In an effort to become well-rounded professionals, the LEAP Ambassadors were eager to attend Career Service’s Annual Etiquette Dinner. Some Ambassadors had previously attended the Etiquette Dinner while others were exposed to it for the first time. However, we all knew that we would gain a lot from this experience, especially since it was being led by Diane Gottsman, a world renowned etiquette specialist and founder of The Protocol School of Texas. The dinner was bound to be engaging and insightful!
Our meal began by learning where and how to place napkins on our lap. The straight edge of the napkin belongs parallel to your waistline in order to best protect your clothing. We also learned a cool tip on how to see which bread and drink were yours. To determine which drink is yours and which bread plate is yours, Ms. Gottsman taught us to make the letters “b” and “d” with our hands which would show you which side your bread and drink will be. This little trick lessened our anxiety and gave us a clever way to remember the placement for the future.
Our first course was served; meatball soup. In order to properly eat soup, you spoon the soup from the side to glide the liquid onto the bowl of the spoon. For creamy soup, we learned you eat from the side of the spoon. For chunky soup, you eat the soup from the front of the spoon.
During the main course of the meal, we learned how to hold our silverware properly. There are two dominant ways to hold the silverware, American and European style. American style is typically loud because of the scraping of the silverware against the plates whereas European style is a cleaner and quieter way of using your utensils. For European style, you hold the utensil with your index finger on the spine to glide it while cutting or bringing food to your mouth. We practiced with our chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. The meal was wonderful practice! While we are not experts after eating one meal, we certainly gained valuable practice.
Our third course (and possibly everyone’s favorite!) was dessert. We had a mix of strawberry cheesecake and chocolate fudge cake. We continued practicing our eating style and learned some helpful tips for networking and job interviews. The discussion ranged from appropriate interview attire to what to order during an interview over a meal.
The dinner quickly passed as we tried to soak up all the knowledge we could. The Career Services Etiquette Dinner was a great event! We learned new etiquette and brushed up on what we previously learned. Diane Gottsman provided a comfortable learning environment for us all to learn without fear of embarrassing ourselves. Thank you to Diane Gottsman, Vinessa Mundorff, and Career Services for the opportunity to learn!
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