Her Co-Workers Gave Her A Hard Time About Her Indian Heritage, But Are Upset When She Refused To Make Indian Food For A Potluck
by Matthew Gilligan
It took me a while to come around to Indian food, but now I’m all in, baby!
We’re talking borderline obsession here…
But enough about me!
It’s time to read this woman’s story and see if we think she was out of line for how she behaved.
Let’s see what happened!
AITA for not bringing Indian food to a potluck?
“I, 27F, recently moved to the US from India for my masters degree.
I have been working part-time and my experience so far has been a mixed bag.
My first week at my job, I faced many micro-aggressions, particularly towards my cultural background.
This wasn’t cool…
I am aware that India doesn’t have the best reputation but some remarks on Indian food and culture from their end was completely unwarranted.
The entire conversation was followed by two other colleagues commenting on how they changed their mind about trying Indian food after watching videos on Tiktok.
I told the manager after a day of being hesitant and he told them privately not to make such comments again.
It has been some time since that incident and they, although aren’t the most friendliest towards me, they haven’t made comments or remarks that made me uncomfortable again.
That was until my manager’s wife threw a potluck at home and invited all of us recently. Since everyone was bringing some dish, I made chow mein and brought it to the potluck.
I have an instagram page dedicated to my cooking, it isn’t popular by any means but I had shared the page with 2 girls I work with.
Most of the food I have posted about is Indian, and I believe the girls have shared my instagram page to the others, or at least talked about it.
Once we were invited, they made a passing comment that they wanted to eat Indian food that I have cooked for them before.
(Context – After the first week at my job, whenever I bring some food with me in tiffin box, I eat it alone. However, one of the girls, A, saw me and asked if she could try it. It was Dhokla, a Gujrati food, and she had loved it so I brought it for her the next day).
She made up her mind about what she wanted to cook.
The day of the party, I had brought chow mein that I made knowing that Chinese food is very popular and well-liked by all of them.
Nothing happened in the potluck until almost at the end when B made a comment on how she expected that I would bring Indian food.
That sentiment was resonated by some others so I said that I wasn’t sure everyone would enjoy it here since I know for certain that some don’t like Indian food and are not open to trying it.
Was it petty? Yes but I didn’t want anyone to feel entitled to me cooking Indian food for them after my first week at the job.
I told A and B later that I would invite them to my house and cook them some of my favorite Indian recipes and they seemed very happy.
What a strange situation…
But the next day at work, things seemed awkward and my manager said that my comment at the potluck had made his wife feel bad.
Another person, C, stopped me later and said that I need to get over what happened, or otherwise it would ruin the atmosphere for everyone again.
I feel slightly angry at the situation and embarrassed.
AITA?”
Check out what folks said about this story.
This reader said she’s NTA.
Another individual spoke up.
This person spoke up and identified as a person of color.
Another reader said she’s NTA.
That’s what happens when you’re rude and judgmental!
One thing, anyway.
If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.
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