Eid at work

[DLJ]

Back in my Operations days I used to allow the staff to bring in food for various festivals (christmas, Eid etc.). The only thing I asked was that they were inclusive not exclusive... and everyone was happy with that.

The company had no specific policy on it ... manager's discretion.

Harmony: having a cohesive team that understood each other and enjoyed working / having fun together was important.

Also 'fairness' was important so there needed to be an even-handedness and balance e.g. some would take time out for prayers and others were allowed the same amount of time for smoke breaks.

Last year, here, during Ramadan, I brought in some chocolate cake and cheesecake to share with the two non-muslim colleagues and we made loud "nom nom" noises while eating them... much to the muslim Regional Director's anger. I got some very hurt and angry text messages.

She (the Director) expressed her annoyance about my insensitivity to her colleague (the finance lady; who had enjoyed the cheesecake). The finance lady (a vegetarian for cultural reasons) said "now you know how I feel every time you guys eat meat in the office".

So a lesson was learnt about the unspoken privileges of cultural dominance.

This year I cooked a sundown (break fast) meal for everyone. No prayers and no apologies.