Please pass the potatoes!

As you might guess, business etiquette is one of my favorite topics.  It might make or break an opportunity lurking in the mind of a guest.   That opportunity may be the person sitting next to you at a picnic table in the home of a mutual friend.

Ultimate Twice Baked Potatoes by Allrecipes.com

Just so happens, that we, my husband and I were at a picnic at a friend’s home.  As the hotdogs were being brought to the picnic table by the hostess, the person to the left of my husband was concerned when the hostess handed the food to my husband first and my husband didn’t offer it first to him, the person to his left.  He was more than mildly upset.  It was a casual event, not that your etiquette should become casual or disappear, but it was an interesting response.

Here is specific advice directly from The Emily Post Institute.

“Counter Clockwise!”

Her website states:
“Food is passed around the table in a counterclockwise direction, or to the right. The reason for this convention is to provide some sense of order when serving or passing food. What’s important is that when several dishes are being passed at the same time, they all go in the same direction. Otherwise, someone will end up with a dish coming from the right and another from the left at the same time. However, if someone only a few places away from you on your left asks for something to be passed, by all means just pass it to the left instead of sending it all the way around to the right.”

Passing the Potatoes – I am reminded of Uncle Harry, who at Thanksgiving with a full table of 24 family members would start the potatoes to his right counter clockwise and deliberately to his left clockwise start the turnips.  He would then sit back and watch the collision and laugh.  Passing food around the table clockwise or not always reminds me, Uncle Harry. It is a great memory for such a “ stuffy” subject.