Feeling Like The Freak Again

[jasonD2]

Some of you might recall I started a career in sales 4 yrs ago and had to deal with a lot of frustration and embarrassment when traveling and dealing with colleagues and customers. i made a lot of strides and as you probably all notice im not on here much any more, but i recently took a job with another company and i feel like im dealing with all the anxiety of being gluten free all over again. i was at a conference recently and met all my new colleagues. i always try to take control of restaurant choices but I was outnumbered one night...everyone wanted pizza and pasta. i knew the restaurant we went to would acommodate me so i wasnt too concerned. we were all seated at a big table and my new boss insisted on a family style dinner so everyone can have a bunch of things to eat. i was hoping i would be able to avoid this by just ordering my own individual meal so right when the server started to take the order i spoke up and everyone got quiet and stared at me when i saud "im allergic to gluten and am just going to order my own food" - looking back i hope i didnt say that in an obnoxious tone..i was very firm about it and i think i got a few confused looks but in the end everything was ok, but i just feel completely exposed and vulnerable now. it wouldve been a piece of cake if the server just took individual orders but the whole family style thing screwed me over. anyway, just venting but once again i feel like the freak in the group

[Lisa]

I think you did great Jason! State your case and then shrug if off...."hey, it's no big deal. You all just order and I'll do mine (and smile).

Often days many people have food issues. My bet is that you weren't the only one at the table who wanted to order separately.

[kareng]

Don't know how big of a group you had, but i bet someone was a vegetarian hoping for cheese pizza and someone else is sort of Kosher ( no pork & no meat with cheese not the ones with separate plates)) or a no red meat person. Saying you are allergic and you don't want to interfer with thier food is a good thing to do. I have found that the younger the group, the better they are with food allergies.

[heatherjane]

I bet most of the people in the group have forgotten about it by now. Too often, we tend to think people are thinking about us all the time, when really everyone is concerned with themselves. That's the way of the world.