05 February 2009

Stock Broker Mercilessly Mocked, Labeled "a Homo" and Fired For Not Eating Meat

My man Dan clued me in to this one... BEEF AT GAY INSULT: VEGETARIAN SUES

Basically a Forex trader at Credit Agricole/Calyon is suing his boss for calling him a "homo" because he's a vegetarian. Dude said his boss "did everything he could to make him uncomfortable - including only ordering hamburgers and pepperoni and sausage pizzas for the weekly team lunches." Yeah, welcome to Wall Street, kid.

I've been either a vegetarian or vegan since I was 16. I'm now 30. And I have never bitched about it. It's a personal choice and it ends there. There are those who wear it like a badge and feel the need to let everyone in the room know. Then there are those who realize its a personal choice and, for better or for worse, they are in the minority. Especially in a place like Wall Street where Type-A's rule.

Granted not everyone has the same tolerance level. I've had roommates who ate meat and sure at times it grossed me out. But when you walk onto the trading floor you need to realize its a different world. Thick skin is a must and if you're gonna sue a firm because your desk partners busted your balls because you'd only eat iceberg wedges while they were eating lobsters and steaks, well maybe you're in the wrong business. And this is coming from a guy with "Meat is Murder" tattooed on the back of his neck.

The herbivore is suing Calyon for unspecified "compensatory, emotional, physical and punitive damages" after he was fired for an unrelated "minor infraction".

I've touched on this issue before. See here: Confessions of a Vegetarian Banker

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dude, you have to have had something more than an iceberg wedge to fuel that human wall :)