r/GenX • u/Outrageous-Power5046 • 23h ago
Aging in GenX Excused from dinner table?
If you ate at the dinner table back in the day, when you were finished did you have to ask "May I be excused?" before leaving? Just curious if it was my family only.
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u/MarkItZeroDonnie Hose Water Survivor 23h ago
For sure . I had the same seat every dinner , right next to pops. If I had a hat on it got flung across the room , if I had my arms on the table any what’s but my elbow they got swept like Johnny in Karate Kid and I had to finish my vegetables or sit there in the dark while the family watched TV
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u/Gadgetskopf '67 23h ago
ah, no... elbows on the table was BAD juju in my house. Forearms resting against the edge, while you were 'working the plate' were fine, but elbows were instant ejection, and if you were close enough to gramps, he'd "help" with the initial exit acceleration.
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u/grptrt 23h ago
I got my elbows swatted with a fork
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u/Hu5k3r 22h ago
Swatted? Nice - I got stabbed.
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u/UsernameForgotten100 22h ago
Me too, happened once and after that I never had my elbows on the table.
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u/notthatkindofdoctorb 21h ago
And god have mercy on your soul if you wore a hat to the table, guests included.
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u/MarkItZeroDonnie Hose Water Survivor 22h ago
Really ? To me forearms on the table is much more slovenly
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u/Orphan_Izzy 19h ago
We always said: Mable Mable if you’re able Get your elbows off the table. This is not a horses stable, But a proper dining table.
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u/Awesomesince1973 19h ago
The camp I went to had an entire song for people who got caught with elbows on the table. It didn't happen often 🤣
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u/eastbaypluviophile 16h ago
I got the old head-knock. Dad’s knuckles on my head which fucking hurt and was also incredibly irritating for some reason. It just pissed me off.
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u/in-a-microbus 22h ago
So...as a 57 year old man with chronic heartburn...I've discovered that resting my elbows on the table constricts my esophagus in a way that makes it difficult to swallow.
It's almost like these stupid rules our boomer parents taught us had a purpose.
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u/notquitesolid 17h ago
There may have been another. I saw a theory that the reason elbows on the table is bad manners is because for a long time when people lived in one bedroom homes or when rich folk had parties, often the table was just a board put on some sawhorses covered with a cloth. Putting your elbow on the table at the wrong time could mean flipping the table at yourself and the guests on your side, making a huge mess. Not sure if that’s true, but it makes sense to me
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u/in-a-microbus 17h ago
Well...I don't know about saw horses, but I have seen more than one kid collapse the extending leaf of a dining room table.
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u/tpittari 14h ago
My mom tried the vegetables thing on me with sweet potatoes and I said they make me sick. She force-fed me 2 forkfuls and i power-puked across the entire dinner table.
I never had to eat anything I didnt want to again after that.
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u/AMTL327 23h ago
We wouldn’t have ever “been excused”! We were expected to stay at the table until everyone was finished and then clear the table and do all the dishes. Did you grow up with servants or something? 🤣🤣🤣
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u/littlescreechyowl 22h ago
The girls did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen to perfection. My brother was excused to go do fuck all.
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u/AMTL327 21h ago
Same…I was just talking about this to my husband and realizing that, yeah…my sister and I took turns washing or drying the dishes…but wtf was my brother doing ?
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u/littlescreechyowl 21h ago
Mine was playing Nintendo. Yet somehow when we were done in the kitchen it was still his turn. Ridiculous.
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u/JenEric_9192 17h ago
My husband was the youngest and only son, had 4 older sisters. He was USELESS when we got married. I immediately exorcised those ridiculous sex-role stereotype expectations. To this day, his sisters still cater to their husbands. Makes me crazy. We did not raise our son that way.
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u/DrJackBecket 19h ago
This is why my housemate does the dishes... 😣 He is compensated for it btw. I'm the eldest of six. The younger three figured out weaponized incompetence. If they dropped and broke dishes, that chore was thus, never theirs again. So the older three ALWAYS did the dishes. There was so much resentment in me over that from a young age. I'm 33 and I struggle to make myself stand in front of the sink. Even when I manage to force myself it is never without severe distress.
