Where Do You Eat?

My dad ruined me with table manners. He would not tolerate poor manners at the table under any circumstance. Not just chewing with your mouth open or elbows on the table but scraping of your utensils on plates or teeth, chewing loudly/gulping, or talking with food in your mouth.

I am lucky that Kevin has good table manners other than stabbing his lettuce as if it is about to crawl off the plate a la "It's got *raisins* in it". ( reference only John Cusack lovers will know)
But I've discovered that it's a family thing, they all do it.

The only disagreement we had early in the relationship was actually eating at the kitchen table. He had grown up eating on tv trays. As a child the only time we ever watched television while eating was if there was something monumental going on, like the Olympics.

Feeding into my quirk, at the school, there were specific times to eat and specific places to eat, underlining everything that my dad instilled in me regarding table manners.

Now it seems that table manners are slowly becoming a thing from the past. In a restaurant the other night a girl kept answering her texts, we knew this because she didn't have her phone on silent. We made a few sarcastic comments directly to her and finally complained to the manager. As the conversation was held within hearing distance, that was all it took for her to stop.

Now people walk around eating. They talk with mouths full. They eat during meetings, telephone conversations, completely unaware that others might be bothered. My least favorite is crunchy snacks like raw whole apples or trail mix.

I think with the fast food phenomenon we've been accustomed to eating wherever, whenever, however. I hope that changes, if not only for my own weird intolerance but for the health of everyone as well.

What etiquette fails drive you crazy?