Last week we talked about terrible food at conferences and other work occasions. Unsurprisingly, the most egregious examples turned out to be what’s served to folks with dietary restrictions … however typically everybody will get the identical monstrous therapy. Here are 18 of the most ridiculous tales you shared.
1. The lemonade
At a enterprise assembly at a non-public membership, I ordered a glass of lemonade and obtained a glass of lemon juice. Nothing like a cool refreshing mouthful of acid!
2. The imported cheese
I used to be at a convention final yr the place I believe the venue began operating out of food? I’m unsure, it wasn’t nice to start with however it received sillier and sillier. For breakfast on the second-to-last day there was a tray with “imported and domestic cheeses.” It was Kraft singles.
3. The potatoes
I as soon as attended a coaching occasion and the vegan lunch was a potato “burger” (mashed potato pattie in a bun, no salad/sauce) with boiled potatoes and a facet of chips. Quadruple carb enjoyable occasions!
4. The blessed Fritos
At an occasion I as soon as volunteered for, my gluten allergy wasn’t correctly communicated. So I used to be so hungry I began dipping applesauce in chips. They additionally didn’t have gluten-free communion, which I felt obligated to take, so the priest very unexpectedly blessed some Fritos for me. They did get me higher food the second day.
5. The treats
My ex took the minutes for a month-to-month board assembly. The board chair all the time made a massive fuss about bringing food for everybody, however it was all the time comically too little. The board is 12 folks, plus 2-3 attending employees. The worst was the time it was three croissants from a good bakery, and when “pizza party day” was two private pizzas. For 15+ folks. She would all the time make a massive deal of how fortunate everybody was to have such good treats and slice out the tiny parts herself.
6. The sweet potato incident
We have a story that floats round our firm referred to as “The Sweet Potato Incident”. One of our administrators was a very nice woman however had no style when it got here to picking menus. She determined she was going to decide on the menu for our annual Employee Appreciation Dinner as an alternative of our Head of Catering and it was… baffling to say the least. Every course had sweet potatoes in it. The first course was a sweet potato soup or a salad that includes sweet potatoes. The most important course was a sweet potato pasta. The dessert was sweet potato pie! Maybe our Head of Catering was miffed at not being consulted and that’s why she allowed this laughable menu to undergo, however everybody strongly inspired the director to defer to ANYONE else for future menu planning.
7. The vegan choice
I went to a convention that supplied boxed lunches on the final day. The meat choice was a turkey sandwich, a bag of chips and a cookie, the vegetarian choice was a bag of chips and a cookie, and the vegan choice was simply a bag of chips.
8. The gentle apps
My worst story is a Friday evening vacation celebration with one spherical of *gentle* apps (at dinnertime) and an open martini bar. People received blackout drunk whether or not they meant to or not. Nobody might have a look at every other the following Monday.
Highlights: One man withdrew the max from an ATM and gave it to a stranger. A male supervisor patted a feminine staffer on the butt. There had been martini races. I received a piggyback trip from the IT man to a different bar. Underage interns had been served. There was a convention name the subsequent day to attempt to piece every thing collectively.
And that’s the final time we had an occasion with virtually no food.
9. The fake steak
My brother’s mother-in-law was a vegetarian in a rural neighborhood who as soon as accompanied her husband to his firm’s annual dinner. The dinner organizers had been very proud of themselves for arising with one thing they assured her was a lot better than the plates of plain greens she’d been served in the previous. Her husband received steak. She received a slice of watermelon lower into the form of a steak.
10. The pizza
Conference employee at a fancy resort in my youth. Management mentioned they would offer pizza to those that helped clear down after a late operating convention.
14 of us stayed late to pack up, clear down the 4 rooms and presentation halls and flip it round for the marriage ceremony the subsequent day.
They did certainly present pizza.
One.
Just one.
We cut up slices with somebody’s pen knife and had to offer our personal drinks as the food and sodas had been for ‘attendees only’.
Cool.
Did not volunteer to remain twice.
11. The lacking ice cream
I labored for a very giant municipal company in a massive metropolis infamous for being…effectively…terrible in all the methods. The company was continually placing out fires, was all the time in the press (for the incorrect causes), and morale amongst employees was low. There was by no means an iota of employees appreciation in any method – I labored there for ten years. Except there was the well-known “Ice Cream Social.” One summer time, we moved into a new constructing. It was all very “you get what you get and you don’t get upset.” We moved to save cash, not as a result of we had been doing so effectively. It was very matter of truth. We moved and stored working. Someone, I’ll by no means know who, had the vivid thought of doing a “Staff Appreciation / Welcome to the New Building Ice Cream Social.” This was unheard of. Someone MADE FLYERS. People had been excited! There had been going to be toppings! We all gathered at 3 pm in our giant convention room. Yep, there have been toppings, however no ice cream. All the anticipatory pleasure was sucked out of the room. Everyone frolicked for an hour ready for the ice cream (that was ordered by somebody?) and didn’t arrive. Finally, after about 90 minutes, somebody ran all the way down to Duane Reade and simply purchased random pints for the individuals who determined to stay round.
