Dining Etiquette

flyinglentris said:
How often do you feel comfortable serving guests on paper plates, plastic glasses and plastic spoons, forks and knives?

What setting justifies that? Or do you do it to avoid washing dishes when your evening is going to get too busy to attend to cleaning up?
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We put on a couple of times a year like cup day here, around 30 people here for the day, nibbles and hot ham at night, we use plastic then, it's so much easier cleaning up. No one minds. After all they are being fed from 10 am to 9pm?? For nothing. Plus my wife hates the smell of seafood, I make seafood stuff, whitebait patties/ fritters, Paua/ abalone fritters and crayfish and she doesn't want to see the stuff.

Russ
 
Do you really feel comfortable having people over and while they are there, they wander out of the hardwood floor ding area into the living room (which may be carpeted) carrying their food and drinks with them, standing around gossiping or sitting on your uncovered and exposed living room furniture?

Yes, it is impossible to get junk out of the bottom of a couch when it falls under the cushions and into the cracks. You have to rip open the bottom liner to do that. Ouch!
 
flyinglentris said:
Do you really feel comfortable having people over
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I didn't have to read further than that to answer...no! :laugh:

MrsT and I have been discussing maybe lightening up the anti-social behavior a bit once the plague passes, but everyone we know, if they're couples, one half of the couple is fairly intolerable. We're trying to figure out a nice, polite way to say, "Would you like to come over for afternoon tea Sunday, but leave that b!tch/b@stard of a partner of yours at home, please?" - just can't find the right words... 🤔
 
flyinglentris said:
Do you really feel comfortable having people over and while they are there, they wander out of the hardwood floor ding area into the living room (which may be carpeted) carrying their food and drinks with them, standing around gossiping or sitting on your uncovered and exposed living room furniture?
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Yes I would....furniture is there to be sat on and most carpets can be cleaned if needed. Besides, I know any people I invite over would be far too polite to wander around the rest of the house without being invited, especially when they are eating :ohmy:

Winter entertaining tends to be done in the kitchen and food is eaten at the table, though we may use the lounge for drinks (and occasionally nibbles). Summer entertaining is a lot more informal so people tend to wander between the kitchen and garden, but again, food is normally eaten at a table, or if there are too many of us to get around the tables then people tend to eat outside.
 
TastyReuben said:
I didn't have to read further than that to answer...no! :laugh:

MrsT and I have been discussing maybe lightening up the anti-social behavior a bit once the plague passes, but everyone we know, if they're couples, one half of the couple is fairly intolerable. We're trying to figure out a nice, polite way to say, "Would you like to come over for afternoon tea Sunday, but leave that b!tch/b@stard of a partner of yours at home, please?" - just can't find the right words... 🤔
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Might I suggest getting one of those doggy pet fences to fence off the living room from your less than thinking and considerate guests? It would have to be a high one, like for great danes and you would ought to put the most vicious "Beware of Dog" sign on it. :okay:
 
How far have you ever seen a kid in a trayed high chair fling food? I think this should be an Olympic competition for kids.

I wonder if there is a Guinness Book of Records holder for the title of furthest flung food by a toddler from a trayed high chair?

And BTW: What good would a bib on these toddlers be?
 
Of course, toddler food flinging is not a malicious or rebellious act. It's part of what is likely what folks call the terrible twos, when toddlers have developed some muscular coordination, but have yet to develop the thoughtful thinking skills that will define them later in life. It demands a whole lot of tolerance from parents.

I wonder at this point, how restaurant staff reacts to a terrible twos toddler who engages in food flinging in the restaurant?
 
I don't know about food flinging, but we were in a family restaurant once and this couple was letting their 2-3 year old run around loose, and it was a busy night. He was bouncing off people's chairs and we were annoyed by it, as I'm sure others were too, and running in front of servers and other guests as they were being seated or leaving. The parents seemed to be totally oblivious. Then, he ran right in front of a server carrying a full tray of food balanced on 1 hand high up in the air. My breath caught, as did a couple of other women watching. Fortunately, the server was young, agile and had quick reflexes so was able to stop short and keep the tray balanced over his head, otherwise, there would have been a disaster in the making. Very shortly after that, the kid got reined in because their food came.

