I often feel hungry and have snacks at my desk. Today, I realized that Ramadan has begun and my colleague who sits beside me is fasting. So I quietly kept my snacks back. I felt it might seem rude and uncaring.
How should I deal with it? I don't want to offend anybody. I am working in Germany.
We are a team of 6 and 3 of them are observing ramadan.
I felt it might seem rude and uncaring. How should I deal with it? I don't want to offend anybody.
I agree with Lawrence's answer that a reasonable co-worker won't be offended. That said, they probably will also appreciate the gesture.
While there are many things you're allowed to do and your freedoms at work are important - it's definitely within reason to try and be respectful to other peoples' belief systems (eventhough you don't have to).
So - while you certainly don't have to change your eating habits to cater other people at work, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to be sensitive and save the steak to eat right in front of a vegan or eat a pork in front of a religious Jew or Muslim. Some things you don't have to do but doing them will still help you gain the respect of others back.
He won't be offended. If he is a reasonable person, he realizes that most people do not follow his religion and thus are not subject to his rules.
Now if you're going up to him holding your food in front of his face and making fun of him then yes, he will be offended. Just act like nothing is wrong. People's religious affiliations do not and should not affect you, and this goes for your whole life, not just work.
I agree it would be nicer for him. However, if you're suggesting that people at the office should starve or go out of their way because of other people choosing to follow religion (it is a choice by the way) then that's not nice, that's just being stupid. Other people's religious choices should not affect you.
I just don't think you should be altering your behavior in order to accomodate the rest of the world.Some things you do will offend people even if it shouldn't. I know in America we have a PC issue with this right now, but my belief is that if you are offended by normal behavior as a result of your choices, then that is your responsibility to handle that emotion, not the responsibility of the "offending" party. We are all responsible for how we feel about things as a result of our choices and beliefs.
As a Muslim currently in the workplace, I can say that I wouldn't be upset in the least; in fact, the only thing that might upset me is knowing that I'm making co-workers uncomfortable to eat in front of me :)
I just went to lunch with a few co-workers. Didn't eat anything, but just came for the company. Luckily, nobody felt too guilty or anything—if they did, I would have regretting going.
Not per se, but...
It kind of depends on what you're eating and how easy it is to eat your food somewhere else, as well as how uncomfortable Ramadan is at that place and time.
And obviously, try to be discreet about it and not draw your coworker's attention or distract him with the smell or taste.
To elaborate: snacks are pretty much always fine to eat at your desk (that includes fruits, chips, etc... heck, they probably wouldn't even find chips appetizing at that point -- they'd want water and a good meal), as are meals that were prepared earlier in the day (since they're probably cooler and won't have as strong of a smell). But it's a bit distasteful (no pun intended) to eat newly-prepared food that has a highly appetizing smell right beside your coworker's desk if you can reasonably avoid it without much trouble.
For instance, if you have a lounge where people often eat lunch, your coworker would probably appreciate it if you had your hot pizza delivered there instead of within 3 feet of him.
Furthermore, the setting kind of matters too. If it's a hot day, your coworker would not appreciate it if you kept reminding him of water. But if your office is air-conditioned then it's unlikely they would be thirsty at all, so at that point your coworker is almost surely not even going to think about the fact that you have a cup of water/tea or a bag of chips or cookies sitting next to you, unless you make super loud slurping/crunching sounds or something.
People understand, but they're humans too.
The mere fact that you're eating/drinking nearby isn't offensive in any way whatsoever (unless you're in a culture where fasting is the norm, which you're not). However, if you do it in a manner or setting that ends up making this distracting for him and it's clear to everyone that you have a reasonable, alternative lunch setting available to you that could be less distracting with little inconvenience to you, then it would probably bother your coworker.
Why is it considered rude to not participate in others self imposed choices. In this case I am pretty sure they knew the ramifications of their choices.
I have an involuntary heave reaction to the smell of melted cheese, I politely excuse myself when others are partaking of pizza or lasagna or whatever, amongst a couple of other things. This is a well documented medical condition.
The only time I ever would expect someone should accommodate me is when they expect me to be in some kind of meeting where it will be mandatory for me to be present while the food is present.
I present my condition and let them decide if I can sit remotely while they eat or they can order something that is not going to make me heave and puke all over the place.
Everyone in the three decades of my work career has understood and either let me leave or ordered an alternative.
