Bad Manners

[fromtheheart]

I just went on my second date with a guy and I like him but he has pretty bad table manners. On our first date he picked at his teeth with his fingernail at the table without covering his mouth with his napkin or doing anything to try to hide his teeth cleaning and on our second date he touched non finger food with his hands and grabbed food from communal dishes using his personal fork. I don't really want to date someone who I am embarrassed to be seen eating with. Is there a nice way to say your table manners need work? His manners outside of the dinner table are not horrible. He opens doors for me (not his car door) and says please and thank you.

[vashti]

Table manners can be taught (I think). If everything else is good, i might try to overlook it for now, or maybe laugh, and ask if he always picks his teeth at the dinner table.... but your timing has got to be perfect on this, or you will humiliate him, and that isn't nice.

[Gigabitch]

Yuck. One of my pet peeves. The way I see it, if this guy is old enough to date, he's had plenty of exposure to appropriate table manners in his life and has chosen to ignore the example set for him by others. That speaks to a certain insensitivity and lack of consideration of everyone around him. I would be considering walking away from that one too.

[xxazurexx]

If he would display such manners on a second date, imagine after knowing him a year. Probably be picking his nose at the table too.