Mastering the art of good table manners
ONE WOULD THINK, in this age of smartphones, drive-thrus, and dinners-to-go, that proper dining etiquette is a lost art.
Not so. In fact, according to Lorna Somers, it’s more important than ever.
Somers, the vice-president of the McMaster University Foundation and director of development at the university, spends a good deal of time travelling the world trying to woo potential donors. Many of these high-profile, high-pressure meetings take place at fine dining restaurants — and as a result, Somers has learned a thing or two over the years about proper table manners.
This week, Somers passed on some of her dining tips to Mac students at what’s become a hot-ticket item; the McMaster Alumni Association Meals and Manners Etiquette Dinner.
THE DINNER, an annual event that sells out every year, is meant to equip students with the tools they need as they leave university and begin job-hunting. The meal was attended by about 50 students, mostly undergraduates, who paid $15 for a five-course meal and Somers’ etiquette tips.
A good handshake, proper table manners, and neat clothes seem like they shouldn’t make much of a difference. But, as Somers noted, if you show up to a fancy dinner in a hoodie and slurp your soup, you’ll be doing yourself an injustice in an increasingly competitive job market.
“Human nature is to notice those things,” she said. “Bad manners put up a wall to the point where people can’t get through to find out that you’re super smart.”
Learning proper dining etiquette will also help prospective employees to relax in a stressful dining situation and focus on the conversation (instead of worrying about using the wrong fork).
“If you have butterflies, it will help them fly in formation a little bit,” Somers said.
Somers took the students through the five-course meal, doling out tidbits of etiquette knowledge at each turn. Somers took questions from the crowd about everything from how to handle disasters like getting food on your shirt (excuse yourself, ask the server for some soda water, and dab it off in the bathroom) and whether it’s good etiquette to tell your dining companion whether they have food in their teeth (it is).
Though table etiquette originally began as a way to ensure basic health and safety — not using another diner’s cutlery to cut back on the spread of germs, for example — today, it’s primarily about showing respect for your fellow diners.
For Mohib Hassan, a second-year Masters student in engineering design, the dinner gave him a huge boost in confidence as he prepares to enter the job market. Hassan, who arrived in Canada from Pakistan last November, says Somers cleared up any ambiguity he felt about how to handle fine dining.
“There’s always been these questions in my mind that are now pretty much clear,” he said. “I’m actually getting used to North American traditions, so it was a nice thing … she knows what she’s doing.”