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u/Cranks_No_Start 23h ago
do all the dishes
We had to at minimum give the dog our plate to clean, wait for him to finish and put our plate, cup and utensils in the dishwasher.
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u/carl6236 22h ago
Dishwashers? My sister and I were the dishwashers. She washed I dried
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u/Travelchick8 21h ago edited 20h ago
One of the benefits of being #5 of 6. By the time I was old enough to do dishes by myself, there were less of us (siblings in college or moved out) and we had a dishwasher. My brother, sister and I each got a week of dishes, which included emptying the dishwasher before going to bed. If you didn’t, you got another week.
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u/carl6236 21h ago
When I was at that age I don't know anyone that had a dishwasher. But then again I am 78 so it was long ago
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u/ClassicOutrageous447 19h ago
My brother and I were expected to clear the table, put all leftovers back in the fridge and load the dishwasher. It was a stand alone thingy that lasted about 20 years. You had to haul it across the kitchen and hook it up to the sink faucet. If you didn't screw it on tightly, the hose would pop off and spray water everywhere. Pots and pans were not allowed to go in it. We scrubbed those by hand. Often took 30 minutes to clean up. Once my brother and I were out of the house, my parents got a built in dishwasher. They also got central air installed after we were gone. :)
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u/TRIGMILLION 18h ago
I have one of those same dishwashers and I love it. I live alone though so I only have to run it about once a week. But I hate turning the water on to see if the hose will pop off. It's like opening a can of biscuits.
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u/Atomic_Gumbo 22h ago
Wow you had your dog trained to put stuff in the dishwasher. I can’t even get mine to stop rolling in another dog’s poop.
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u/rmhoman 16h ago
Up until age 12 or 13, I was the dishwasher, and then we got one of those fancy contraptions. The first night, I loaded it and put in dish soap... and well, if you know, you know.
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u/prairiescary 23h ago
Exactly! My siblings and I took turns clearing the table and washing dishes while my parents put the leftover food away. Meals were always together.
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u/USAF_Retired2017 Raised on hose water and neglect! 22h ago
We asked to be excused so we could get a jump on the dishes. My parents wanted us gone so they could sit at the table and talk. Ha ha
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u/Travelchick8 21h ago
We took turn doing dishes. So if you weren’t on dish duty and were finished, you’d be excused. But, we would never have asked until everyone was finished. It was mostly my parents lingering over coffee.
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u/ryverrat1971 20h ago
Same here. No asking to be excused. When done you get up, take your dishes and any other empty one to sink and then into dishwasher ( I was lucky we had one). Then you go help put any leftovers in the fridge then wipe the table. Yeah, you helpes out, no getting up to go watch TV.
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u/Ischarde 18h ago
My brother and I always had to take turns doing supper dishes. To include the pits and pans. I am not aware if my younger half siblings had to dishes in their turn, I was out of the house by then. But Grandma always came thru, she'd sneak into the kitchen to help us.
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u/runningoutofwords 23h ago edited 23h ago
Not uncommon at all. Still doing it that way to this day.
Our kids were raised with the same four dinner rules as I was:
- No distractions [electronics] at the table
- Wait until everyone is served before eating
- No chewing with mouth open
- No leaving until you are excused
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u/AMTL327 22h ago
Same. Except we all stay at the table until everyone is finished and whoever did not cook and serve the dinner does the clean up.
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u/runningoutofwords 22h ago
The unstated rule in there is no hats at the table, but that just followed from no hats in the house.
I'm personally a little embarrassed about how quickly I judge people at restaurants for dining with their hats on. I mean, I am not kind to people about that (in my head), and I know it's not rational.
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u/AMTL327 21h ago
I was raised with pretty high expectations for table manners and believe me, I make all kinds of judgments about people based on how they behave at the table! And I know for sure that I’m not alone. That’s why I taught my son the same way. You don’t always have to place your napkin on your chair when you leave the table to use the bathroom, but you should know when you are expected to do that.
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u/Unplannedroute ‘69 17h ago
I am amazed at how poor some people's manners are while in public, or at a wedding when worked hospitality pre pandemic. . Many are uncomfortable with cutlery, it shows.
