Etiquette Valued in Hotel Work

From the 1962 book, “The ABC’s of Courtesy for Hotels and Restaurants,” by Janet Lefler

Q– I am a middle-aged woman and find it difficult to get work because of the demand for young girls. I do not want to work in somebody’s kitchen, but would prefer the work of hotel hostess. –Signed, Bonnie

A– The work of hotel hostess requires a special training and a background which would fit her for such duties. There is really no course of training that would fit the average woman for this work.

She must make a good appearance and be familiar with the rules of etiquette incumbent upon one holding such a position. You will find books in the library on the subject which would give you some idea of this work. – By Estelle Lawton Lindsay, 1936

 

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Etiquette for Cutting a Steak

Modern steak knives by Towle, without the customary, not to mention helpful, serrated edges. Earlier steak knife blades were made of steel.

What Readers Ask— “When you go to dinner with a gentleman and are served a steak, who should cut it and how should the knife and fork be held in cutting the meat.” 

The man who orders the steak may carve it, but it is more usual nowadays for him to ask the waiter to carve at a side table and then pass the steak. 

Needless to say, steel knives should be at each place when steak is served and a special carving knife should be supplied if it is to be cut at the table. In carving, the knife is held in the right hand and the fork in the left. The carver grasps the knife and fork firmly, but takes eare not to let his fingers touch anything bu!t the handle. 

In cutting it on the plate, one cuts off just a morsel at a time. To cut it all up at once is, of course, childish. The knife is held in the right hand and the fork in the left. The European way is to eat with the fork always in the left hand, but it is permitted in this country to take the fork in the right hand if for convenience sake.”— Mary Marshall Duffee, the Morning Union, 1918

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia