Topic: Etiquette faux pas in the dining room

Having breakfast in a smart hotel in Brugge I smugly showed my other half how to shell a boiled egg by rolling and cracking it at the same time. I never, for one moment, considered it would be soft boiled and as I pressed and rolled the thing exploded and runny yolk hit the table cloth, my new white shirt, and ultimately the cream wool carpet. My Oh still recalls the look of horror on my face when the enormity of the mess I had made became apparent. He still laughs everytime I boil an egg:o Carol

Many years ago my wife and I had a meal in a 5 star restaurant in Killarney - waiter placed your napkin, candles on tables, table at full height glass window overlooking the bay - you know the form. After a very good meal, bill paid, coffee drank we were just about to leave and the OH being very helpful blew out the candle.
Molten wax running down and totally obscuring the view from the full height window!! Beat a very hasty retreat.

I absolutely HATE it when the waiter does that 'place the napkin on your lap' thing and make a point of always beating them to it to avoid their hands hovering over my underwear area.

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Having breakfast in a smart hotel in Brugge I smugly showed my other half how to shell a boiled egg by rolling and cracking it at the same time. I never, for one moment, considered it would be soft boiled and as I pressed and rolled the thing exploded and runny yolk hit the table cloth, my new white shirt, and ultimately the cream wool carpet. My Oh still recalls the look of horror on my face when the enormity of the mess I had made became apparent. He still laughs everytime I boil an egg:o Carol

I can actually picture this scene, Carol and I thank you for sharing it with us!

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I can actually picture this scene, Carol and I thank you for sharing it with us!

You are very welcome.Carol

We once had a couple on our table who it seemed at seldom eaten at a table never mind been out, now when we were new to this sort of thing we sort of watched others & kept a low profile...not this pair, the between courses sorbet arrived, not only did they go through the ''we didn't order this'' we had the classic ''why have you brought my puddin' we ain't had dinner yet'' we all may have thought this but said nothing. We had the ''we want ketchup with everything'', ''why can't I have what I had last night?'' & they treated the waiters like scum....it was not at all funny & even the waiter asked if we wanted a move, it was a short-ish cruise so we stayed put, though we visited the speciality restaurants a bit more. This is the only time we have encountered anyone on a table that were not good company.....so far....

My husband once tried to eat a cinnamon stick in his coffee. It was supposed to be used as a stirrer.

on my first cruise I was seated with 7 lovely Americans (in their early 30's), they were so amazed at how I used my knife and fork to eat, not just to cut the food and then swap fork to right hand to eat it, that they asked me to show them how to use cutlery properly!

Towards the end of the salad course I found rather a large piece of spring onion and popped it in and started to crunch, it was only then that I realised that it was a very hot chilli and I did the wrong thing, wishing to be extra polite and not spit it out I swallowed it. The whole thing seemed to explode in my throat and I couldn't breathe let alone speak. Some of our table pointed at me but Ida, who knew that I couldn't stand raw apple just said it must be that. Several glasses of water and some time later I was able to say what had happened and all they could say was that it they had never heard me as quiet as that the whole cruise. ( They didn't add, "Have some more").. ...Neil

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That's funny, once we were on a table with all these people who seemed to have eaten all their meals at fine restaurants, they had pudding in between courses, they hadn't even ordered it!
And it so hard to get the same meal every night like what we like, and the waiter didn't like bringing us much ketchup, got it in the end but had to be very firm with the waiters.
Anyway it wasn't a very long cruise so we didn't move to another table but quite often the others didn't come to dinner.
This is the only time we have ever encountered anyone on a table that were not good company....so far.....

tee hee
do you enjoy a 'large pinch of salt' with your meals too ;)