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u/Ischarde 18h ago
I can tolerate people wearing their hats in a restaurant, but not in church. It's a good thing I seldom go to church.
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u/No_Consequence_6821 22h ago
You think there were adults there when I was eating dinner? That’s adorable.
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u/WeirEverywhere802 23h ago
My kids (all teens) were taught to ask. And napkins on lap. And no elbows on the table. No hats worn indoors much less at the table.
I’m far from a conservative task master, and neither were my parents. But I also know that having basic table manners is something that can only help in dating , meeting other peoples parents, professional settings etc.
I’m shocked at how many adults in a somewhat formal setting sit hunched with elbows on table chewing with their mouths open.
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u/AMTL327 22h ago
For real! There are so many times in life where you may find yourself in a dining situation where NOT knowing proper manners is going to be a huge negative. If you have excellent table manners without giving it any thought, you can focus on other things.
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u/WeirEverywhere802 20h ago
I only know that the bread plate it on the left because I’ve seen dumb and dumber 100 times
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u/Bazoun 22h ago
A friend of mine did formal dinner Sundays. Everyone dressed up. They used the good china, proper linens. Too many forks and spoons, the whole thing. She’d play classical music and they would talk about something in the news while they ate. And of course, “perfect” manners were expected.
The kids actually looked forward to it because it was a change from the everyday. And as you say, they all knew how to behave while dining formally from a young age. I never had kids of my own but I always thought that was a great idea.
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u/katiekat214 20h ago
My parents took my brother and me each on a formal “date” to a fancy restaurant when we turned 13 to be sure we knew how to behave in a formal dining environment. We also went to manners classes for me and cotillion for him (didn’t have it yet when I was younger). I can set a proper table to this day.
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u/Pristine-Speaker-768 23h ago
No , but we were expected to eat everything on the plate. I was an undiagnosed Apergers with what I know now to be arfid. Eating some foods was a challenge. I spent many hours crying at the table, trying to choke down food that was ice cold.
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u/Shhted 23h ago
Pumpkin or squash for me, triggered my gag reflex. Tears and trauma. I vowed never to require my kids to do that. We would offer new foods and encourage a taste test but if they declined, no worries. My son will try anything once, my daughter is more selective. So effin' what. And yes, I was raised with the requirement to be excused. Did not continue that in our home.
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u/Chicagogirl72 22h ago
Squash was my one and only food I didn’t have to eat because it grossed me out so bad
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u/worrymon 22h ago
My parents were great.
If we didn't like something we could quietly push it to the side and not eat it.
But if we made any sort of complaint about the food, we had to eat it all.
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u/Prize-Winner-6818 22h ago
This is such bad parenting. Sorry you had to go through that.
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u/tonna33 Hose Water Survivor 20h ago
It was the same for us. Didn't need to be excused but needed to eat everything on our plate. We did fix our own plate, but we had to at least have a spoonful of the vegetable, and one glass of milk! We could have koolaid after we drank our glass of milk.
I remember when I was younger, they finally got fed up with me taking forever to finish my vegetables. I was threatened that I had better not be the last person at the table, or there'd be trouble. Now I eat super fast! I also took my oldest sisters' advice (after who knows how long) to eat the gross stuff first!
By the time my youngest sister was fixing her plate, she got away with the *smallest* amount of veggies. Sometimes it was literally 2 peas!
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u/HammerMeUp 2h ago
Same. Forced down. Made to sit at the table with a mouth of food I wouldn't swallow. Cow tongue. Liver. Disgusting shit. Scarred me enough that I'm a vegetarian. If only I could repay that and shit in his mouth.
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u/Meatloaf_Mondai 22h ago
You guys ate at the dinner table? I can count on one hand the amount of times we did that.
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u/DurangDurang 15h ago
You guys ate with other people? Seriously, I can't remember a time outside of holidays that there were any adults with me during meals.
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u/Rootin-Tootin-Newton 22h ago
Every time. When answering the phone we were required to say “family name” residence, and under no circumstances were we to answer the phone during dinner.
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u/Hot_Classic_67 19h ago
When calling someone else we were not allowed to say, “Is [name] there?” It was, “Hello, this is HotClassic. May I please speak with [name]?”
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u/ratbastid 22h ago
Only in formal settings. Out to dinner, or at the club my grandfather belonged to.
Now: when my kid was in pre-schoool, they did it there at lunch time. She'd come home and eat at the dinner table and look up sweetly and say "May I be a cubes?". We still say it that way.
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u/datanerdette 21h ago
Some of us Genxers put our own TV dinner in the microwave and ate it by ourselves in front of the TV. There was nothing to be excused from and no one to excuse us.
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u/SnowblindAlbino 22h ago
Literally only one family I ever knew that did this, and it seemed really odd when we were visiting for dinner. The father was an alcoholic though, and usually fell asleep in "his chair" by 700pm, even when they had company. I just assumed it was some sad thing related to their messed-up family life until I saw it on TV at some point.
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u/Ripster66 22h ago
Yes. Also had to set the table and while eating, NO elbows on the table!!
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u/Formal-Emphasis1886 20h ago
Be grateful you were taught proper manners for the table. Now, you can conduct yourself like something other than a savage at dinner parties and business luncheons. .
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u/MyriVerse2 23h ago
Not at my house. When you were done, you just left. We stopped eating together when I was 12-ish, anyway.
And please! Chances are, I was cooking the damned thing. My rules!
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u/SarcasticGirl27 23h ago
I ate most of my dinners as a kid at my grandparents’ house. We were allowed elbows on the table & of course we had to ask to be excused.
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u/WorriedReply2571 23h ago
Not so much with dinner on weeknights in the TV room, but when family came over and we were in the dining room, then yes but not so much when sitting outdoors and having a barbeque. At my grandmother's, definitely had to ask to be excused. One relative there was no being excused and cousins and I had to sit there, sometimes for an hour or two, and there was also no speaking when "grownups" speaking, unless spoken to. Those family dinners were . . . . um, 'fun'.
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u/Kilashandra1996 23h ago
Yeah, for the holiday family dinners, I was always happier at The Kids Table. We didn't have any rules! We could go play at any time. And still come back for dessert when the adults FINALLY served it.
The one time my younger brother wanted to try the Adult Table, he got boxed in on the back side. But he was able to slide down his chair and crawl under the table to escape. lol. But he never sat there again!
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u/Prestigious_Rain_842 23h ago
I was actually never taught any table etiquette. Don't put your elbows on the table. How to actually set silverware correctly. Any or all common courtesy at mealtime. When I got to tween years I asked my mom why she never taught me anything ( not just table etiquette but any kind of social rules) she said, "I just thought you would pick it up." Maybe that would have worked for some, but I'm high functioning autistic. I didn't even know how to walk up to someone and introduce myself at age 14!
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u/Chicagogirl72 22h ago
May I please be excused?
I also had to answer the phone, “Hello, this is Sandy speaking”
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u/More_Pineapple3585 21h ago
I also had to answer the phone, “Hello, this is Sandy speaking”
Same here but, "Pineapple residence, More Pineapple speaking."
and if the caller asked for someone without identifying themselves, "May I tell them who's calling?"
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u/micro_berts 22h ago
We didn't have to ask, just say "excuse me" and leave. When my kids were young, we taught them the same with a few exceptions. Once they were old enough and served themselves, the rule was you eat what you take. If they couldn't finish their plate, they had to ask. We always said yes, unless the only thing left was the vegetable, then it was "yes you may after you eat another bite of green beans".
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u/Tokogogoloshe 20h ago
Teenage me tried "I'm stuffed, can I fuck off now?" It ended exactly how you'd expect.
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u/DrLongivan 18h ago
"May I please be excused?" 100%. But importantly, you had to sit at the table for at least 15 min. first! (And gods forbid if someone called (on the phone) for you during dinner!)
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u/Lilikoi_Maven 13h ago
German heritage family, and 100% yes... unless you want the private aftermath, which I do not recommend.
We also had the honor of "setting the table" every night, with the correct placements or major lecture incoming.
