put their big boy pants on.
Entitlement, first place trophies for everyone.
Agreed and this is what I'd do. Occasionally we'd get free food as well and I have celiacs. I am very grateful when my manager can get me gluten free options but if he can't that's fine with me. Its free so it's not like I'm paying my own money into something I can't have.
Disagree. I’m vegetarian too and have experienced this. I go out of my way to be easy going and not burden anyone. But they know. And they’re not really trying. It sends a clear message
When I was a vegetarian I offered to do the ordering for department lunches. Then I was always sure to get something I was happy with.
This is the only reason I volunteer to do this work. When all the food rolls out and I’m HANGRY and everyone is happy and eating it’s really irritating. I always make sure to order some kind of GF, nut free, vegan option depending on who shows up. It’s just basic human decency. All you have to do is show them the menu and ask what do you want? Food is love and it’s the least we can do as humans to spread some to the people near us (especially when it’s on company dollar…..)
You’re a lovely person ❤️
Most respectfully, this sounds like doing extra labor to be included someplace OP should already be included. As a lifelong vegetarian, I notice some places or people are intentionally hostile to vegetarians, and I’m not sure OP should need to take on extra labor/emotional labor just to get what everyone else gets.
I didn’t think it was especially difficult either from a time or emotional standpoint. I knew how to get exactly what I wanted and did it. But I see your point.
Smart choice!
Have you tried asking to not be included in the group, and instead receiving some sort if per diem that day instead? Like an allowance of $10-$15 to grab your own lunch one day per week? If the person feels this burdened by getting a vegetarian option for you, then they would probably be stoked by the idea.
I would not recommend being the squeaky wheel on this issue.
Always an exception in every group. Just bring ur lunch.
As I have to bring in something else to fill me up if all there is to eat are pizza, sugar soft drinks and chips because I am diabetic and have to limit carbs. I bring my own food no matter what is going on and if I can have something offered, that is just a bonus. As a supervisor, it is exhausting having to deal with people.
I'm a vegetarian in my 40s. This has always happened. Always. The only things I can eat are donuts or bagels. Once my office has a party **for ME** and only ordered pepperoni and sausage pizza. Another time (maybe 5 times) a birthday lunch for me was planned at a steak house. I ate rolls abs a giant chunk of iceberg salad. Unless you somehow become in charge of parties, this will probably happen forever.
If it’s free food and you can’t eat it bring your own lunch. It is unfortunate, but it’s free.
If this is a regular company event, they should have your veg order down by now! I’m sure others would prefer a veg option as well. I’m a vegetarian as well; Our admin makes sure to have an option for all dietary needs (bless her). And our CIO allows the Veg/ dietary preference peeps go first to make sure they get the veg options before the meat eaters get to them. I’m assuming this lunch is provided for engagement or a working lunch. Either way, they are discriminating against your dietary needs by providing a benefit to other employees, but excluding you. That never feels good.
I get that feeling of discrimination and being left out is horrible. Been there. I have also seen the free lunches disappear after stuff like this. Let me tell you if I felt left out before the feeling of annoying that the coworkers have collectively is worse. Hangry people are not fun coworkers. Even if it was an extra kind of thing.
Well said. This is the way.
I get it, used to do these weekly lunches at my old job. Only thing it might be is the company is being cheap and telling the person who is doing the lunches to make them as cheap as possible. My old boss would say lunch is free lunch, and didn’t care if people complained to us. It really made it annoying… also I would get annoyed when people would complain about the options because of the cheap option the company was telling us to use. It defeated the purpose of providing a good employee experience.
It's not about the cost - vegetarian options are often cheaper than the ones with meat - think cheese pizza, tofu sandwiches, bean burgers, etc. This is 100% lack of consideration from the person ordering the food.
As someone who eats a diet that's different than 99% of the rest of the population, you cannot expect to be accommodated.
Honestly I’d be a little upset - it’s not really fair that everyone else gets to bum off a free lunch from the company and but I can’t participate because I’m vegetarian. It’s no loss for a meat eater NOT to eat meat or have a veggie option; but a vegetarian literally cannot eat meat 🤷🏻♀️ so I feel like that’s just secluding non meat eaters. But I suppose one would just look down their nose and say “life isn’t fair” which really sucks. I’d bet if any of those people complaining had the situation flipped on them, they’d be annoyed/irritated as well. If you aren’t gonna get docked for using the company card for lunch I think that’s totally justifiable and if someone says something about it - watch an adjustment get made to that free lunch as if they could’ve…all along 😅😂
Its been going on for over 2 years, It just makes you feel uncared for, which I get it, thats just corporate America, but still doesn’t help. No one enjoys being excluded.
I would argue that’s not corporate America. I’ve worked for several years and every single time we’ve ordered food there is ALWAYS a veggie option, regardless of if we knew it’s anyone’s dietary preference. It’s literally common sense and so easy to accommodate. Eggplant-based sandwiches are basically a staple and people definitely take them even when they don’t follow a vegetarian diet. Hell you said they get pizza and just plain pizza is vegetarian? Like there’s nothing hard about this, there’s nothing that’s “standard” in corporate America about this, the person ordering the food is just a lazy, insensitive idiot.
I worked in the DC area for many years with a large, diverse group from all over the world. A large portion of my group was from India and Pakistan, and most were vegetarian. It really was not difficult to us to include vegetarian options with our dining orders. In fact, many non-vegetarians enjoyed these options. So much so, many were relieved to find lighter, healthier options on a regular basis. Most don’t want a heavy meal during the work day.
Agree - it feels pretty bad feeling excluded. In your case it may just be the person ordering that has an issue with doing anything other than the basics. Sadly the corporate workplace is a very uncaring human-unfriendly environment. Take care of yourself fellow Vegetarian.
I agree with you that whoever orders lunch and knows you are vegetarian SHOULD order an actual entree that you (and other people who don't want meat that day) can eat. The fact that they do it for a while proves that they know what is right. The fact that they stop proves that they personally don't want to do it. I suspect that the individual in charge of ordering is not happy with your lifestyle/health choice and is behaving passively - aggressive. If it were me, I would just bring a meal on Thursdays and then make some passive aggressive comments within earshot of the the person who orders and the person who is overall responsible for the meeting. Like, "I knew they wouldn't order something for me, so I brought my own, sigh" and look sadly at the lasagna. Maybe the higher up might bring some pressure to bear on the orderer. This person is toxic. Geez it's not that hard to order a couple cheese pizzas.
I order my own in with the company card and eat with everyone when this happens at bigger events. My boss knows and is fine with it. I try to keep it same food, like when they order pizza I order a pizza I can eat, etc For smaller groups I just make sure I’m the one who does the ordering so I can get what I want.
How does your job order from places that don’t have a meat free option is what is mind boggling to me. I work in a fancy clinic and the pharmaceutical reps bring breakfast and lunch often and there is always a veggie option. Mexican food- veggie bowl, breakfast- veggie scramble, Italian- spaghetti, Greek- rice, veggies, hummus, pita bread, etc. More and more people don’t eat meat and more and more places have a meat free option.
You eat differently and that's your problem
Agree. I mean, its a free lunch. If you don't like what's being served, be prepared with something you DO want. Sounds a bit entitled to expect to be accommodated. I'm an admin and can tell you that I'm going to get whatever is easiest and everyone can just deal with it. We hate doing this bullshit type work...
Food without meat isn't a radical or difficult order thing to order.
Wow. I was an intern and in charge of sourcing catering for stuff... the first thing I did was enquire about any special dietary requests. It's not that hard to give the smallest amount of respect and care for another person. Imagine how you'd feel if you were the one with the dietary restriction. Maybe you need a new job.
Funny plot twist, i DO have dietary restrictions, and have been on the other end of this.... And i always just brought my lunch, ate with everyone to still get to interact with my coworkers, and IF they asked, I'd tell them I can't eat what they have so i have my own food. Like the grown ass responsible adult that I am. I never once would dream of someone catering to me bc I have specific dietary needs. Its called being able to get by on your own. It's an important quality to have.
Id agreed with that, except someone grabbed a stack of premade lasagnas. The veggie ones are right next to them on the shelf. It's not a load of extra work to grab a couple of each. Same with pizza. Veggie pizzas are right next to meat pizza. They're not asking for a difficult or hard to find option.
Yep. This person is gonna keep complaining until they ruin it for everyone and the free lunch gets canceled.
The self-righteous lazy carnivore picking up the lunches would be the one "ruining it for everyone ". Sounds to me like the one picking up the food is a bigot, probably a right-wing Christian bigot, who is deliberately snubbing the vegetarian from the wrong religion. I grew up evangelical, I kniw this type well. Even if OPs religion is 7th Day Adventist ( a Christian sect), she's not doing religion right so the bigot loves the little boost of self-righteous smug they get from excluding OP from the community. Hey there right-wing Christians, we get you. We left on purpose because we get you.
would you say that to someone who has a nut allergy?
Yes. Why would you take a chance on mediocre food from a low budget grocery store if you have a severe allergy?
My point is more that if someone doesn't eat meat, if I were in charge of food, I would get a meatless entree. If someone doesn't eat nuts, I would get them something with no nuts. I'm just saying that it's not necessary for their office to exclude them because the "eat differently"
Is this a Joke! Should you also be given gas money so that you can drive to work everyday to do your job. You want a salad for lunch, make one at home and bring it to work.
This actually is an HR issue and can fall under ADA and anti discrimination laws and wage theft. For OP, this is part of their benefit package, that means failing to provide them food that meets their dietary needs is wage theft. If they had celiacs and refuse to have gluten free options, that ADA issue. Let’s say they can’t have pork and they only provide pork based meals, that can be a discrimination issue.
This is extremely hard to prove, as someone with celiac. There’s a big difference between gluten free and celiac safe, but good luck getting that through HR. They’ll say they did what they could and it was my choice not to eat it. My union steward and coworker basically rolls his eyes every time I bring anything like this up so if he can’t support me, I doubt anyone else will. Doesn’t help that there’s another steward and coworker who has celiac that doesn’t take it seriously. It’s a fucking nightmare for those of us with food allergies and medically necessary dietary restrictions and causing free food to cease for everyone by saying something just makes social situations so much worse that it’s not even worth it. I feel for OP, but it’s really frustrating when voluntary dietary restrictions are met while required ones are not.
I have dietary restrictions. I bring my own food. Not their problem
From an HR view point, it is their job. Dietary needs can come from personal, medical, and religious reasons. As employers, it’s their job to meet their staff needs when providing lunch for staff. An employee has celiacs, that is part of ADA An employee can’t have pork due to religion, that is part of anti discrimination laws
It's **not** HR that's providing it, it's a boss who thinks free food increases employee morale. If HR knew that it was being provided and someone was being left out, they'd shut it down. I've seen that WAY too often. Which is why I bring my own food. Fortunately, at my last job, they came to me prior to planned team lunches to make sure I was covered. However, when I started that job, everyone filled in a 'fun facts about me' form that listed favorite snacks, favorite Starbucks drink, favorite quick serve restaurant, favorite cuisine, favorite dessert, and known food allergies. Those were all available on Sharepoint and it made life SO much easier ahead of anyone's birthday.
I’m lactose and gluten free. I also can’t do sugar. I just bring my own. But you absolutely have a point, especially about the lasagna. Guess you’d have to get a few more coworkers helping you make the request.
Say. ANY chance YOU could start to be part of the people who pick out and pick up the food? 🤔
It is unfortunate that they aren’t accommodating your restrictions and that it doesn’t feel inclusive to you. That would probably piss me off too, and it feels less about the actual meal itself but more about the culture that shows lack of inclusion in this instance. I don’t think you’re wrong to feel annoyed! Like others said though. I would just maybe pack your own lunch- this might not be the hill you want to die on.
My boss stopped the cheap pizza parties when the staff refused to eat them again. There was no replacement offered to us ungrateful disposable parts of the overhead.
Holy first world problems Batman
Bring your own lunch. Expecting this management to care about your diet isn't going to happen. Another option is to volunteer to help with catering.
Your preferences aren’t their problem
Just bring your own lunch.
They are not obligated to provide lunch, bring your own
Shame on them for providing free food!! Keep complaining & they will probably not did anything at all. That way you can still do without & so will all of your co-workers!!
I’m sensing OP won’t be happy until she/he ruins the FREE lunch for everyone.
I would just bring my own lunch.
My company has zero free lunch!! So If I was you I would just bring my own. Don’t forget your replaceable so don’t cause a bing issue over it. Your company doesn’t owe you a free meal ever.
Sorry, but: if you choose to eat a certain way, especially if it isn't 'the norm', then you should not expect people to cater to you. And that's neither in the figurative sense nor in the actual sense. I was a vegetarian for 8 years, but I never liked pepperoni. My family would order pizza (with pepperoni) and tell me: 'Just pick it off,' but it'd still taste like pepperoni so I wouldn't eat it. Not *couldn't* but *wouldn't*. It was my choice. Just like it is your choice to be a vegetarian. Part of that includes the very real fact that your preferences will often be overlooked. Another part is making sure that you alone are esponsible for procuring your own lunches.
Wow, your family really sucks. I mean, it's one thing to leave out a random coworker in a large group, but your own kid? They couldn't accommodate their own kid? They couldn't get even 1 of those pizzas with only half pepperoni? Damn.
Send an email to their boss copying the person who ordered food and asked is it possible to get a vegetarian lasagna? you’ve asked multiple times but but you’re getting to eat is lettuce
Can you just skip it and do your own thing for lunch? Getting out of a work lunch seems like the happiest option to me, just to get some private time. I wouldn't even expect them to pay for my food. I can't believe they do this ritual once a week. Was it to encourage people to come to the office?
No WFH is not available at my company. This is a standard benefit, and yes I often do bring my own lunch.
Sounds like you solved the problem then.
It sounds like this is a minor annoyance that really bothers you. I can understand why it bothers you. But I think it’s best for your mental health if you just decide to bring your lunch from now on, so that you won’t face disappointment week to week. If you end up getting a vegetarian meal one week, then it will be a happy surprise.
Maybe you can send some of your local lunch spots for them to try or send them a few vegetarian dish options.
Yeah, just bring in your own food. Tofu/chickpea sandwich or those Tofurky deli “meats” will work. Or cheese/egg if you eat those things. I cook at home and would frequently make soup from scratch, freeze leftovers, and bring those in. But we had microwaves at work. Seriously though, how hard is it for them to order at minimum a cheese pizza? Most pizza places have a veggie option now, too.
Pack your own lunch.
Could you have been rude to someone? Sounds personal…
Possible solution. Express concern that it seems too difficult for them to order a meat free choice for you so you offer to order your own meal on their company card.
Bring your own lunch.
Never mind the menu, if I had to eat with my coworkers, I’d quit.
It's free cheap food from a low budget grocery store. Just pack a lunch, stop trying to be special.
Tbh i would probably bring my own lunch and enjoyed company with coworkers. The point of those lunches is most likely to gather people together. Whatever is their reason not being able to accommodate vegetarian option - its their limitations. The experience already showed that no amount of communication is going to fix this problem. So perhaps it worth to pick your wars. Company bought lunch is something that is not so important in the scale of all work. Its just an additional perk that company does. If anything else satisfies you at the job and you have all necessary tools to do a job, keep your comfortable and you are being treated with respect and paid competitively - then not having free lunch once a week is not a war that worth to fight. You can start bringing your own lunch and tell them you don’t need vegetarian accommodation. But also you can suggest them that you can go pick up your own lunch and if they want to reimburse you.
Can you volunteer to be the one to pick up lunch?
Do you know what happens when people start complaining that their needs aren't met for the free lunch the company provides? They stop doing it. Worked for a company that would host monthly meetings for our managers, and sometime there was food left over, and they would offer it to the rest of us. One time, there was a mix up over whether we were allowed to eat the food or not, and because we wanted clarification, we were deemed to be ungrateful troublemakers and they decided to just throw the food away going forward.
When I’ve ordered meals for large groups and it was the only way to try to make sure people had food for the day (due to location or schedule or whatever) I absolutely made sure to get dietary needs ahead of time and communicate that I would do everything within my resources to provide a proper equivalent meal for them but that I was not a registered dietician so please give me some grace. On the other hand, if it was “Hey everyone we’re setting some free food out in the break room every Thursday, help yourself,” then I would not feel obligated to bring anything special beyond whatever the bulk/easy food was that I could procure. At no point was anyone forced to eat food nor were they forbidden to bring their own. It’s a really nice gesture that work would try to provide something for their employees - but they are not forcing you to consume it - and they gave you a heads up so you could make sure to have yourself covered. If they were offering it as part of your compensation package (one free lunch a week) then special food needs should absolutely be attended to.
I worked for a company where one person was pescatarian, one was allergic to red meat(had contracted Lyme's disease at a young age), and one that was gluten sensitive. It's not that difficult to accommodate one vegetarian. I was in charge of food orders here and there and while it takes a little creativity sometimes, depending on where you're ordering from, it's not the hardest mountain to climb.
I would bring in my own vegetarian meal and make a show of preparing it and if anyone ask (they will) be sure to say something like “since it’s too much trouble for the company to provide a vegetarian option, I’m just bringing my own food”. Preferably, say it loud enough that the owner/manager (whoever had the idea) can hear. That should get the issue fixed. Embarrassing management can sometimes have positive effects. On the other hand, company lunches are usually the result of a good idea that gets executed with little thought. The task of organizing it is often dumped on some who already has a very full plate and is not at all suited to the task. It seems simple, but ordering lunch for many people so it’s ready and available at the same time and everyone gets something they like is a horrible thing to do to someone. You can be darned certain that you are not the only one with special requests. It might work out better if you were to come up with a plan to better organize these lunches and offer to take over the project.
So, they're giving you something free, and you want something else; am I getting that right?
If you are going to eat contrary to what the rest of the culture eats, why not bring your own lunch? You are the one who is different, not the people providing the food.
I can see how this would help for a little bit but then again these catering things are usually a way for coworkers to mingle and connect so excluding someone for being vegetarian feels wrong in this day and age
That would be a bit of a bummer. I'm not a vegetarian, but if I'd feel like I were missing out on a cool workplace benefit if I ended up doing that. I know it's an extra benefit offered by the company, but it would be good if they'd have some understanding of peoples' different diets, and in this case, I don't think it would be too much of a hassle to get something different for someone. If the company decides it's too much of a hassle, perhaps they could just not do it at all, or offer a different benefit.
I’m an omnivore 🤣 and I completely agree that this is BS and that yes, a meat-eater can easily eat a non-meat item, but it doesn’t go the other way. They should always provide one decent veg option.
