OSU students learn proper dining etiquette

By MARY ANN ALBRIGHT

Gazette-Times reporter

When invited to a business luncheon or dinner, think long and hard about how much you eat and how you season your food.

Deb Mott's been teaching dining etiquette for eight years, and now she's working with students in the Austin Entrepreneurship Program at Oregon State University, warning them how it looks to potential employers or business partners when they clean their plates.

"You don't want to appear hungry - in any sense of the word," said Mott, the retail food service manager for OSU's Memorial Union.

"Always leave part of every dish uneaten" was just one of many lessons the students absorbed during a five-course meal offered through the program's "Impressionable Evenings" series.

Mott also told the students about one company she consulted for that would take job candidates to dinner, then watch their use of salt and pepper. Proper etiquette dictates that only the salad course may be seasoned before it's tasted. Entrees and soups must be tried before anything is added to them.

Not tasting a dish before salting it disrespects the chef and indicates an inflexible attitude that employers don't want to see in a potential new hire, Mott said.

Tonight is the last dinner in the three-week dining etiquette series. "Impressionable Evenings" is financed by a $5,300 grant from the OSU Giving Circle and allows about 20 students each week in the Austin Entrepreneurship Program, part of the College of Business, to enjoy a free dinner in the Weatherford Hall Library, complete with linen napkins and attentive serving staff.

Not all students in the entrepreneurship program, or at the etiquette dinners, are business majors. About 30 percent plan to go into business, between 20 and 25 percent are engineering students and the rest come from a variety of departments across campus, according to Deb Rose, the program's manager.

The formal dinners "developed out of student concerns that they know how to present themselves to our guest speakers that are part of our State Farm Visiting Fellows Program," Rose said.

In addition to Mott's dinner lesson, the students practice networking during a cocktail hour. Edie Blakley, assistant to the director of career services and coordinator of National Student Exchange, handles that part of the evening.

Nate Lee, a freshman majoring in civil engineering, attended the event. He learned from Blakley to hold his glass in his left hand while mingling, so his right one is free to shake hands with new contacts he meets.

Lee thinks his recent crash course in etiquette will pay off during job interviews, as well as help him with his part-time job as a waiter.

Ellen Anderson, a senior interior design major, has taken etiquette lessons before, so she already knew to dip the spoon away from her body while eating soup. She did learn something new from Mott, however.

"Crumbing. I had never heard of that," she said.

In upscale restaurants, waiters will come around periodically to brush away crumbs, Mott explained.

Anderson attended a couple of business lunches last year before landing a summer internship, and she applied the principles Mott teaches.

"I ordered something midprice and easy to eat, even though it wasn't my favorite dish. I took small bites," she said.

Ben Miller, a freshman business administration major, appreciated Blakley's lesson on introductions. Always introduce a vice president to a president, not vice versa, he said.

Although he hasn't attended any business meals yet, Miller expects these lessons will come in handy.

"Not knowing what you're doing at a dinner table can be really bad," he said.

Mary Ann Albright covers higher education. She can be reached at maryann.albright@lee.net or 758-9518.