How to Place Silverware After Eating

Whether you are dining out for a business meeting, social function or just an enjoyable evening with family and friends, most people want to use good manners. Relax and enjoy your eating-out experience by learning what to do with your silverware after you've finished eating. Although there are many aspects to proper etiquette when eating, proper placement of your silverware after you've finished eating helps you avoid embarrassment and look confidently relaxed.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Resist the urge to lay your silverware back down on the table when you are just taking a break to allow for conversation. Even if you place it on a napkin, this is not proper dining etiquette. Lay your silverware back on your plate, with handles extending at least half-way off the edge.

2. Place your silverware completely back onto your plate after you have finished eating. For proper dining etiquette in both business and social functions, the silverware should be placed so that each piece of silverware is resting close together on the plate with no more than an inch of the silverware handle hanging off of the edge of the plate.

3. Leave any silverware that you did not use laying on the table.

Tips & Warnings

• Handling your silverware this way is not only proper dining etiquette, it also shows courtesy for the server as it makes removing dishes from the table easier.