Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 30, 1991 TAG: 9103300253
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BETH MACY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That was what Lynchburg high school teacher Mark Church had told his 15-member industrial cooperative training class, after devoting two weeks of class time to the proper usages of salad forks, dessert spoons and the like.
But when it came time to put the etiquette lessons to work Wednesday night in Roanoke, only four students showed up.
Kids these days, the teacher sighed.
But all was not lost for the few who did show. They came dressed to dine, table settings memorized, and excited about using salad forks and cloth napkins for the first time.
So excited, in fact, you could say they were downright nervous. Which leads us to:
\ Etiquette lesson No. 2: When the waiter brings you the wrong salad, forgets your iced tea and then gives you flounder stuffed with crabmeat instead of regular flounder, it is acceptable to politely raise a stink.
"Don't say a word," shooshed Heritage High School senior Tamika Hill, when someone suggested complaining. "I've never had anyone serve me like this; it's very nice."
Even the crab meat? "I'd never had it before. I can't wait to tell my Mom," she said, even though she crinkled her nose up when asked if she liked it.
The etiquette lessons were part of Heritage's industrial cooperative training program, in which students go to school for half a day and work in trade jobs the other half.
Social graces are regularly featured in the classroom sessions, including how to make introductions, table etiquette and whether guys should wear hats indoors.
Things like: What do you do if you're at somebody's house for dinner and you hate the food they're serving? (You eat a little bit of it anyway - and never spit it into your napkin.)
And: Is it polite to wash down a mouthful of food with your drink? (No. Wait till after you swallow your food.)
And: Is it courteous to engage in a tongue-swallowing make-out session in front of your school locker? (No. Public displays of affection make others uncomfortable.)
Church even brought caviar into class recently and let each student practice his or her new manners - saying please and thank you and sampling it with a smile, even though most couldn't stand the stuff.
The idea for the La Maison field trip came up when the 26-year-old teacher told his students about the trip he took there as a Franklin County High School French student.
"It made a big impression on me at the time, and so they said they wanted to go there, too," rather than to a Lynchburg restaurant, Church said.
So they got the restaurant menu ahead of time, practicing how to order the dishes in French. They also saved up for the outing, figuring they'd each spend about $30, plus a 15 percent tip.
Church couldn't explain Wednesday night's low turnout, except to say it was a two-hour drive round-trip on a school night and that some students may have had job conflicts.
Then again, maybe it was just bad manners.
For the ones who did show, the restaurant trip seemed to be a hit, from appetizers to the complimentary flaming Baked Alaska at the end. Not that there weren't awkward moments.
After all, who among us hasn't looked nervously to the guy next to us for cues on where to place that pesky butter knife?
"I kept thinking I was doing something wrong," said senior Tracy Bullock, adding that she is more attuned to restaurants like McDonald's and Hardee's.
But Bullock had no trouble eating or pronouncing the chicken and linguine dish she ordered, Poulet a la Riviera. Neither did senior Lory Brooks, though she was caught grinning sheepishly as she dumped a bunch of salt on the dish.
"This has been good training," Brooks said after the meal. "You never know if you'll be in a situation like this again, so it's good to be ready just in case."
by CNB