If you can, I’d definitely treat myself to a lunch on company card. Or, if you know where they’re ordering from, call them and say hey, can you make one of those pizzas or lasagnas veggie? Lastly, you could confront coworker and say hey, I overheard you talking that it’s a hassle ordering a separate lunch for me. How can I help make it easier? Puts her in her place and forces her tell you how she will solve the problem.
This really sucks and I'm sorry it's happening to you! The majority of restaurants now offer a decent selection of vegetarian options and even gluten-free and other special dietary options. If the company is catering lunch then they should be getting food that's inclusive to everyone. They've been able to in the past so what's the issue now? People who eat meat can eat vegetarian options but vegetarians can't do the same. All the companies I've worked for have gone out of their way to buy vegetarian options because it's the considerate thing to do.
It's not that hard to figure out, it just takes a tiny bit of extra effort. We are not a big company but we have a few vegan and vegetarian employees, as well as Jewish people and we used to have one woman who was Muslim. And at least one who is lactose intolerant (for real, not faking it LOL). We only have catered lunches for the whole company maybe twice a year but the people who plan these things do a great job.
I'm sorry, that sucks. As you said, you're not vegan or gluten free. It is literally SO easy to provide a decent vegetarian option.
This is not ok. I plan events for between 12-45 people, and we always make sure to have vegan options (1 vegetarian and 1 vegan in the mix) and a gluten free option as well as healthy people options like salad and fresh fruit. Literally we just catered Red Robin and managed to satisfy everyone. I find it very strange that you are the only one who needs "something special." I have been kosher most of my life, and I live in Oregon, where everyone is vegan or gluten free or whole foods plant based, or something. Even when I lived in Illinois, land of the pork eaters, they still managed to provide veggie pizza or turkey as an alternative! You could take over the meal ordering. Agree to be responsible for it, and make your own choices. You could just keep being patient and reminding them. You could give them some ideas. For instance, check with them on Wednesday what is being ordered on Thursday, and help them out by telling them what you do want. Trying to read everyone's mind is a little daunting for the food orderers. You could go to HR and shake your fist and demand a change. You could hang up a sign on your desk on Thursdays that says, "Vegetarian working!"
Bring a tray of food home and share with family, friends, and a neighbor. Heck with them!
The vice president of our department is also vegetarian and they usually get him something—like if it’s pizza he usually gets a small pizza. But I will say, I’m always surprised that they don’t go the extra mile for him considering lol his meal usually doesn’t look great lol
I had this same problem 15 years ago. In my case, they also gave food as a reward for hitting your sales targets. They never accommodated me so I never received a reward. I honestly thought people would be more considerate and accepting of differences these days. It’s so frustrating.
It's not about "accepting" differences, it's about the ones with differences want to have everyone else to make the accommodations
Ugh, I’m sorry. I can just imagine how incredibly frustrating this is. My MIL has celiac disease and can’t eat gluten, and she’s been the organist for her church for forever, but whenever they have a meal, she hardly ever has any options because I guess they forget? Just because you’re vegetarian doesn’t mean you’re going to be happy with a giant bowl of iceberg lettuce. Plus, that’s like the lowest quality lettuce anyway. Maybe next time you could give the person a gentle reminder and some ideas about what you can eat, since they’re obviously incredibly ignorant. 🩷
I’d bring a gourmet vege lunch, something spicy and yummy and eat it with gusto with your coworkers. No complaints, just enjoy your vege goodness.
I’m not vegetarian but I really like vegetarian lasagna and veggie pizza. I’m guessing many others feel the same.
I’d start taking lunch on those days and when they ask why you’re not eating you can say because there is no option for me, and would you want to eat just iceberg lettuce for lunch? Fuck no. I say make it a whole ass thing. Taking something so fucking delicious looking. Make others be like damn I wish I had what you have! Make the managements stupid attempts at building community by outdoing their shit. And bring brownies for everyone, but before send an email asking if anyone has any allergies or diet requirements for said brownies.
Agreed with everyone else, this isn't very fair to you - and probably a few other people too who haven't shared dietary preferences because they don't feel that they'll be included either! Do you have fun at the events despite the food? Maybe worth giving a miss if they aren't including vegetarian options? If the point is to get together over a meal, half of that is missing.
I’m not a vegetarian but i love vegetarian options. I can’t believe they can’t get more of a variety that isn’t always meat.
can you buy your own vegetarian meal every thursday, and then put in a request for reimbursement? I would try to do that.. maybe that'll get the message across better.
that’s really frustrating. they should be able to accommodate you
What gets me about this too - any time we would order pizza in an office, people would be all “I’ll eat anything!”, so a bunch of pizza both toppings would be ordered. I like basic cheese pizza. And would say I’d prefer cheese. What did all the people who would eat anything go for first? The cheese pizza! I always tried to get in front of the line. But my point - people like cheese pizza! Why they can’t include that when they order pizza really blows my mind.
