Table Manners – Behaving in Restaurants

January 16th, 2011  |  Published in General Awareness, TIPS








If you really want to know how well or ill behaved people really are, you only have to observe them in a restaurant having their meals. Really don’t know but there is something about eating and drinking in public place that makes people reveal their essential selves.  There a scene in one of all time best movies “Lage Raho Munnabhai” I hope you have seen the movie – Scene:

“The girl in the restaurant is there to meet a guy her father found in the newspaper matrimonial. He tells her to meet him once and decide whether or not she wantsto marry him. She calls Murli (the radio jockey) and asks him how to tell what the guy will really be like. Murli tells her to see how he treats the waiter, if he calls him with a whistle or kissing his teeth, he’s not good.” I hope this will now make it clear to correlate this article with the behavior pattern.

On the basis of behavior patterns you are bound to observe, please find a list of points of what to do and what not to do in a restaurant.

  • Don’t arrive at a restaurant at peak hours without a restaurant and expect to be seated immediately on the strength of that time-tested refrain. If you haven’t reserved  a table then please be ready to get in queue like the rest of people.
  • If you make a reservation then make sure that you keep it. That means turning up at the restaurant at the appointed time. If you arrive half an hour late and discover that your table has been given away, don’t kick up a fuss. The management has a perfect right to do that especially if you haven’t had the courtesy of calling up and telling them that you will be late.
  • If you have made a reservation for four, then don’t turn up with six guests. No restaurant can miraculously whistle up two extra covers at a minute’s notice. And no, it is not possible to add two extra chairs to a table of four.
  • Please don’t eat out when you are clearly suffering from the flu. All that sneezing and coughing is enough to put everyone else off their food. Not to mention the very real fear of infection, given how close tables are set these days.
  • If you want to bring along your children for lunch or dinner then look after them yourselves. If that’s too much of a strain and you must bring the nanny along, sit her down at you table and treat her like any other member of your party. Don’t make her stand behind your child’s high chair, napkin at the ready to wipe off drool and assorted food stains.
  • If there is something wrong with the dish you ordered or you simply don’t like it, return it immediately. Don’t eat your way through three-quarters and then demand a replacement.
  • If you want French Fries, order your own. Don’t steal them off someone else’s plate while pretending to be an oh-so-abstemious salad-eater.
  • Don’t order soufflé for dessert and then complain about how long it is taking. The waiter explained when you ordered it that minimum cooking time was 25 minutes. He wasn’t kidding, you ought to take him seriously.
  • Don’t dawdle over your tea or coffee at peak times when other people are waiting to be seated for their meal. You may be well within your rights to do so, but good manners demand that you relinquish your place to those still waiting to be fed.
  • Your waiter is a person, not a sub-human species. So don’t whistle or cock a finger to attract his attention. If you can’t catch his eye, a loud “Excuse me” usually does the trick. But if he is wearing a name tag then do him the courtesy of addressing him by his name.
  • If your favorite coffee place is full, it is not cool to go and stand behind a table that looks as if it may be the first to get vacated in the hope that you can grab it before anyone else. And it is downright rude to ask those seated just how long they are going to take over that cappuccino.
  • It doesn’t matter if a 10 percent service charge is included in your bill, It is still a nice gesture to leave a little something behind for your waiter. For one thing, it will get you better service the next time around. But more than that, it is the right thing to do.

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