A while back when I was still a year one “freshie”, a lecturer of mine, who owns a company, commented that he chooses most of his senior management team by bringing them to dinner. During dinner, he would observe the dining habits of the candidates, read their non-verbal cues and be able to determine the characters of the candidates.
At about the same time, a friend of mine, who was in NTU, got selected to be interviewed for a potentially good-paying job with J.P.Morgan. As part of the selection process involved having dinner with members of the senior management team of J.P.Morgan, my friend was made to take up a course about proper dining etiquette.
These two instances demonstrated the importance of possessing proper dining etiquette. I feel that your dining habits are subtle, non-verbal communication tools that allow people to get an in sight into your character.
Can you imagine a scenario where while having dinner with your boss, or a client, you picked up a butter knife and proceeded to attempt to cut a piece of beef with it? What message do you think your dining partner will interpret from this non-verbal cue?
In truth, in Singapore, we are seldom needed to differentiate the different knives, forks and spoons placed on the table. But other dining etiquette such as table manners still applies.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hy raydon,i agree with you that dining etiquette is very important in business meetings and everywhere in today's modern world.It shows our personality behavior.Cutting beef with butter knife might indicates that the considered person has no proper dining etiquette which gives the person a low status of personality before others...
ReplyDeleteHello Hong Quan,
ReplyDeleteDining etiquettes may well be another form of communication as mentioned in your post.
Fine dining restaurants are probably the only places in Singapore which can truly 'test' your dining etiquettes with their elaborate display of different knifes,forks and spoons arranged according to the dish type (starters, main dish, desert etc.)
Attempting to use a butter knife to cut a piece of steak sounds a little extreme but that just goes to show how important good dining habits are. They may even land you a job!:)
Besides promoting good table manners, dining etiquettes are also important in an intercultural situation as peoples of certain culture are particularly concerned about the way you eat and behave at the dining table. As indicated in your blog, wrong dining etiquettes could prove to be offensive as it may send out the wrong messages to the people around. Generalizing this idea, proper etiquettes (not just dining ones) should at all times be observed particularly in formal situations, as it reflects up to a large extent how well you can really carry yourself. Carrying yourself well is definitely one of the most crucial aspects of non-verbal communication.
ReplyDeleteI don't think knowing which knife to use tells anybody anything about a person's personality but more about their social or cultural background. I suppose JPM pre-trains candidates so there's an even playing field on the day.
ReplyDeleteI can only think the way a person attacks the food could indicate personality or may be their level of hunger. But actually, I think JPM are looking to see if a candidate has the social patter and manners needed to woo their wealthy clients.
Mrs Richardson
When I was in secondary school, we had to attend etiquettes courses where they taught us some of the dining etiquettes too.
ReplyDeleteLike what trina mentioned, fine dining restaurants are probably the one place where you will get to see so many forks and spoons. Nevertheless, basic dining etiquettes at other places can still help portray a good image.
Undeniably, a good dining etiquette will give a good impression to those at the same dining table as you. However, it could be quite bias to judge an individual's personality through his or her dining etiquette only. For instance, it's impossible to gauge a person's agreeableness from the way he dines.
ReplyDelete