Have a problem in work

LegacyUser

HI all have this issue in work will try to keep it short.

Ok basically within the company i work for at times during the year a group of employees have to work outdoors for the matchdays in croke park, the company provide all the employees with 10 euro for lunch/dinner.

so when it comes to close to the end of the day as i am the only one who is allowed to drive the company van it is up to me to get the food for dinner.

Here is where the problem starts, there is usually 10 people having dinner of all nationalities and all the time 9 of the people all agree to getting food from the chipper in griffith avenue as its the only decent chipper open at the time of day. But the 1 lad who does`nt want the food is from pakistan and he is a Muslim and he will only eat Halal but only from 1 place which is near Dame street in Dublin. the traffic on matchdays is unreal so i refuse to do it, I get the feeling that people think i wont get it for him cause he is muslim and i dont believe in religon. but this is not the case at all i am going with the principe that majority rules.

This has become a small issue between us now and I am wondering if i can get into any kind of Racial trouble over this.

Ickle Magoo

This post is better suited to the Work Problems forum but as an unregistered poster you'd have no way of following it over if I move it now.

Could you post and let us know you've seen this and then we'll move it over.

Cheers.

Lollipops23

Op I'd feel that, since he is the only one with special dietary requirements, it is really unfair of him to expect you to haul ass across town just for him. If he feels so strongly I'd suggest he make prior arrangements and bring a packed lunch with him. I have a friend who is coeliac and he would always plan ahead to make sure he got to eat something appropriate.

iusedtoknow

Similar thing happened to me - well slightly different. We knew we were going to be working late one night and the company were going to provide food for us -we had a conservative jewish girl working with us
She kept kosher and a)didn't want to risk eating or getting something she wouldn't eat and b) really didn't want to make a fuss. She bought a packed lunch and ate with us...problem solved, even though the company offered to procure kosher food, she said she'd rather eat her own (though I do wonder if she knew that the kosher place place the company offered to get food from was crap )

anyway, what's happening with you is not racist just convenient - anyway, i'm sure there are halal places around Croke park that could be ok..

Sleepy

Could you arrange for that guy to just get a lunch allowance equivalent to the value of whatever ye're getting e.g. €7/€8 and let him sort himself out?

stargazer 68

OP its completely unreasonable to expect you to drive to Dame Street to a particular place for anyone regardless of their religion. Its not your job to get their food -if you couldn't drive the van they would all have to eat from wherever is open never mind a 'decent chipper'.

He will just have to make prior arrangements or find a halal restaurant nearer to where you work. What do the other lads think?

snafuk35

A bit aggreived wrote: »

HI all have this issue in work will try to keep it short.

Ok basically within the company i work for at times during the year a group of employees have to work outdoors for the matchdays in croke park, the company provide all the employees with 10 euro for lunch/dinner.

so when it comes to close to the end of the day as i am the only one who is allowed to drive the company van it is up to me to get the food for dinner.

Here is where the problem starts, there is usually 10 people having dinner of all nationalities and all the time 9 of the people all agree to getting food from the chipper in griffith avenue as its the only decent chipper open at the time of day. But the 1 lad who does`nt want the food is from pakistan and he is a Muslim and he will only eat Halal but only from 1 place which is near Dame street in Dublin. the traffic on matchdays is unreal so i refuse to do it, I get the feeling that people think i wont get it for him cause he is muslim and i dont believe in religon. but this is not the case at all i am going with the principe that majority rules.

This has become a small issue between us now and I am wondering if i can get into any kind of Racial trouble over this.

Tell him that if he wants to eat halal then its up to him to make prior arrangements.
Tell him that if you were in his hometown in Pakistan and you wanted to eat bacon or ham you wouldn't be able to get it. There probably isn't a pig in the entire country because according to their belief pigs are unclean or whatever. You wouldn't have the right to expect your employer to fly in a pig and kill it and serve it up to you just because of you are hungry and you can't eat the local grub.
This has got nothing to do with race because Islam is a religion and anyone of any race can be a Muslim.
If he already knows halal isn't common in Ireland then maybe he shouldn't have come here in the first place.

tony81

Tell him he can bring his own lunch and give him a tenner in lieu. You could also give him a vegetarian alternative as only meat needs to be prepared in a special way.

Taltos

snafuk35 - banned for 3 months.

Folk we all know what is and is not acceptable in this forum. We strictly apply the rules so please if you are unsure please refer to our charter before posting.

Taltos

Ickle Magoo

Thanks for getting in touch OP,

Moved from PI to Work Problems

tatli_lokma

tony81 wrote: »

Tell him he can bring his own lunch and give him a tenner in lieu. You could also give him a vegetarian alternative as only meat needs to be prepared in a special way.

As a vegetarian, I can sympathise with the guy in question, because people who eat meat often think that as long as there is no meat in somethign it is veggie - but the fat it was cooked in, or where it was prepared also counts. I have often been in the situation where sandwiches where ordered in for work meetings - the "veggie" sambos are sitting there, right next to the tuna mayo and bits of the filling get on the veggie sambos. I won't eat them. I imagine that the Muslim guy feels the same, given the proliference of pork and bacon in Irish fast food joints - bacon double this and sausage that.

OP I think perhaps your approach to this doesn't help. Perhaps explain to the chap that while you appreciate his need for a particular type of food, it is really inconvenient for you to go to Dame Street. Ask him if he would be happy to get food closer to Croker. I know there is an Indian at cross guns bridge that is halal, not sure if its open, but worth a try. Failing that, tell him that unfortunately heading into town on a match day is not realistic and suggest that he takes the matter up with management. If they insist that you head into town, fine you will, but only if they approve it.

Personally, if it were me, as a veggie and I had concerns I would prefer to bring my own lunch and pocket the tenner! but I think it is only fair that you appear to offer a compromise to him. After that, if you can't reach an agreement, as I say tell him to discuss it with management and you will do whatever is decided between them happily. That way, it takes the onus off you, and puts it onto the management to deal with the situation.

Mucco

Reading your initial post, I'd like to extract the interests of both you and your colleague to see if you can find common ground.

You are the only one who can drive the van
Therefore, it's your job to get the food, even if you don't want to.
You probably want to keep all 10 people happy
You don't want to be stuck in traffic for ages
You also don't want to have bad relationships with your colleague
You're unsure what's so special about this halal place

You colleague probably wants to have his religion respected
He probably doesn't want to alienate himself from his colleagues
He has a reason why the Dame St place is the only one he wants - I'd find this reason out if I were you.

You say a little bit of animosity has appeared between you. This needs addressing quickly. A good approach is to approach him in a manner that the two of you are going to work together to solve this problem. Explain your interests, find out his, and then develop possible solutions. Getting as many options as possible is always good, these could include:
Helping him find a suitable halal place closer by.
Or maybe, 3 times out of 4, go local, and the other time, make the trip
He brings his own lunch
Does the halal place deliver?

generalmental

Little Ted wrote: »

As a vegetarian, I can sympathise with the guy in question, because people who eat meat often think that as long as there is no meat in somethign it is veggie

This I do understand i really do, I have told him that there is a place near the chipper but he is not interested.Also he has on occassion ordered himself a veggie pizza from the chipper we all use.

tony81

generalmental wrote: »

This I do understand i really do, I have told him that there is a place near the chipper but he is not interested.Also he has on occassion ordered himself a veggie pizza from the chipper we all use.

Well there ya go! That's his vegetarian option. Some muslims could claim there is a risk of contamination (e.g. handling pork followed by veg) but seeing as he buys from there himself this clearly isn't an issue for him.
If he doesn't like it he can lump it. It's only a few times during the year so he can hardly complain.