Have you taken a look at other diners when you are eating out in public? Our society is becoming so casual that we are loosing many of our manners, especially table etiquette. My husband and I went out to a nice restaurant that is located on the lake that we live on. This is a resort area, but this restaurant has fine dining. There are candles on the tables, a wonderful wine list and a string quartet that entertains the diners. A few weeks ago we went there to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I could not believe the way others were dressed and how they acted.
My husband had on dress pants and a dress shirt. I wore a skirt with a silk blouse and jewelry. This is the attire that we have felt comfortable in at the restaurant in the past. We had reservations so we were seated immediately, even though there were several people waiting for tables. After we were seated I started looking at the other diners. At two different tables the men were sitting with baseball caps on. I told my husband that I could not believe that people no longer are concerned with table etiquette and good manners in general. We were discussing this when the waitress came over to take our order. She over hear our conversation. She is a woman in her mid fifties. She has been a waitress at this restaurant for over thirty years. She said that the lack of table etiquette and manners is at times unbearable. She said people talk with their mouths full, eat with their hands, and lean on the tables with their forearms as they eat.
My husband and I discussed how we had learned table etiquette growing up. Both of our parent’s insisted that we learned and used good manners as we ate our family meals together. We learned to pass the food, say please and thank you and to not talk with your mouth full. These seem like such simple things, yet as I looked around many of the diners were not following these basic rules of table etiquette.
We ate our meal, which was delicious as always and then we moved into the bar area to have an after dinner drink and to listen to the musicians. The owner of the establishment was bartending. We resumed our conversation about manners with him. He said that he has thought about turning the restaurant into a sports bar. He said that no one followed the dress codes anymore and that people no longer were interested in fine dining. He said that instead of fighting the growing trend of fried foods and loud music he thought he would join it. We told him we would miss the wonderful atmosphere in the present set up.