Dinner with a client can be a triumph or a tragedy. Being neat and respectful while dining indicates a good business character, says Linda Allan, Toronto-based certified management consultant specializing in behaviours in business.
But sauce-covered fingers and airborne lobster claws can leave both you and your guests uncomfortable.
Here are a few suggestions of what to avoid during a business meal:
> Give pasta a pass
Watch out for stringy pasta. It may be delicious and filling but it poses some serious hazards to your clothing.
Stay away from pastas like fettuccine and spaghetti.
“Anything that requires twisting can result in a splash,” Allan says, “and all of a sudden you’ve got a stain on your blouse or shirt.”
If you must have pasta, stick with shorter varieties, like penne, which you can easily pick up with a fork.
> Skip the lobster bib
Seafood may be pricey but it’s not the best way too show you’ve got style.
Avoid shellfish such as mussels, Allan warns. They are difficult to handle and have a lot of juice when you do finally crack them open.
That usually leads to handling the flesh with the fingers and, quite possibly, finger sucking, which gets undignified. Best advice: stay way from bivalves altogether.
If you have lobster, make sure it is cleaned and can be eaten with a knife and fork, says Diane Craig, president of Corporate Class Inc. in Toronto. You don’t want a mishap with the shell cracker.
> Avoid the attack of the cherry tomatoes
When you order a salad, beware the cherry tomatoes — they’re a lot messier then they look.
A missed stab with the fork can send one across the room. And if you don’t close your mouth properly when you bite down on one, you could send a squirt of tomato juice clear across the table, Allan says.
If you order something with cherry tomatoes request that they be sliced.
> The problem with olives
Foods with pits in them, such as olives, pose a dilemma for the dignified diner.
Many people don’t know how to eat olives, says Craig. Instead of pulling the pit out with your fingers use your fork and place it, discreetly, at the side of your plate.
A general rule for eating olives, says Craig: “What goes into the mouth with the fork comes out of the mouth with the fork.”
IE