The Daily Three Things

Accordin to me, table manners do matter. Name three thins that other people will occasionally do that you consider bad table manners. 

Comments

[myniza]

smack, and lick there fingers. im sure there are more but i just can't think this early in the morning.

[DaFFy]

My stepson who is 10, speaks with his mouth full, licks his knife, and whenever he is allowed to pick up something such as a drumstick? He grabs it in his fist, and doesn't hold the ends with his fingers. He also is forever shoving food off his plate. I think his mother is a tad lax on teaching him table manners :(

[Marie]

Use cell phones @ restaurants
Chew with mouth open
Use fingers instead of utensils

[squareslant]

1. Not putting napkin in your lap.
2. Holding your fork like a shovel instead of a fork.
3. People eating off my plate without permission.

[Alessandra]

Answer the phone/cell during meal.
Chew w/ mouth open.
Eating off other's plate without asking first.

[UV]

1. Talking about gross subjects.
2. Reaching/grabbing instead of asking someone to please pass the whatever.
3. Making slurping/burping noises.

[Sol]

1. Pushing food onto your fork, to include mashed potatos, with your fingers. As.. an .. adult.

2. Napkins are for cleaning fingers. Don't shove your whole finger into your mouth and slurp it off!

3. Resting your forearm against the edge of the table with food dripping off your fingers while carrying on a conversation with someone else.

[Julie]

1- laughing obnoxiously and very loudly in a restaurant
2- shoving too much food in your mouth so it is still showing as you're chewing
3- eating food off my plate without asking

[franchini]

1. Reaching across me, or anyone else, to get something.
2. People interrupting a conversation to ask if you want more of something (when you can see for yourself it's there)
3. Licking the froth from a cappucino with a teaspoon - stir in in.

I'm intolerant of poor table manners - it's a good job you said only three things because I could go on....

[milehighdiva]

slurping food
chewing with mouth open
talking on cell phones in restaurants

I'm listed on the side bar of places already sent.

[aka_monty]

All the things everyone else had listed...
and
1. Anything that allows you to see what's in the other person's mouth. Ick.
2. Hunching over your plate, shoveling the food in like it's the first time you've eaten in a year.
3. Taking out your upper plate and setting on the table.
*shudder* Yes, I've actually witnessed that, more than once.

[susan]

1. The "see-food" method of chewing
2. I don't mind the answering of the cell phone thing that much, is it officially bad manners yet? Did anyone inform the public if it is. I dislike when they talk as if they are doing you the favor of letting you hear thier conversation nice and loud, even if you think it really isn't any of your business.
3. slurping soup

[sleepingmommy]

Slurp

Smack

elbows on table.

[ms. mac]

1. Start eating before everyone, including the hostess who is probably serving, sits down. That is my pet hate.
2. Leave the table before everyone has finished.
3. Complain about the meal when eating in someone else's home.

I also cannot watch someone hold their knife like a pen. It's just WRONG!!!

[Shannin]

Using a cell phone in a restaurant

Talking with your mouth full

Eating before everyone is served -- have to agree with Ms. Mac on that one

[Scully]

1. Chew gum at the table and then take the gum out and put it on a side plate or put it in a napkin. EWWWWWWW!!!
2. Talk with their mouth full of food.
3. Being rude to the wait staff just to show how superior they are.

[christine]

1. Cell phones in restaurants
2. Talking with mouth full of food
3. Eating off my plate without asking.

[Phil]

1. I'll take it one step further than others have . . . talking on the cell phone while at the table--restaraunt or otherwise. You get a call, or need to make one, excuse yourself from the table.

2. Taking the last of something without asking if anyone else would like more.

3. Saying "Gimme the ____" instead of "Would you please pass the ____".

[Sarah]

Licking knife
Stabbing their food as if it's going to walk off of their plate
Spitting food out they don't like...that's what your water glass is for, just drown it.

[Mimi]

1. Chew w/ their mouth open. *shudders*
2. Talk on cell phone.
3. I'm the only person I know who is bothered by this but...elbows on the table.

[wavybrains]

1. Slurping anything
2. Salting food without tasting it first
3. Mixing dishes together. Don't stir your mashed potatoes and your corn together or your salad and your pasta. Ew. And an insult to the chef/resturaunt.

[Alda]

sitting with your foot up on your chair (as in, knee up]
talking with mouth full
using hands instead of the utensils provided
[All three irritate me to distraction!]

[-E]

1. Talking on the phone at the table.
2. Talking with your mouth full/chewing with your mouth open.
3. Eating off of others' plates.

[bari]

1. Not waiting until all are seated to eat.
2. The telephone at or during dinner.
3. Smoking at the table.

[Garnet]

Chewing with mouth open. I call my Honey on this almost daily. yesterday we went out to lunch and there was a woman at the table opposite ours who was smacking her mouth so loudly as she ate. I couldn't eat my own food until she was done, it disgusted me so much! I told Honey, "See, that could happen to you if you didn't have me around to make you stop!" LOL

[Jugglernaut]

1. Smacking/slurping. I've actually had to leave the room because of this.
2. Chewing with mouth open.
3. Visible gristle removal and storage.

