Nashua- College students are not known for their good
eating habits. Hoping to beef up their dining skills, about two dozen
students have signed up for an “etiquette dinner” to night.
The dinner will help students “make that transition
out of college into the work world.” Said Kerry Willard Bray, director of
career resources for Daniel Webster College, who is hosting that
educational meal.
The questions of which bread plate is yours and what
to do if you drop a fork will be answered during the one-night class.
(The bread plate is to the left, leaving the water glass to the right of
the table setting. With respect to the fork, leave it on the floor and
inform the server.
“You actually get to practice passing things around
that table….and really get to simulate what it will be like.” Bray said,
noting pasta with red sauce “is always a little bit dangerous.”
Christopher Poole, 19 a sophomore at Daniel Webster
College is studying computer science and signed up for the meal because he
feels, “In the business world, its extremely important to know how to
behave and make a good first impression on people.”
“To a lot of people, etiquette and proper behavior
has sort of a fallen by the wayside,” he said
“I’d like to be more sure of myself in knowing how to
act (at the table). Being a college student, it’s something I’m not use
to,” Poole said. “Usually, we have a good sense of manners. We’re
certainly not pigs, but there are certain improvements that could be
made.”
Sam Rioux, a 20 year old junior, is also studying
computers and hopes to work for BAE Systems one day. Learning dinning
etiquette “might be useful in the future,” she said.
I’m used to going to a restaurant and having a fork,
spoon, and knife- and that’s it.” Rioux said.
In formal dining settings, Rioux said she is not
certain which glass is hers. “ I don’t want to be taking someone else’s
water glass, she said.
Maureen Crawford Hentz is teaching the etiquette
dinner. She has been making career development presentations for 12 years
and expanded into dining etiquette two years ago. Hentz, 37, said she is
definitely not “old and stuffy.”
“(Etiquette) has to be totally fun, otherwise it’s
totally intimidating, she said.
The idea behind the class is to make students more
comfortable in formal dinning, helping them become “more employable and
datable,” Hentz said.
Among her list of tips is to try to avoid messy
meals, she advised. If forced to order pasts pick ziti.
“You can never ensure that you’re not going to have
spinach in your teeth, but you can ensure that you aren’t using the wrong
fork,” she said.
