Heading out to a business lunch when I am still on soft foods and nauseous

Yep, been there done that. Good luck, let's hope the soup is chicken noodle.

Thanks guys!   Turns out the soup was French onion and that was not an option.  I was able to ask for noodles with just butter queitly enough that no one heard...only one person asked me during the meal.  I told them I had seasoned oil....white lie, but it is on menu.

Now I am just queasy......but will make it to 4pm then I am leaving for the day hooray

I've had to do that before. Not fun. I could not eat a thing and then to have coworkers look at like you have done something wrong rather than praise you for coming to the meeting in spite of your illness is hard row to hoe.

I'm glad you made it through.

Take care,
Jon

Where do you work for crying out loud? I would have just told my boss, look I don't feel well and a couple of my co-workers are rude with no manners so I'm going to skip lunch. If you'd like my input on something I'll email it to you. Or better yet: I would have said that and ended with: now I'm going home....because in my opinion you shouldn't have been at work in the first place - I wouldn't have been.

Cleo - I actually work in the health insurance industry.  And I have a very understanding boss that has known me for about 20 years.  The thing is, sometimes you have to make an appearance to keep your job stable - I have a position where I present to both internal and external customers.  I also do not want to show signs of weakness because no matter what an HR department says, you can be harmed by peoples perceptions.  I have managed quite well over many years to hide my issues so I am able to work 40+ hours.  I know I am one of the fortunate ones.  I also knows it stinks and we should not have to "hide" our issues.  I just know that in reality you are corporately expected to give 110% all the time - with a fortunate boss who letss me rest when needed.

Gumby - yeah that is the good thing about those stupid wacky diets out there...nothing is out of the realm of possibility.  And most of the folks here know I wanted to diet to fit into my Mrs. Claus costume in December.  I consider myself skilled at the pushing food around concept....used to do it all the time when I worked for a person that always picked ethnic restaurants with no menu choices for me.  I just had not had to do it in a couple of years and lost my touch

Hey Riddle...it all depends on what I can order.  If it is something where I can eat bits of it, I eat those spread throughout the meal and move the rest around.  If you leave one space empty on the plate, it looks like you were just full.  If you order dishes that are not sandwiches or solid things cut up...it really helps.  Although I have sliced a small pork chop up and moved it around without ever eating any.  I also bury things under lettuce etc.

I sometimes get the wait staff asking if everything was OK...then I just say oh I was full.  I take/throw out a lot of leftovers then.  It really helps if you join in the conversation and then...ooops oh no I'm full thank you.

I would just order anything and then play with the food and say you really didn't care for it. No one needs to know and you don't need the added stress.

Cool thanks for the advice. I'll have to try this sometime. Not sure if this is as easy to explain for a male.