Table Manners

Social skills can make or break your career. Table manners, in particular, show how refined an individual is in social situations, and recruiters know that can translate to your professional relationships. Potential employers and and/or clients often take prospective associates to a business meal as a “test," and if you fail, you're out!

Know Your Left from Your Right

1. Dinner plate in the center
2. Folded napkin on top of the plate
3. Dinner fork to the left of the plate
4. Salad fork to the left of the dinner fork
5. Salad plate to the left of the forks
6. Dinner knife to the right of the dinner plate
7. Dinner spoon to the right of the knife
8. Soup spoon to the right of the dinner spoon.
9. Dessert spoon directly above the plate, horizontally.
10. Dessert fork above the dessert spoon
11. Bread plate
12. Butter knife
13. Water glass
14. Red glass in front and to the right of the water glass.
15. White wine glass in front and to the right of the red wine glass.

Eating is a Process-Table manners vary widely according to culture. Below are a few suggestions for eating in an American business situation.

• Put your napkin in your lap when you sit down.
• Use your utensils from the outside in. For example, salad is usually a first course and will be the fork furthest from the plate on your left. Dessert forks and spoons are usually above the plate.
• Try to eat at about the same pace as those around you.
• If you drop a utensil on the floor, leave it there and ask the waiter to bring you another.
• Place your utensils on your plate after you’ve used them, rather than on the table cloth.
• Right-handed individuals should cut their food with their knife in their right hand and their fork in the left hand. Put the knife back on the plate after cutting and switch your fork to the right hand. (Left-handed people have the advantage!)
• Pass all items to the right. If you reach for something in the center of the table, pass it to your right before serving yourself.
• To signal the waiter that you are through eating, place your knife and fork diagonally across your plate and your napkin beside the plate.
• Place your napkin on your chair if you must excuse yourself from the table.
• Push your chair under the table as you leave.

Eating In Front of Others. (Yes, they are watching every bite you take.)

• Keep your mouth closed when you are chewing food. You should not talk with food in your mouth.
• Order foods that are easy to eat so that you will not feel self-conscious. Finger foods, such as fried chicken, should not be eaten with your fingers, unless the event is informal.
• If you must cut your salad, use your fork. Table manner purists would never use their knife to cut salad.
• Put butter or jam on your plate or butter plate first. Break bits of bread or biscuit into smaller pieces and butter each individually before eating.
• Use your soup spoon by dipping from the inside of the bowl to the outside. Bring the spoon (and other food, for that matter) up to your mouth, rather than your head down to the food. Never drink soup from your bowl.
• If you accidentally burp or hiccup, quietly excuse yourself.
• If you get food  between your teeth, excuse yourself and fix it in the restroom.
• Season food after tasting it. To salt and pepper everything beforehand may indicate that you are close-minded and a creature of habit. Not a good thing in business.