Etiquette Epiphany: Coat Checks
April 22, 2007 at 1:55 pm lemare 4 comments
In my leisurely weekend perusal of Judith Martin’s masterpiece: “Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior“. If you don’t have it handy on your end table, like I do, I suggest you stay tuned for future Etiquette Epiphany posts because her advice is not only based on proper protocol, but it is also worded in a witty manner.
The most recent blunder that I realized I have been making, willy-nilly, is to check my coat at restaurants, thinking that I was adhering to proper protocol! I’m disgusted to think of all the cold winter nights I could have eaten out, not knowing this rule. Miss Manners exposes the truth:
“It is true that the old-fashioned rule is that a lady does not check her coat… The coat is gently peeled back from the shoulders and hangs nonchalantly over the back of the chair.”
I have been a fool for too long. NO MORE! To think, every time I kept my coat was because I had no cash to tip the host, and thought that I was being tacky by keeping my coat “nonchalantly over the back of the chair.” NEVER AGAIN! From now on, I will cast all sheepishness to the wind drape my coat with confidence, knowing that a lady does not check her coat!
Entry filed under: LeMare's Posts, Manners and Grammar. Tags: .
1.
Lindsay | April 22, 2007 at 9:00 pm
It seems that your investment in that book was a wise one–it will save you countless tip dollars. I love it when the cheap thing is the right thing!
2.
Ricardo | April 22, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Lindsay – Are you a Cardall?
3.
Joe Lowry | April 23, 2007 at 10:09 am
Fascinating. I never knew, and my mother used to (and still sometimes does) teach the YM/YW etiquette.
4.
Lindsay | April 26, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Yes, Ricardo, I am a Cardall. True Blue, through and through. Which also means I would rather willingly give a tip to a poor coat checker than have the government rip they money out of my paycheck to give to some lazy a$$ who doesn’t want to go work as a coatchecker.