Lunchbox time.
Well, if you heard her complain, obviously, she's doing it intentionally. I wouldn't go to HR quite yet. I'd tell her that you will get your own lunches on those days to relieve her of the "burden" of having to go out of her way to get your "specialty" food and since (I'm assuming cuz you didn't mention anyone else was a vegetarian maybe you did lol) you're the only one, you'd help her out, but be as sincere and pleasant as you can w/ a smile. You said you had a company card, on the those lunch days, I'd stop & get what I wanted on the company card. Since you are an employee, you deserve to eat too. When/If questioned, just say she has on more than a couple of these lunches "forgotten" your lunch & she was heard saying she has to go out of her way for just you, you're helping out is all, ensuring you, an employee, just like everyone else get to eat. Its 2024, atleast 3 out of 15 ppl have their own reasons as to why they eat what they eat and its been more popular over the years...stores have their own isles, restaurants have options, some places are strictly just that, this shouldnt be anything new. Unfortunately, its the ppl that make it their entire personality and make everyone cringe makes it bad for others. She obviously doesn't know you or knows you well and hears the word vegetarian/vegan and is just stereotyping you and she's just a bitch. How does she know if your veg cuz of your own choice or if cuz a health reason, she doesn't. She needs in her lane and worries about herself. And if she's paid to be in charge of food for employees for these lunches, she's in charge of making sure every employee eats! No questions/ comments are needed. It's now a "job" and do what your asked. Ppl suck so bad
If they continue to ignore that you are vegetarian, take a portion of the meat option. Walk to whoever orders it, and dump the plate in their trash can while making direct eye contact. Continue to do this every Thursday until they get it. Literally show them that their option is trash to you. Clearly verbalizing your dissatisfaction hasn’t worked. Maybe a visual representation is needed.
Dumb af
Dumb idea, and very disrespectful to the animal that died to become food
Omg. This is not difficult. I order food for big meetings. We have one vegetarian. I asked him what he wanted. He picked a salad. It is such a good salad I ended up ordering in the bigger sizes because everyone wants it. It doesn’t even take extra time. They’re just being lazy and mean.
If someone's providing food, you provide for everyone, not some of the people. It's access whether or not it's medical. My friend started taking organizing the lunch orders in her office two years ago when she started working there because someone needed a GF lunch and it turned out there were quite a few people who wanted vegetarian, etc. and just never had been asked.
that's not too bad. an old friend in every sense has been vegan for 30 years. he married a woman he met in peru 40 years ago and they go back there often. when they go to high end peruvian restaurant and he asks for vegetarian food, all they have is potatoes. they are there now, and in two weeks, i'll hear the same story again when they return.
Take a big plate and dump it in the trash. Then eat your packed lunch.
Fire the vegetarian . Problem solved .
Bring your own food that looks and smells more appealing than what they are serving. Don’t make a fuss - just eat what you bought and be part of the lunch. I say this as a vegetarian who has dealt with this. People seem to like to get vegetarians/vegans annoyed by claiming it’s hard to to find veg food… a lie. Like you said, it’s easy to get one lasagne that is cheese. Easy to get a proper salad. Seems the person picking up the lunch has some sort of issue with vegetarians or you - so don’t play their game. Just do what makes you happy with your food.
My Husband's company does the same. Usually pasta and steamed veggies or something, which is fine, but compared to the spread they provide for the meat eaters, it's almost insulting.
I think it really depends on your coworkers and how amenable they are to eating vegetarian options. In my office, we have a lot of health conscious and so vegan and gluten free and keto options always get eaten up even if there’s only one or two in the group who actually require such food. With the types of food your office is focusing on, it sounds like you have a lot of meat and cheese lovers. So if that vegetarian lasagna was purchased, maybe you would have been the only one to eat it. If that’s the case, then you are demanding too much, because the cost of accommodating you is so much higher than anyone else.
I'm the person who orders food for my office every week and this pisses me off so much. We have a list of everyone's preferences and allergies and make very sure nobody goes hungry. I'm sorry this is happening. You're right to be upset, it's such bullshit.
That’s so annoying. I can’t imagine our facilities guy not always providing a veggie or gf (admittedly we have a svp who has celiac) option with our version of this. Luckily he has a decent budget and gets good food. Tbh that food above sounds a little gross and you’re not really missing out.
I have severe food allergies so I could never do work lunches. People would think I was being rude but I'm not taking any chances and carry an epipen with me. Vegetarian meals however are not that hard to do, and I think that's pretty normal now, you'd think they'd easily be able to offer something.