On eating before everyone is served: One school of etiquette says wait. However, another school says that you should begin eating when the dish arrives because the chef meant you to eat it at a certain temperature and you're insulting him/her by letting it sit there and cool or warm too much.

[annie]

1. Smacking, slurping, mouth open when chewing; people should not HEAR you eat.
2. Licking the fingers; you have a NAPKIN to wipe your fingers!
3. I have seen and heard a LOT of people do this last one, after they finish their plate (and others, of course, are still eating) BLOWING THEIR NOSE! At the TABLE! LOUDLY and HONK-INGLY! This is EXTREMELY un-appetizing!!!

[Lynda]

1. Not keep one hand in the lap
2. Smacking/chewing with mouth open
3. Talking with food in the mouth

Eeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[Cara]

Making any kind of slurping or smacking noise while eating.

Elbows on the table

Not having one hand in lap

[J]

#1 Chewing with their moth open (GROSS!)
#2 Burp
#3 Eating food off of others plates

[J]

Or, mouth... Either will work.

[JCanuck]

At home:
1)Not waiting until everyone is seated and served.
2)Leaving the table before everyone has finished.
3)Eating with your mouth open.

In a restaurant, 1 and 3 from above, exception made for 2 if you have to go outside to take a phone call. I would say not turning off the cell phone, but there are some people who need to be available at all times.

1)Not saying please and thank you to the server.
2)Asking the server to clear your plate before everyone has finished.
3)Not laying your knife and fork side by side together on your plate when you have finished, and then getting annoyed because your server hasn't come to clear your plate yet.
4)Allowing your children to run around the restaurant. If they can't behave, they don't belong there, it's dangerous.

I have a question for the "one hand in the lap" comments, since this is the first time that I have heard that one. How are you supposed to cut your food with one hand in your lap, not to mention putting things that need the guidance of a knife onto your fork?

[trine]

eating without closing your mouth, and making those smatt smatt sounds when you chew....

getting up and leaving the table when I am not finished...

[Jackie]

I'm curious about the one hand in the lap too.

Maybe it's because Americans cut their food then use only their fork?

[annie]

Yes, that's the one hand in lap thing (American). People
should not eat with a knife in one hand and a fork in the other unless they have the proper accent, then it's perfectly alright.

[lani]

1. when people start eating before everyone has sat down.
2. when other people allow their children to discuss inappropriate nonsense at the dinner table (um...poop talk?).
3. answering the telephone during dinner and proceeding to sit down and chat at the table.

[Sharron]

1-Unless it's chicken or pizza, please don't eat with your hands.
2-The dogs are not welcome to sit on your lap at the dinner table.
3-Getting up to anwser the house phone, or worse, taking the cell phone out of your pocket to answer it while still at the table. Or even worse....answering that cell phone at the table while sitting in a restaurant. That alone will cause me to get up and walk out.

[Shane]

- Eat/chew audibly (my brother did this when he was young, I over-reacted to it)
- Smoke at the table (special 'smoking areas' are immaterial)
- Due to being drunk, behave in a raucous or vulgar manner that is way beyond that of other diners

[Andrea]

1. Eating with mouth open and smacking - why do so many people do this? I wish we could just ask them to stop! Why don't they just know??? It is unfortunate that the rest of us have to suffer through this, because it is ironically impolite for us to ask them to stop!!!
2. Slurping anything - tea, soup

[Abigail]

1)Making unsolicited commentary on what others are eating.

2) Discussing one's health or lack thereof while others are dining.

3) smacking/noises while eating

[Jon]

Anything that forces diners to pay attention to any bodily function or activity is not welcome for obvious reasons.

Hence, chewing loudly or with the mouth open, licking fingers, burping. There are health reasons for most things etiquette, if you speak whilst chewing you spit even if you don';t see it, because you have more saliva in your mouth, if you burp, gases rush out of your mouth (which is why we burp), eating with your hands (the dirtiest thing on your body (yes they are) you are more prone to infect yourself with something. And to all Americans, there is a reason why the fork should always stay on the left hand and the knife on your right hand; but I can see how your way is now part of your culture and should be accepted and respected.

[Steed]

I agree about people holding their knife like a pen. It's just weird.

That said, the question whether you wait for everyone to be served before starting your meal in a restaurant is a prickly one.

It is very middle class faux good manners to insist on waiting. "oh, don't start just yet, father, Auntie Fran has not been served."

The flipside of course that it is bad manners on Auntie Fran's part to expect everyone to wait for her while their plates get cold. If her family really have no common sense, auntie Fran should perhaps say "don't wait for me", upon which everyone should start and not wait (thinking they are being 'frightfully' well mannered) by pausing even though she has insisted.