We have ham at Christmas. Now I've got this weird feeling I've been doing something that's a faux pas but I can't find a reference on the Internet anywhere. Why will people complain about the ham sandwiches?

Jews do not eat ham. They also don't celebrate Christmas. Having an office Christmas party and serving mostly ham is a great way to drive home exclusion. Or e.g. demanding people work late Fridays. Observant Jews absolutely, positively have to get home by sundown on Friday.

Ohhh, it's the double whammy of having a Christmas party at work and having the ham. I get it, I get it.

Many Jews (like me) will eat ham and happily celebrate at your Christmas party though. You’ll never please everyone.

Would you celebrate any less happily if the holiday party had kosher food?

Not a jew but an "observant christian":

I'd in fact in many cases be less happy if they took away things from my colleagues to please me.

I don't eat blood or strangled meat but don't mess up other people's celebrations and blame it on me.

As long as I'm not forced to be part of it just give me something else that I like and I'm happy.

Having kosher food doesn't mean we can't have ham. People eat other things at Christmas anyway. And calling it a holiday party doesn't take anything away from anyone.

Maybe it’s that some people don’t eat ham for religion and some don’t celebrate Christmas?

Well, isn't the simplest solution for them to not eat the ham sandwich or not attend a Christmas party if it's such a big problem for them?

There will always be someone offended by anything you do. I'm atheist and have no problem celebrating Christmas or Diwali or whatever with my colleagues from work. I guess it entirely depends on the type of person you are.

> You can leave politics and religion at the door, but if you serve ham sandwiches at the Christmas party don't be surprised when people complain.

If you leave religion at the door, you would not have Christmas party.