 "Photo: BECKY CARLSON/MANITOU MESSENGER")
When you’re used to your mom’s home-cooked meals or tray-balancing at the Caf, a fancy dinner invitation might leave you baffled about the proper manners for such a situation. What are all of these forks for? How loudly should I chew? And what if I have to sneeze or blow my nose?
The Student Alumni Association sponsored a recent etiquette dinner, complete with a three-course meal, to help students solve some of these dilemmas.
Anthony Cawdron led the dinner. He currently serves as both event coordinator and house manager at the home of the president of Purdue University. He has held this position for 10 years, during which he estimates that he has served about 50,000 people.
At St. Olaf, Cawdron only needed to teach and serve around 100 students, as there were 50 spots available at each dinner time. Dressed in business casual attire, a predominantly female crowd gathered to learn tips pertaining to etiquette. The event was geared toward helping students prepare for business luncheons and future interviews.
With his notable British accent, Cawdron warned that the wrong movement of the fork could drop a person two socioeconomic classes in the eyes of his or her companions. He also regaled those in attendance with stories about interviewees who made seemingly minor mistakes at the dinner table and lost job opportunities as a result.
One prospective employee salted his food before tasting it, and the interviewer ended the dinner then and there. That particular interviewer believed that anyone who assumed that a dish needed salt without first tasting it would most likely make conjectures in the workplace – the kind of guesswork that would not make for a suitable hire.
“Good manners allow us to be flexible,” Cawdron said, and then proceeded to tell another story of an interviewer who purposely instructed waiters to deliver a dish five minutes late to an interviewee while everyone else received their food earlier. It was expected that the interviewee would see everyone waiting and instruct all to go ahead and begin eating. This would ensure that as a future employee, he or she would truly see the “big picture.”
In the past, Cawdron has also heard tales of waiters who have been instructed to deliver the wrong dish to an applicant. The way an applicant handles this dilemma may say something about his or her character and job performance potential.
The education continued after Cawdron’s presentation when students were asked to put their newly acquired techniques into practice. The first course was salad, a dish that Cawdron called, “a bouquet of wild field greens that does not wish to be tamed.” Chicken, and later cheesecake, were also served.
During the meal, Cawdron highlighted conversational practice. One should be vocal, but not overly vocal. If someone is too talkative to the point that they are embarrassing the entire party, Cawdron simply pulls out what looks like a business card and hands it to the offender. Instead of his information, the culprit will see two words: “Stop talking.”
Cawdron carries the cards in a pocket briefcase, which he advises all students to ask for as a graduation gift.
Participants exited the event grinning, laughing and talking animatedly. Students were presented with etiquette cheat sheets: several pages with guidelines for all social dining, but specifically with helpful tips for interviews and company meals.
Most students seemed to learn a great deal from the dining experience.
“I feel much more prepared for any professional dining experience,” said Matt Alveshere ‘13 said.
Jordan Montgomery ’13 agreed and felt that “Mr. Cawdron was a fount of knowledge.”
Though Kaitlin Coats ’13 felt that she had learned a wealth of information throughout the evening: “I wish I could take [Cawdron] with me in my pocket.”
While attendees won’t have Cawdron on call to solve dining dilemmas, they will have some helpful tips to make sense of all those forks in the future.
koester@stolaf.edu
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