12. The work journey log
I’m celiac. I used to journey a good bit for work in addition to attend massive trade conferences. Best solid state of affairs for all day conferences or conferences is that I’d get edible meals with protein, however nothing to eat throughout the breaks when everybody else was provided dainty desserts desserts and so on. Worst case…
– Fruit salad for starter at massive fancy dinner. Main meal was okay … then I used to be served an an identical fruit salad for dessert. Meanwhile everybody else had a lovingly ready choice of mini desserts applicable to the nation we had been in
– Same convention, completely different yr: everybody was given lunch baggage containing sandwiches, and drink, fruit, a chocolate bar. I used to be given a very onion heavy salad with no protein or dressings. Scavenged some fruit from colleagues, seems the chocolate bar contained gluten so I couldn’t have that. Asked about it and apparently they solely had gluten-containing chocolate.
– Work all-day assembly venue: caterers had received the memo about together with a supply of protein in ALL meals. Unfortunately they took this to imply chickpeas. So many chickpeas. A chickpea salad which truthfully had a whole can of them and not a lot else. A dinner that was 70% chickpea. Served up on repeat, day after day, journey after journey. I’ve not been in a position to eat them since I finished working there.
– Pandemic, work despatched out treats to everybody forward of the zoom vacation celebration. Asked for dietary preferences. Apparently the provider couldn’t do celiac-safe so they simply didn’t give me something.
– Five star resort I received again to at midnight on a day which had concerned getting up at 4.30 am, pink eye flight, complete day of conferences (with the chickpeas), obligatory socializing. Exhausted and hungry, I phoned room service. Normally accommodations are completely glad to cobble collectively numerous celiac-safe choices from completely different meals to provide me one meal. This one apparently had by no means heard of such a factor and after a lot of negotiating about what they might really present that was gluten-free charged me £22 for a single burger patty with one slice of tomato on prime. Absolutely nothing else.
Needless to say, for work journey my suitcase was all the time 50% food. At one level I received so fed up that this was all the time a problem I grew to become a thorn in the facet of convention organizers by asking why there was no food for me each time it wasn’t supplied. (To be truthful, most had been pretty and horrified once they noticed what I’d been given and made an effort to kind it out. Only for the identical factor to occur the subsequent yr when the convention moved to a new venue.) I now not journey for work. I don’t miss it.
13. The kosher muffins
At my final job, I received despatched to a convention in Charleston, South Carolina over Passover. Not the greatest time to go to a place well-known for its biscuits, however I made do.
When I went all the way down to breakfast every day, there was a separate desk labeled “kosher” – full of muffins and pastries and other issues that couldn’t be eaten on Passover. (In case it isn’t clear, the universe of Jews who would care about kosher certification and would eat a muffin on Passover might be zero.) I really like that they had been attempting so laborious and so completely failed.
14. The standing meal
I needed to attend a fancy reception for work at an artwork museum. The venue and food presentation had been pretty however the food was a catastrophe. The organizers clearly spent a ton of cash – prime beef, seafood, complicated salads and soups and hors d’oeuvres, however no solution to eat them. There had been no low tables or chairs, simply a few excessive prime tables (for over 100 folks) and no utensils! We all had plates of food however no the place to place them and no solution to eat them (this was not finger food!). Think lengthy strips of beef and substantial items of salmon.
Someone flagged a server and the (in-house) caterer appeared shocked we couldn’t eat the food. They lastly introduced out forks however no knives or spoons! Execs had been attempting to chop steak with forks (didn’t work) and artistic employees poured soup into cups – all whereas standing. It was weird! I needed to attend the identical occasion the subsequent yr and fortunately they supplied utensils AND tables to sit down and eat.
15. The canceled lunch
Employee Appreciation Lunch at a hospital, for all staff (scientific and workplace/non-clinical employees). The C-suite made a massive deal of this, beginning a full two weeks prematurely. Managers had been instructed to remind their staff to not carry lunch on a particular day, as a result of the hospital could be offering lunch that day at midday.
The day comes, and there’s no indication of the place the worker lunch goes to be held. No flyers, no announcement. Well, they’ll in all probability inform us when it arrives, proper?
Noon rolls round. No announcement. Hungry nurses begin calling other flooring for data, since they’ll’t simply all stroll off directly for lunch, they should take turns in order that the others can keep to take care of the sufferers.
At 12:15, the PA system booms with an offended voice yelling: “THE EMPLOYEE LUNCH IS CANCELED. >CLICK< ”
There was by no means any clarification or apology.
16. The green lunch
A convention I attended had a “Green Lunch” which I assumed would possibly seek advice from issues that had been environmentally pleasant or vegetarian. Literally all the objects had been green and didn’t even actually go collectively. Grapes, guacamole, some green peppers, and key lime pie. I don’t even bear in mind every thing on the buffet however it was bonkers. It will need to have been the absolute least expensive choice for the assembly planners.
17. The focaccia
Once, the org I volunteer for was serving to employees a giant occasion. We had been working all of Saturday, at no cost, and in trade they’d promised us lunch. For other related occasions we’d had sandwiches, trays of pizza, and my favorite was when an occasion had given us vouchers for a close by buffet restaurant and we’d had a correct sizzling meal. This occasion, lengthy after lunchtime, despatched us a tray of plain focaccia bread. There had been extra volunteers than slices of focaccia. We didn’t supply to employees this specific occasion once more.
18. The tofu
This was ~15 years in the past, so I believe/hope issues are at the least barely higher now, however I used to be attending a convention the place they’d tacos for lunch sooner or later. The vegetarian choice was simply chilly, unpressed, unseasoned tofu. I skipped lunch that day and went out to seek out one thing extra palatable.
