Monday Manners: Have a Seat

After the progressive, sexy post that was last week's Monday Manners, I fear I'm going to have to go a little 1952 on your asses. This one's for the fellas.

I'll keep this short and sweet: gentlemen, please pull your date's chairs out for them if you're dining out.

Granted, sometimes the maitre'd will do it for you, but that's only if you're at a fancy-schmancy restaurant with white table cloths and crystal. This is something you should do even if you're just dining out at the Olive Garden. Pull her chair back, wait for her to sit, and then, if you're feeling particularly chivalrous, you can even tuck her chair under the table, just a little, just so she knows you care.

If your lady is meeting you at the restaurant, you should, at the very least, stand when she gets to the table, even if you're not helping her with her seat (theoretically, the person escorting her to the table should help her with her seat in this instance, but again, that's only at those really special restaurants where they let you sniff the cork before they pour the wine). If you want to really impress her, you could even stand up if she has to leave the table briefly, and upon her return.

Why this advice? Why now? Aren't I throwing a wrench in the gears of the feminist cause?

Well, you see, dear readers, last week I had the honor of having tea with Margaret Atwood. You know, the one famous for such feminist works as The Handmaid's Tale. Someone in the room asked her about feminism, and one of the things she said was (and I'm paraphrasing a lot here) that she feels the age of feminists who get angry when men try to help has passed, or will pass soon. I kinda got the feeling that she'd let a man help her into her chair at a restaurant -- so why should we, the liberated women of the twenty-first century, mind if a chivalrous gentleman tries the same with us?

Next week on Monday Manners: why this fad naturally progressed toward this, more polite one.

Image credit: Das Architects.