And, if a toddler ever flung food at me in a restaurant, there would be things said to the parents and management.

I can't stand kids screaming, yelling and crying in a restaurant, even a family oriented one. If there are 2 adults present, 1 will get up and take the child outside most of the time, which is what they should do. It's what I did with my daughter when she was little and got out of control, but she mostly behaved as she was taught early on to be a little lady in public. On the rare occasion when she didn't, out we went.
 
I have a few horror stories, and here's the first one:

This was way back when we were dating, so late 1980's. We were at Pizza Hut, dining in, and there was this little toddler girl bouncing all over the dining room - given free rein of the place.

We watched more than once as she nearly got toppled, or nearly toppled someone else, watched her go over to other booths and try to climb up on customers' laps, just completely out of control.

At one point, the waitress was standing at a table taking an order, and the kid bounded this way, then that, headed in her general direction.

She got just behind the waitress, mere inches away, and I said, "Watch over there, because you're about to see a kid get smooshed by a tumbling waitress."

Before that could happen...well, you ever see what a little kid looks like when they're about to sneeze? The suddenly stop everything, their whole body freezes, and then...out with the snot.

That's what this kid did, a really throaty, all-the-way-from-the-soles sneeze. All over the back legs of the waitress, just oodles and buckets of it, who'd unwisely chosen to wear a skirt instead of trousers that night.

It was the one time stringy greasy pizza cheese held no appeal for me. :laugh:
 
On the topic of plastic utensils: I always save the ones that come along with carry-out orders, but I rarely use them to eat the food I've bought. However, I do find them to be incredibly useful for the following:
  • picking olives out of a jar
  • portioning a small amount of sauce from a jar
  • sampling a soup that I'm making
Every one of these saves me having to "dirty" a metal utensil. I once would take a metal fork from the drawer, and rinse it off if I needed to reuse it. I finally realized how wasteful this is. Not only does it waste water, but it also means there's one less fork to use if someone wants to eat their dinner.

And, I had all those plastic utensils I wasn't using. Now, when I'm making a soup, I can take a taste, adjust the seasoning, then get another plastic spoon to try again. All of these go into the dishwasher.

With a massive rise in carry-out and delivery orders, I do get a lot more plastic than I once did. I now save the better quality ones, and recycle the others.
 
TastyReuben said:
We watched more than once as she nearly got toppled, or nearly toppled someone else, watched her go over to other booths and try to climb up on customers' laps, just completely out of control.
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How terrible is that! Goodness...
Remember one time talking about the same subject to a friend of mine, who has 3 kids, who said: As I grow older, I get less and less tolerant of unbehaved kids.
It is quite simple, if the kid is too small or out of control, a restaurant is not a place to be! There are parks and meadows for lovely picnics, so please!
It irritates me when a student of mine says: "Ha??" to me instead of the polite "Excuse me?" It does not happen too often, happened once this year, with a new student... mind you, a classroom is a more formal situation, and I calmly say, it is not Ha, it is Excuse me, but there is something in that calmness or and undertone, that does it.
I don't know what I'd do in a restaurant, probably some talk...
 
Oh the topic if paper plates: I have started using them more often the past few years, and have really used them a lot over the past year. In this case, it's related to the fact that my children and their friends are little barbarians, and cleanup is a lot easier this way. That, and there are many times when they will leave the dining area with plates and such, and I need to track them down so we have enough plates when we need them. Like I said: barbarians.

Paper plates are also the standard for barbecues, for the same reasons. One exception is when I make steak. Here, you need a ceramic plate and a metal knife and fork. I don't think I need to explain why. :)
 
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