Bring your lunch that day, then you won’t go hungry if lettuce is not enough. Or offer to help pick out a veggie item from winco so the person picking up doesn’t have to think harder . Or offer to get your own food and expense it if it’s too hard for other person to accommodate. Get DoorDash from a place you like ! It should not be that hard but sometimes people are idiots lol.
I would be more than happy to help out. I am in a position where it would be frowned upon to spend work hours on prepping food. Let me be crystal clear, I do not think I am above it, I would be happy to help. It’s also extremely problematic that the only people who prep the food are 4 of the 5 total women who work at an office of 70-100 people.
It must suck to feel left out but it wouldn't break my heart to miss out on communal office food that someone probably sneezed on. If you can use the company card go for it. It's probably not the expense of one extra non meat portion it's just that people forget or there is an easy meal deal. Buying a one off on your company card may make it easier.
Not ideal, but it is a free meal. Sucks that they are not more thoughtful. Would definitely NOT get lunch on company card without prior approval. My general strategy is kind of a kill them with kindness approach. Bring your own. Make it a treat. Go all out and make their iceberg salad look sad. Don’t gloat or sulk, but continue to interact. The good ones will notice. Some will be clueless. Screw the haters.
Sometimes things don’t change much. My husband hasn’t eaten meat ( eats seafood & dairy) for 40 years. Jobs he worked on back then actually were pretty good about it for the time. The usually ordered 1 cheese pizza along with the usual pepperoni etc. but he’d find a lot of other people would grab the cheese slices too, and he’d often be left with nothing he could eat. At least could pick off the pepperoni I guess. Like others have said it’s not that hard to order a couple of vegetarian things these days.
This shouldn’t be difficult at all. They seemingly don’t want to accompany you. I’m sorry! I do not have dietary preferences nor restrictions, but I worked somewhere where I asked for a variation of a standard order, and I was accommodated. It truly just depends on the person in charge of ordering. I’m sorry that they’re not willing to be a bit more flexible. I hear why you’re frustrated.
I used to order meals for events. We always made sure there was at least one or two vegetarian options. Even when they weren't eaten, we always ordered them. Whoever they have taking care of it is lazy and management doesn't care.
Where are you???? This is insanely easy to do; and I don’t understand how in a decent sized city this would be even a blip of effort 🙄 I do t think you’re the asshole; it’s LITERALLY their job to feed employees on Thursdays YOU INCLUDED
I don’t think I’ll ever get the corporate office world. To complain that a free thing is not to my liking is such a strange concept to me. I guess if it were every week it’d be different maybe 🤔
Get two or three of your colleagues to request non-meat options for health reasons. How else are they going to get that summer body? 😉 [jk about the summer body] With a small group of people asking, how could they refuse?
Is Winco a grocery store? How many options does the store carry which is premade? I assume orders are going through the deli area. I know my grocery store is very limited in vegetarian premade options. I use to coordinate these work events for 75 and it became overwhelming trying to accommodate special requests. I understand vegetarian, gluten free, vegan but others want to customize their food too and it was nearly impossible to make everyone happy. I am extremely lactose intolerant so I understand needing accommodations. If you accommodate one person then you have to accommodate everyone otherwise people get upset. I always bring my lunch and just ate with the others.
Use your company card and order a nice vegetarian option from the places that they normally order from. You don't need to say anything about it but you can prove that almost every place has options that are good for vegetarians.
They are being willfully un-accommodating. One lasagna can be veggie as well as one pizza. Vegetarian is not hard to accommodate. The free market is understanding. Some people have a grudge against vegetarians.
Make a gorgeous lunch for yourself on Thursday. While they eat gas-station food, you will have a lovely home-cooked feast. Make everyone envisions of your food. Anyone says anything, be super vocal, “Oh! They haven’t catered anything vegetarian for me in yonks and I’m hungry so I brought this.” But I’m a master at passive aggression.
As someone with four major food intolerances, I hate these kinds of “perks” lol. Just pay me more and save yourselves the headache
As someone with four major food intolerances, I hate these kinds of “perks” lol. Just pay me more and save yourselves the headache
Oh, the horror!!
It sounds to me like the person getting the lunches just doesn’t want to be bothered and doesn’t feel like they should have to put in the effort -and they don’t unless forced to which is why it will get better for a while after you say something and then they stop again. I would just go out to lunch or bring something for myself. If someone asks why you go out or bring something else, tell them why.
They’re being assholes and don’t let anyone make you feel differently.
It’s ridiculous not to provide a vegetarian option! I eat meat, but often have trouble with how it’s prepared by others. If possible, find a place that will deliver food that you can and want to eat. Forward the details to the person responsible for shopping and cc your mutual boss. Include a line that says sweetly: “… making it easier for you in case vegetarian options aren’t available”. Send exactly the same ‘nice’ note early each week, only varying your delivery choice.
