Top 8 Dining Etiquette Blunders and How to Recover

Dining blunders happen to everyone. It doesn’t mean you have poor table etiquette, it simply means accidents happen. The most important thing is to know how to graciously recover and regain your composure.

The less fuss over any faux pax at the table the better!

1. Crumbs on the table – You can scoot them under the rim of your dinner plate or ignore them. If you are in an upscale restaurant, the server should crumb the table. A special utensil is used to scrape the crumbs into a little plate.

2. Dropped food on the table – Pick it up with your fingers and place it back on the plate.

3. Dropped utensil – A dropped utensil stays on the floor. Ask the server for another utensil

4. What to do with gristle – Protocol suggests the way things go in is the way they come out. If it went in with a utensil, it comes out on a utensil; if it went in with your fingers, it comes out with your fingers. You may also excuse yourself from the table and remove the gristle in the privacy of the restroom.

5. How to handle an accidental spill – Handle it and forget about it. Set the glass upright and apologize. It’s not necessary to make it the main focus of the conversation.  If you’ve spilled someone else’s drink apologize and offer to buy them a new own.  If you are the victim of a spill, try to be gracious and compassionate.

6. Someone is using your bread plate – Say nothing and use the side of your dinner plate.

7. Sneezing & Coughing– Cover your mouth with your left hand or cough into your left shoulder.

8. Awkward Foods – You’ve been served something you do not know how to tackle such as mussels. When in doubt, copy what others are doing.

These are only a few of the most common faux pas people make when dining. Relax, they are totally recoverable!