When somebody else is treating, what do you do?

[Lilacs4Me]

My boss announced at about 10am that she would buy pizza for all of us. She asked us what we wanted on it, and that it would be here around noon.

A co-worker, who is in the middle of a health scare right now and is on a super-healthy (self-imposed) diet, asked for salad as well. The health scare doesn't involve anything to do with nutrition - co-worker is trying to decide if she wants to take a medical or holistic approach to treatment. My boss seemed slightly taken aback, (just a LITTLE, not a lot) and said sure.

I was raised with the "you get what you get and don't ask for more" mentality. I have struggled somewhat with asking anyone for anything, and I know that. So, my "proper manners" instinct says that co-worker was being rude. If it were me, I would have said thank you for the pizza and if it was something I didn't want to eat, I would go with Lunch Plan A and just eat what I was planning on eating before the 10am announcement,

However, knowing that I am slightly stunted in the "ask and thou shall receive" department, maybe it's not really considered rude?

What do you all think?

(and this is supposed to be lighthearted conversation....I get that pizza and salad does not constitute calling for a national morality summit! LOL)

 

[Liberty Belle]

Your coworker was definitely rude. If she couldn't/wouldn't eat what the boss offered, she should make other arrangements.
I have a coworker like that.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

If I wanted salad I would offer to pay the additional price for MY salad. Not demand it to be ordered. If they order pizza then you get pizza!

I had a boss like this. We worked near a bagel shop and our doctor would sometimes buy us breakfast. A bagel sandwich and a drink. Well my boss told us to order her 3 Tropicana smoothies instead because she didn't want a bagel sandwich and that would be the same price as a bagel sandwich and a drink. That way she would have them for the weekend. I thought it was rude.

 

[DopeyDame]

Yeah, coworker was totally rude. If someone says "I'm getting pizza, what do you want?" the correct answer is peporoni or cheese or whatever. Not a totally different food type.
That said, it's great that your boss just rolled with it. We're all unintentionally rude sometimes.

 

[mjkacmom]

I'd say rude. Around here, the salad could cost about the same as a pizza. Dd13 has celiac, so this comes up a lot. When she was younger, I'd bring her gluten free pizza or a salad at parties, even in school, because the salads were always pricy. Or, I'd feed her before or after.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

Rude. If pizza is offered you either take it or you don't--you don't ask for something else.

If your boss had said, "Lunch is on me! I'm ordering from XYZ Italian Place, let me know what you'd like!" then by all means, order a salad.

 

[L&Lfan]

How rude! But I know PLENTY of people like that who wouldn't bat an eye.

 

[scrapquitler]

Rude. If you don't want the pizza which is being provided, don't eat it.

 

[prprincess]

I agree. If I don't want what everyone else is getting, I will just make my own arrangements.

 

[piccolopat]

If it were me, I would tell the boss thanks for the offer but with my current health issues I am only eating salad for lunch these days. The boss would then have the option of offering to order a salad for that person or the person could get their own lunch. Whether the person was rude or not really depends on how they approached the boss and if the boss was aware of the health situation.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

My boss announced at about 10am that she would buy pizza for all of us. She asked us what we wanted on it, and that it would be here around noon.

A co-worker, who is in the middle of a health scare right now and is on a super-healthy (self-imposed) diet, asked for salad as well. The health scare doesn't involve anything to do with nutrition - co-worker is trying to decide if she wants to take a medical or holistic approach to treatment. My boss seemed slightly taken aback, (just a LITTLE, not a lot) and said sure.

I was raised with the "you get what you get and don't ask for more" mentality. I have struggled somewhat with asking anyone for anything, and I know that. So, my "proper manners" instinct says that co-worker was being rude. If it were me, I would have said thank you for the pizza and if it was something I didn't want to eat, I would go with Lunch Plan A and just eat what I was planning on eating before the 10am announcement,

However, knowing that I am slightly stunted in the "ask and thou shall receive" department, maybe it's not really considered rude?

What do you all think?

(and this is supposed to be lighthearted conversation....I get that pizza and salad does not constitute calling for a national morality summit! LOL)

In this case, the order had not gone in yet. So if the pizza place they're getting it from had salads and that is what I want, then I'd hand the boss the money for my salad and ask if they could add it to the pizza order.

I

 

[BrianL]

My work would never get pizza without salads and deserts (and probably a bunch of other stuff). It's always a full spread (or a box lunch with tons of stuff inside). It's just how we are here. We have a vegetarian on the team and things like that are always taken into consideration too. We are a hospitality company, so I guess that's why.

To the original question, yeah, it's a little rude to ask, at least when a real dietary need isn't a concern.

 

[SMD]

I think if the pizza is intended to reward the group, foster teamwork or a get-to-know-you think or it's because people are going to be asked to work through lunch, then you need to either take into account someone's dietary restrictions or give them enough warning to decide if they want to provide their own food so that they can participate. You don't really know if their dietary issues are self-imposed or not, if they were known ahead of time or not unreasonable, like the pizza place sells salad anyway, so add one to the order, then it should be accommodated.

 

[Bluestars]

I agree that it's rude. People can share a pizza, but purchasing a salad for one person is an added expense. I used to work with this girl who would always order the most expensive thing on the menu when we were taken out to lunch by the boss. Then she would order dessert when nobody else was ordering it or talked about ordering it.

 

[Klayfish]

I'd have taken a slice of the pizza and slapped the coworker with it... Just kidding of course.

I'd say it's slightly rude, but not all that big of a deal. I'm very into health and nutrition and always bring my own lunch. Relatively frequently, food is delivered here. I don't ask for anything, nor do I eat what's delivered. I simply say "I'm picky with my nutrition, but thank you for offering", then go and eat my own lunch. Easy enough.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I say it was rude to ask for salad if the boss only offered pizza.

That said, when I buy pizza for my crew, I always get a couple salads to go with it. Same when anyone else buys here. We like our roughage LOL. Usually one large salad per pizza bought (we share the salads just as we do the pizza).

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

If it were me, I would tell the boss thanks for the offer but with my current health issues I am only eating salad for lunch these days. The boss would then have the option of offering to order a salad for that person or the person could get their own lunch. Whether the person was rude or not really depends on how they approached the boss and if the boss was aware of the health situation.

That is what I do.

I have done that many times. I have Celiac disease so I can't eat pizza at least not regular pizza. So if someone offers pizza for lunch, I simply tell them that I have my lunch, but thank you. Often the person will offer something else.

Once, the person knew the issue and simply ordered a salad from another location. She make sure it was gluten free and safe for me and had it delivered with the pizza. I was grateful that she thought of me. But it isn't something that I expect.

 

[Nennie]

I think it's rude. No different than saying, I don't like pizza, so get me a cheese steak! LOL!!! Proper answer is Thank You for the pizza, or no thank you! If she wanted to push is I suppose she could say "No thank you, I'm cutting back and am going to run out and get a salad!" and then maybe the boss would offer to get a salad for her! I think that's even pushing it though!

 

[Hikergirl]

I would have asked for beer to go with it, and the pricey imported stuff

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I would have asked for beer to go with it, and the pricey imported stuff

Would you say that before or after I'd instruct the boss we wanted $30 pizzas from the gourmet place instead of $5 little caesars and to throw in the optional $15 lobster and shrimp add ons?