Onions

What is it with raw onions in salad? I mean why??? Now, I'm not your average onion hater. Caramelised onions, french onion soup, you name it, I love cooked onions. Note the stress. Raw onions are something altogether different. It was a rather disturbing feature in my Uni hall food. We always had a salad there and, without fail, it had onions in it. I simply don't understand it. Salad, or stir fry bought in a packet, has a remarkable range of textures and flavours, a wonderful bouquet of taste. Add raw onions to that and those fabulous flavours are not merely dampened but obliterated almost immediately. There is no point in the slightest in adding this ingredient unless you have no friends or anyone who is likely to get close enough to smell your breath in the near future. Grrr.