Stereotypes aside, a bottle of cognac and chocolate cake is pretty good as far as office birthdays go.
Yup.
If someone got you a bottle of liquor you probably have drank with them or spoken about it… it’s not difficult to assume someone said oh he likes this lets get it for him. Further this is a pretty common brand and has a good chance of getting picked in general.
The speed at which people assume the worst and get offended recently needs to get dialed back… a lot. If I wanted to slight a dude I wouldn’t spend money to do it.
Your entire argument depends on the fact that this dude Hennessy with his co-workers or talked about.
A fact which (as far as I can tell) you just made up.
That’s sort of the point. There is minimal context on the image so we are left to extrapolate from what we can see.
I see a nice office setting with a fairly dressed down couple of people who seem reasonably at ease in the space. It is a chocolate cake which is the typical go-to in most situations and appears to be store bought. Depending on where you live you can get liquor in the store or at a small store nearby. Some of the largest displays and most well known brands are Makers, Crown, and Hennessy. These are typically larger displays where even if you knew nothing about liquor you could probably pick one of those 3… and of those crown comes in packaging which would be a pain to take apart if you were just looking for a quick better than a birthday card gift.
…So assuming they knew fuck all about him there’s still a coin flip it would have been Hennessy. As far as the cake goes probably better than 60-70%. So hanlons razor: did someone just blow 70 bucks for a cake and booze to take a cheap shot at the guy? I doubt it.
I’ve worked in a lot of offices and I can tell you most people won’t go out of their way to get you a gift on your birthday outside of maybe a gift card from a boss. I see no malice here. Am I making assumptions? Sure. It’s an image and I provided my take on it. What was yours again?
Yes, that is how hypotheticals work. It’s how we imagine things we don’t know specific details about and try and find ways to explain them.
I worked at a design Co once where they gave everyone a bottle of patron for a gift. I didn’t want that crap, it’s no don Julio, so I look at it and say “I can’t take this, I’m sober” just to be an ass but they took it like I was in recovery, started to apologize profusely. A few minutes later they came back with a check for $200, a much better gift. I never drank at work functions anyways.
$200 vs. A shitty bottle of over priced tequila that’s $60… You came out way on top in that exchange
Is there a stereotype that I’m unfamiliar with?
Hennessy has a long-standing relationship with African American culture, especially hip hop. It has been described as “synonymous with rap music and African Americans, who are the brand’s major consumers and advocates”. While music, especially the 2004 2Pac song “Hennessy” has been credited with popularising the drink, some historians have pointed to a much older relationship, which began when African American servicemen encountered cognac in France during World War I and World War II.
Hennessy has actively pursued this consumer group for decades. It targeted minority audiences as early as the 1950s, when it placed advertisements in African American magazines like Ebony and Jet, used African American models, and hired African American employees. By some estimates more than two thirds of Hennessy sold in the United States is consumed by African Americans. It is sometimes referred to as “Henny”.
Hennessy appears frequently in the lyrics of popular music, and by one estimate the words “Hennessy” or “cognac” are referenced in more than 1,000 songs.
If it’s anything like fried chicken or watermelon, I assume it’s because it tastes good.
It’s also associated with literally everyone else who drinks. This is a weird one.
Is it just the Hennessy that is being pointed to as the stereotype? Because I’m sitting here trying to figure out if there’s a stereotype about chocolate cake as well.
Chocolate isn’t racist. They picked it to match the color scheme.
My cake was strawberry.
Nah this is clearly with an A. A bottle of henny on the cake is a bro move.