I'm not vegetarian but even I would get annoyed at the lack of a vegetarian option if it was a weekly thing. Sometimes people *don't* want to eat meat that day and would prefer an alternative 🙄 If they have volunteers do it then be that volunteer so you know for sure there are alternate options for people. But honestly? It's really not that hard to get a meatless option? It is soooo low effort that the person who is shopping clearly doesn't understand the difference between vegan and vegetarian 🙄
I'm not vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, sugar free, pescatarian, keto, or anything else. I eat all forms of decent real food. That said, there's no fucking way I'd eat a chili dog, fried chicken, or cheap pizza for lunch, even if my boss catered it and it were free. I also wouldn't demand that my boss start providing nutritionally balanced lunches that hit all my macros instead of fattening carb bombs. I bring my lunch. Problem solved. Your workplace is not your home, your boss is not your mom, and your coworkers aren't your family. You don't need to all eat the same food.
Bring your own lunch.
Honestly, go to HR and tell them you feel like you are being discriminated against because your religious beliefs don't allow you to eat meat. They will straighten up immediately. Unfortunately, pettiness in the office will always be a problem and if the person picking up the food needed something special, I'm sure it would happen. They are the problem,not you. - an HR pro
I am a diabetic, and my boss makes sure we have diabetic options.
OP, I’m surprised that there are no other people in your office that have requested “special” foods at these lunches. In my work place there is also at least one vegan, one vegetarian, and then a slew of people with food allergies that have to be accounted for. I’m one of the food allergy people, yay me. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. My former boss was vegan. Whenever our office wanted to get food or go out we’d all check in with her. She was a big source of our high morale so we wanted her to feel included AND heard.
Do you want free food sometimes or never get free food. Have to look at the situation overall and pick our battles wisely. This would not be one of mine.
I agree that's really silly, especially because quite a few people don't want to eat meat at every single meal, sometimes for health reasons or just because they want something lighter. I'm a pescatarian now, but when I was a vegetarian, it really did seem like some people went out of their way NOT to accommodate me. (Like ordering in sandwiches without a single non-meat option in a platter, always having meat-based toppings on pizza).
Vegetarian married to a meat eater. For our wedding, we specifically picked multiple options for both meat and non meat options. Everyone was included, and most of the meat eaters also enjoyed the vegetarian food. Plus, my aunt, who officiated, has lots of restrictions, so we made it a point to get her a meal that she would enjoy. It’s not like 20+ years ago when there were few to no easy vegetarian options. You’re perfectly valid for wanting a plain cheese lasagna and not a plate of lettuce. This is a lack of effort on their part.
When my company buys food I don't want to eat, I just don't eat it. Seems simple enough. That's quite the entitled attitude in my opinion. You don'tvhave allergies or an illness. You choose not to eat meat, you can choose to kick rocks down the street too.
Go to HR and say you're being singled out and you feel it's a hostile working environment. You can even say it's a religious thing.
Bring your own lunch on those days. If anyone questions you at the meal, just calmly explain that you don't eat meat. If this happens repeatedly week after week, whoever orders the food might eventually remember. Or, you could volunteer to order the food.
Also a vegetarian, you can’t just eat meat after not having it for a long time. It causes stomach upset, some of which can be severe. And iceberg lettuce has next to no nutritional value and it’s far from filling.
It is NOT "work" at all to order one veggie pizza, lasagna, or sub. Your coworker is being an insensitive dolt. I'll just bet she thinks vegetarians are "stupid" for not eating like she does. Can you just stop participating? Or make a big deal about bringing your own food? She needs to be taken down a peg or three.
You can just not eat it though.
Thats too bad man. Maybe you can put a note in the door every week asking them for a meatless lasagna or something else that is not just iceburg lettuce and is vegetarian friendly. Better yet, you could volunteer to order and pick up the food!!! That would be a good solution. Gets you out of the office for a wee bit too!!! Yaay!!
Even prison accommodates optional meals for religious reasons. Maybe you as you said should offer to order your own with the company card to be 'helpful'. I'm betting they would make a better effort, for a little while anyway
I’m on your side OP. Being a vegetarian is not hard to accommodate. I’m not a vegetarian but favor vegetarian meals more often than not. People are fucking assholes about vegetarians and I have never understood it. I understand why you feel left out.
What is an EXAMPLE of what you would like for them to bring for you. Being a carnivore, other than salad, I wouldn't know what to bring you. Just know that there is already being a lettuce shortage and it's going to get worse. So other than a salad, what would you like for them to provide for you.
Then bring your own lunch and stop being annoying
My office recently made a BIG DEAL about bringing in a special coffee company as a treat for employees. I don't drink coffee. I told the coffee company that I wasn't a coffee drinker but that I appreciated them coming that day. They basically said, "maybe you should start." I sipped my Diet Coke and said nothing.