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February 26, 2024, 7:31 AM ET
On one of my first days at The New York Times, I went to an orientation with more than a dozen other new hires. We had to do an icebreaker: Pick a Starburst out of a jar and then answer a question. My Starburst was pink, I believe, and so I had to answer the pink prompt, which had me respond with my favorite sandwich. Russ & Daughters’ Super Heebster came to mind, but I figured mentioning a $19 sandwich wasn’t a great way to win new friends. So I blurted out, “The spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A,” and considered the ice broken.
The HR representative leading the orientation chided me: “We don’t do that here. They hate gay people.” People started snapping their fingers in acclamation. I hadn’t been thinking about the fact that Chick-fil-A was transgressive in liberal circles for its chairman’s opposition to gay marriage. “Not the politics, the chicken,” I quickly said, but it was too late. I sat down, ashamed.
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link to (paywalled) source: I Was a Heretic at The New York Times
If this happened when Chick-fil-A first got called out for this shit, I'd believe it. Libs were falling head over heels about how they didn't eat there. For like 3 months.
Yeah, getting side eyes from libs about lib culture war stuff is believable, as is the "people aren't friends yet so they might not give you the benefit of the doubt" part.
Less believable is the HR person scolding you for naming a fast food sandwich, and the guy makes it clear he's an idiot elsewhere anyway.
Yeah, once I realized they were a right winger complaining about working at the NYT, I didn't see a reason bother reading the rest. OH, no, people didn't like my version of Virtue Signaling even though we're all capitalists!