Suppose his attitude was I was only cattle freight so I could like it or lump it. Doubt a business or first class pax would have been treated with such indifference somehow.
Actually, I flew to LAX with AFR a few months ago and got no choice of meal not once but twice. Both meal services were done in the same order and by the time I was got to there was no choice left. The first time I was mildly irritated but the choice was OK. The second time was an offering of veal (I think) which I ate one mouthful of. I got the gallic shrug when I suggested that they could have tried to organise things that the people without choice last time got one the second time round.
Maybe if there are any cabin crew lurking you could explain why the meal service is always done in the same direction on any given flight, thus increasing the risk of the same passengers getting no meal choice more than once?
TUS