vegan in an omni workplace

[spirulinai]

I've had this question at the back of my mind for some time, but it seems especially relevant after 

Comments

[supercarrot]

get him a copy of the china study if he thinks it's so unhealthy.

surely he can trust his customers to make the right choice for themselves.

smooth idea!

[spirulinai]

i'll find those studies and print them off for him.
surely he'd agree that his customers were intelligent people, able to make choices for themselves. thanks!

[br0ken_dolly]

and whole milk is better than soy?

honestly, i think he's just being an idiot, and probably is offering the good choices for money (he is a business owner after all)... which makes me dislike him.

if someone OFFERED me soy, i would be thrilled and make a point of returning. and telling more people about it.

as for jobs... i used to work for big pharma. talk about anti-vegan...

[spirulinai]

oh, he's a total idiot - the whole interaction reeks of censorship-for-the-sake-of, which is probably why it burns me so much.

did you eventually find a more vegan job?

[br0ken_dolly]

ugh that's just miserable. what a tool.

sorta... ended up getting into automotive safety systems (airbags-- i'm a chemist, and while most of what we did was "vegan" in the end, before a new formulation could be released, they did hire someone to do animal testing to make sure it wasn't toxic, even tho it obviously wasn't... so it was one non-vegan event out of every 5 yrs of their work i bet, but it made me sad), but then decided to go back to school and get out of the lab entirely. hopefully this time around i'll do better.

[grrlkris]

yeah, i'm making a similar transition... i'm going to a vegan culinary school (talk about hard to find) and i hope to make an impact on people's food choices by proving just how tasty vegan can be, whether i end up in a restaurant or as a personal chef.

[ilovemypitbull]

I've been to a lot of organic / vegetarian friendly cafes recently that ask if I want soy or dairy milk. So it's actually quite common for it to be asked by default, if the place is vegetarian or vegan friendly.

[sifrid]

Does he know your personal dietary choices?

[spirulinai]

he does, and i'm about 98% positive that his knowledge that i'm vegan is the reason behind his weird bout of censorship.

perhaps i'll ask my omni coworker to take up the habit for a fun experiment...

[sifrid]

Yes, that sounds like it'd provide interessting results.

[bitspike]

That's a good idea!

Also, you could get some friends to come along one day, just after you've brought up the soy issue with your boss again, and get them to make a big point of wanting to order coffee with soy. That'll piss him off, at least. Last resort if he won't change his mind.

I only wrote a reply to a comment of yours this morning on this very topic of you offering soy to customers as an alternative. I'm sorry to hear it's become an issue.

Good luck reaching a compromise!

[katherinekeil]

Just curious, how often were you substituting "cow" for "milk"?

I am wondering if your boss overheard that, or if someone complained, and if he is blaming sensitivity to soy on what he perceives as a larger issue.

Passive-aggressive, absolutely. But if that turns out to be the bigger issue, you might be able to have a really different conversation with him ("Listen, I am just wondering if there are any other reasons besides the potential allergen/sensitivity issue that are involved in you wanting me not to mention soy as an alternative ...") and go from there.

*edited for typo

[spirulinai]

this sounds like a really fantastic approach. he's really terrible at listing specific reasons behind a lot of his decisions (often, he'll walk away or start a phone call in the middle of a conversation if it isn't going his way) so this kind/peaceful start to the conversation might be just what i need.