Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Radisson Conference Centre in Chicago

On Monday night it was off to Chicago for an association of iron and steel technology continuous casting conference. It was held at the Merrillville Radisson, about an hour drive from the Chicago airport. All meals were included.

Breakfasts were the standard greasy muffins, danishes and fresh fruit. So so, but all meals are upgraded slightly since they were included!

Lunch the first day was alright, some rice and grilled veggies (veggie meal) with salad and apple pie. Rather americain.

Dinner was a HUGE disaster. It was a giant dinner meeting for the northwest chapter of the aiste with 650 people in attendance and a head table with lots of CEO/VP's from the major americain steel companies. Rather wacky when compared to our much quieter canadian meetings.

I had ordered a veggie meal quite a while ago when I signed up for the course plus I reminded the organizers when I arrived at the course. The veggie meal at lunch was easy/good so I was hopefull. The dinner started with salad, so that was ok. Then the waiters came out with prime rib and I requested the veggie meal. They seemed to know about me and said they would be right back with my dinner. About four waiters/head waiters came by to apologize and offer excuses. 45 minutes later, my meal arrived, well into the keynote speaker for the evening. They had already cleared tables etc (including cutlery) so I just waved them away as it would have been rather distracting for the rest of my table who was trying to pay attention. So if was just salad and cheesecake for me that night. Kind of a burn, I don't quite understand the problem. Yeah, I know I know it would just be easier to eat meat!

2 comments:

Jackie Bolen said...

Man...it that ever not so cool at all! They totally forgot about you. Have you taken my recommendations yet to get more readers?

Anonymous said...

At least at the office, the lunch organizer doesn't forget about her veggie friend...'note to self, no olives next time'....