Everyone's a little bit racist...

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

Here's another "racist/prejudice or not scenario".

All day meetings are being planned at work. The admin in charge of ordering food responds to an email to call out if certain attendees need vegetarian meals. All the names are Indian.


Cut to a few weeks later, different all day meetings with different admins coordinating. (Also, this set is East coast as opposed to the first set is West coast.) We break for lunch. It's all meat filled sandwiches. Zero veggie options. About 10% of the attendees are vegetarian and most of them are Indian. The next two days have vegetarian options after it was brought to the organizer's attention.

It should be noted I work for a company in the healthcare industry. Healthy meals are actually required by the company, but "healthy" and vegetarian aren't always hand in hand.

Personally, I think our society is out of control with expecting "free" lunches/snacks/etc to meet each person's individual dietary needs. If you can't have meat/dairy/gluten/fiber or whatever and you aren't aware in advance of the menu, it is up to you to inquire in advance or bring food you can eat. It is next to impossible to find anything to serve a group of people that will work for everybody present. As a person with extreme dietary restrictions, I bring my own backup food if I'm not sure what is being served. I would never consider making a big deal of the fact that the entree is a luncheon salad and I can't eat vegetables.

My mom was a vegetarian before it was cool and she always had a sandwich in her purse "just in case". The world does not have to cater to everybody.

That said- I think the first situation sounds like prejudice if you're saying the admin only asked those with Indian names whether they needed vegetarian food. Statistically, the Indians were more likely to be vegetarians, but I definitely know plenty of Caucasians who are vegetarian.

The second situation simply sounds like they feel like I do! If you have a special need, bring it to someone's attention. Don't assume people can read your mind.