Dining | Manners maketh Man

---

 

Dining.

I take my dinner seriously. I love dressing up, donning my high heels and of course, I love me some food.

There is a lot that can be said about manners, not excluding manners at the dinner table, in and outside the home. Because, as we all know, what you practice at home is what you do in the road.

Dressing up and good vibes aside, inappropriate (or none at all) table manners really edge my teeth. Really, really. Cellphone use and abuse, clapping at the table (and not with your hands) are just some of my pet peeves.

So in the spirit of all the upcoming festivities, I thought it may help if I share my set of rules for eating out and basic table manners.

1. “Please”, “Thank you”  and “You are welcome”
These are not and  will never be out of style.  Be very generous with these, especially with the people who serve you – at dinner and in every day life. 

2. Keep your mouth closed

Once the piece of Sirloin has been placed into your mouth, no one needs to see it again. Mouths closed until the chewing is finished. No-one likes to be sprayed with spoken gravy.

3. Use ‘inside voices”

Keep your volume to a reasonable level.  Granny and Grampa celebrating their 50th birthday do not need to hear what naughty things you are going to do to your date.

4. Use the napkins provided

The napkins, usually located under the utensils, should be unfolded and placed on your lap, not tucked into your shirt/ blouse/ dress by your neck. They are used to catch any crumbs and for wiping up any spills, on or around your mouth or otherwise.

It’s okay if the napkin gets dirty, there are more for the other customers.

If you need to use the restroom, leave your napkin on your chair. It helps the server know that you will be back and it avoids the other people at your table looking at your soiled napkin when you place it on the table beside your plate.

5. Use the appropriate utensils

Use the knife and fork provided for eating. 

Depending on the restaurant, there may be a number of utensils that look the same. Usually the utensils are sized differently, but these days, with all these ‘contemporary’ restaurants (aka recession), that’s not for certain. Then there is an European layout and an American layout so it can get confusing (Usually, Europeans serve the salad last, Americans serve the salad first)

A general rule of thumb is to start with the utensils furthest away from the plate and move inward. For example if you have 2 forks to the left of you, start with the fork on the left for the salad/ appetizer and use the fork on right for the main meal or the entrée. The same goes for the knife, the right most knife is used for the appetizer and the left, innermost knife would be used for the main meal.

The butter knife doesn’t look like a regular knife – it’s small, relatively blunt, and is usually placed on the bread and butter plate to the LEFT of you. 

Any utensils placed above the plate are reserved for dessert. The soup spoon, looks like a ladle but smaller, is usually placed to the right of the knives and should be used for soups ONLY.

No eating your entire meal with the dessert spoon guys. If you are having difficulty with the knife and spoon try your best to get through the night and practice eating your meals at home with a knife and fork. As with everything else in life, practice makes you better.

6. Solids to the left, liquids to the right

All the glasses, including the water glass, the wine glass(es), coffee – any liquids, to the right of your plate are meant for you.

The smaller plate with the bread to the left of your dinner plate is yours. No more eating someone else’s bread.

7. Elbows off, shoes on

This is the cornerstone of good table manners. There was a reason that your parents kept insisting that you keep your elbows off the table. 

While we’re at it, good posture at the table is not only good for your spine, but makes you appear more alert and interested.

Keep your shoes on. Get comfortable yes, but not this comfortable. No matter how uncomfortable your shoes may be, as you thought that they were appropriate to wear to dinner, keep them on.

Guys, this also goes for belt buckles, leave them alone. If you eat so much that you feel the need to unbuckle it then please deal with that gluttony issue at another time. 

8. No Blackberry’s allowed

Or iPhone, or whatever other smartphone you treasure. I’m pretty sure that you are not running the world,  so it can’t be THAT serious, especially if you are rolling around with the 8300 model. It’s just an hour or so; it’s okay to keep your social life guessing. 

Parents, if necessary, while you are getting comfy at the table, politely explain to the other people at the table that your kids are at home and that you may have to take an urgent call if something comes up. When a real emergency comes up, you deal with it. End of story.

9. Tip

Unless expressly stated in the restaurant’s policy, it is good practice to tip. There is no moral obligation to tip, but at a restaurant the waiter provides a service that s/he believes is worthy of at least a 15% service charge. These people work hard guys. If the service isn’t up to par, tip at the lower end, but by all means if the service was spectacular tip generously. 

For restaurants, the tip is usually between 10-20%, so budget for this beforehand so there will be no excuses. If after seeing the menu, you work out in your head that you will not be able to afford the tip, then go to a cheaper restaurant. 

10. Be aware of your surroundings

Take in the environment of the restaurant, and have realistic expectations. The type of restaurant will generally indicate what type of behaviour is expected and what you should expect from the service.

For example, do not expect 4 star service from a Roadside Grill. Likewise understand that food served at high end restaurants takes time. So no grumbling about how long the food is taking after 15 minutes. Grab a kid’s menu and do a puzzle or two.

Be aware of the people around you. If you are sitting with your back to a walkway, for example, and you need to excuse yourself to the restroom, ensure that the walkway is clear before you excuse yourself from the table to avoid any potential accidents.

Carry your valuables with you if neccessary to avoid having to shut down the restaurant because you lost your phone.

Enjoy yourself, your surroundings, the food, and the company.

11. Treat your kids

Last but not least, do consider taking your kids to dinner from time to time so that they can learn dining etiquette from an early age. 

As they age, you will be thankful that you did, and eventually so will they. 

Forward ever.

.

POSSIBLY RELATED GC POSTS
Career | Email Etiquette
Office Party Etiquette
Career Tip: Online presence
Lifestyle | Party Hearty
Style | Shoe blues

5 Simple Ways to Look 10 years older | BMP Tip 2

---

Lest you be found guilty by the Beauty & Makeup Police (BMP) while you try your very best to get your festive sexy on this holiday season, here is a second easy way to look 10 years older.

Wearing too much powder

Because it’s cakey and aging.

Packed on powder doesn’t stand up well to bright lights and flashing camera lights. Also if you have started to wrinkle or even if you have laugh lines, it’s just way too easy for the creasing lines to be more pronounced by wearing too much powder, as the powder will tend to break apart and crack in a sort of arid, desert lands steez.

Further to this, unless you are of a fair complexion, do not believe the hype that translucent powder matches ‘every’ skin color. It doesn’t.

There are over 6 billion of us here, if finding a similarity between all of us was as easy as translucent powder, then World Peace would not be an issue. Skin and skin tones, like human beings are way too complex for anything to be even remotely that simple.

Find powder in your skin tone, apply it over any foundation or concealer that you may be wearing and call that a day. Unless you’ve been sweating up a storm crunking in the club and have totally removed your makeup, use oil absorbing or blotting sheets to get rid of the shine, rather than apply more powder.

In a crunch? Those sanitary toilet seat ‘paper’ covers, grab one (a clean one) tear it in some manageable sized square-ish shapes and stash a few in your pocketbook.

They function in pretty much the same way as those commercial blotting sheets and work better than tissue, as they don’t leave any white residue behind.  This way you don’t look all spotted when the UV black light comes on in the club.

.

Possibly related GC posts

5 simple ways to look 10 years older | BMP Tip 1
Shake it off: Loose Powder
Beauty | Flawless Face
Laying the foundation
Holiday Glam: Face Bling

Random music quote: Alicia Keys

---

.

” No matter how hard the task may seem
Don’t give up our plans, don’t give up our dreams
No broken bridges will turn us around
Cause what we’re searchin’ for will soon be found…” 

- Almost There, Alicia Keys

Just one more day, we’re almost there…

.