Its That Time Again...Sales Meeting

[jasonD2]

Got my company sales meeting in a few weeks. Lunch will be brought in and there will be group dinners at night..restaurants unspecified. For lunch I probly wont eat or just bring some protein bars, but what if the dinners are at restaurants that are not celiac friendly? I will be sitting at a large table with all of my co-workers and dont wanna seem weird...and I must be at these dinners.

Coping with the social aspect is still a huge problem of mine

[momtopa]

Got my company sales meeting in a few weeks. Lunch will be brought in and there will be group dinners at night..restaurants unspecified. For lunch I probly wont eat or just bring some protein bars, but what if the dinners are at restaurants that are not celiac friendly? I will be sitting at a large table with all of my co-workers and dont wanna seem weird...and I must be at these dinners.

Coping with the social aspect is still a huge problem of mine

I'm not going to be much help here, unfortunately. In fact I avoided work today because I knew our managers were serving lunch to everyone and I didn't want to stand out. I normally work at home every other day and today was my day to be home anyway, so I lucked out there. Sounds like you don't have much of a choice, though, huh? Is there any way you can call the restaurants ahead of time and explain the situation so they can be ready for you when you get there? Good luck to you! How are you doing otherwise?

[Janessa]

do you have time to go home between work and dinner? You can have dinner then meet everyone at the restaurant and have salad or steamed veggies. You can also excuse yourself and speak to your waiter away from the table if you don't want attention on yourself.

[JNBunnie1]

Unless your coworkers are Wheat Association of America employees, they probably won't think you're weird. Just call ahead and tell them you need naked chicken and green beans and when you get there tell them you're the naked food dude.

[Reba32]

speak to the organizer ahead of time and make arrangements for edible food for you to be brought in at lunch, and pick restaurants that will have at least a couple of choices for you. Don't starve yourself just because you're to shy to tell people you have a food caused disease! That's just rediculous. If you had diabetes would you be too shy to say you can't eat a bowl full of sugar?

[SGWhiskers]

OK, what you SHOULD do is call ahead to the chef at 2:00-4:00 in the afternoon that day and explain your order of plain steak, veggies, and baked potato. Request that he make your dinner and deliver it discretely and emphasize the allergy part. Then when you get to dinner, try to sit at the corner of a table so you can catch your waitress or get up more easily. Discretely tell her you have food allergies and that the chef will be making your dinner for you.

If you see an impending disasterous restaraunt on the schedule, I would see if you can talk the head cook or manager into allowing for a dish to be delivered from someplace safe. They will be wanting the business from all the other sales people, so will be more willing to accomodate one person with allergies. I would figure the closest safe place to your work and have them on standby all week for a pick up from you. Hmmm. Maybe even talk a bus boy into delivery for a good tip to the office for lunch with a second meal you can have cold for dinner at a risky restaraunt if necessary. Our Outback has takeout.

The people at the sales meetings won't be concerned about your food looking different or arriving in a take out tray from another restaraunt/home. Just slide the meal from the take out tray onto your plate and move on. If you get a look or a question, simply state "food allergies" and if they remain curious, state "I'm not going to bore you with the story" then ask them a direct sales question. Shift the conversation back to them. Even if it is asking about their lovely wife, their last vacation, their marketing projections, or their view of the presentations that afternoon. Something so that they have to think and answer in a paragraph and it will get their mind off your food.

If they press you with questions, tell them "Ask me again after dinner. Right now, I want to learn more about your company."

If you had a cast on your arm, people would ask what happened. For us, eating out gathers the same type of questions. In more formal situations, I try to keep the answers brief. If I get the sense people might think I'm wacko, I mention blood tests and doctor wants me to be strict with my precations. Curiosity is natural when something looks different. It is your response to that curosity that will make the difference in how you are viewed. With a cast, everyone would expect you to share that you fell on ice and then eat with your other hand, but no one would want to listen to 30 minutes of accident, ER, and itchy cast stories.

I really do feel for you Jason. You are in a tough situation and have learned to gracefully handle this.

[StacyA]

I had a company dinner that I was NOT looking forward to, but I called ahead, and ordered a naked steak and baked potato and it was good and I felt okay afterwards. There is life after gluten-free.

[kareng]

I'm just diagnosed. My 13 year old son asked today "Have you told anyone? Is this a secret?" I said it it not a secret because it is nothing to be ashamed of. However, I don't like to make a big deal or cause others a lot of extra work. If the people around you ask why your eating that or not eating, I think a brief "food Allergies" & if they want to know more "That's boring, lets talk about something else".