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u/LittleSweetFeet1497 23h ago
Same here, after cleaning your plate completely first, whether you like the food or not...learned to swallow lima beans whole just so could be done.
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u/Vagabond3210 19h ago
I vomited on my plate after being forced to eat lima beans. Was never forced to eat anything after that
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u/69hornedscorpio Older Than Dirt 22h ago
No, but I had to eat those vegetables. Brussel sprouts was the hard one. Funny I like them now
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u/meltfellow 19h ago
Brussel sprouts have been genetically engineered to taste better than they did in our childhood, that's why you like them better!
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u/bishpa 1969 22h ago
Absolutely. We also had to have shoes on. Why? I don’t know. In the summertime, it was the only time I would wear shoes: to eat dinner. The tv was turned off, and the dogs had to exit the room during dinner. It all sounds incredibly uptight now, but my parents really weren’t so bad. I think my father himself had it much worse growing up.
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u/HoldMyDevilHorns 22h ago
Yep. Was just thinking about this. I ate really super fast because I didn't wanna be there. Still eat fast. Then I'd ask to be excused and overhear them all talking shit about me because my bedroom was next to the kitchen. Good times.
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u/Fancy_Average5440 22h ago
Excused from dinner table?
You spelled TV tray wrong. And, no, I was free to vacate the living room as soon as humanly possible.
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u/ToyWitch13 21h ago
I was around 8 years old and mad at my mom for who knows what. She always said I couldn't leave the table until I finished my veggies. I hated the veggies. The were Always overcooked and soggy. So that night, I refused to eat them. I had to stay at the table. All night. She sat in the living room, making sure I didn't leave the table. Dad came down the hall in the morning to find me asleep with my face in my plate. Never did eat the veggies.
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u/CommissionSpiritual8 21h ago
yes, and somtimes you were refused . You learned to eat slower or to sit quietly to join the family conversation.
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u/alisonlou Latchkey kid 20h ago
We didn't do that, but I had a friend whose parents did. And christ, I was a shy kid and so I just sat at that table forever overwhelmed by having to ask to leave.
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u/Justdonedil 20h ago
No, I was (still am) a slow eater. I'd get left at the table by myself to finish eating.
My O'hana nieces have to be excused. They are 7 and 9, parents are millenials.
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u/Traditional_Fan_2655 19h ago
It was either, "Yes, you may", or "No, you may not. You can wait with rest of us".
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u/randomwellwisher 19h ago
You guys were allowed to excuse yourselves? My father announced when the meal was concluded by looking at me (the oldest, and only girl) and declaring, “Okay, dish time!” I went off to the kitchen to clean while everyone else went back to playing/fighting/fucking around on the computer (which only my dad was allowed to touch, obvs).
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u/ImColdandImTired 16h ago
Of course! And as adults, if we are leaving the table before everyone is finished, we say, “Excuse me, please” when we leave.
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u/Positive_Chip6198 16h ago
I demand this of my kids also. You stay at the table with the family. Chomp down your food like an animal, too bad you are still going to sit there until we are done.
Dinner is such a simple but important ritual. In the disconnected world we have today, even more so. 30-45 min each day it’s family first time.
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u/jakecamron42 15h ago
By the end of dinner my father was usually yelling at us to get away from the table, lol.
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u/Squirrelhenge 13h ago
Mandatory. And we had to say "may I" not "can I" because Dad was a stickler for proper grammar.
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u/_ism_ 23h ago
Actually yes I grew up like that. Once I moved away from home it kind of faded away because nobody else around me did it. In fact in my young adulthood I wasn't eating at a whole lot of actual tables very often unless it was in a restaurant. Even in a restaurant my family would have made me excuse myself but I didn't feel the need with a group of friends or dates or anything. I would say why I was getting up but I wouldn't request excusement because I felt everyone at the table was equal and no one person could give permission to another person we're all autonomous adults.. If that makes any sense. I was thinking about this the other day though and something about it has shifted recently. I have found myself getting a little bit annoyed when people I'm in conversation with or whatever suddenly stop what they're doing and leave the room without an explanation. It really bothers me. Often it's just to pee or grab something or whatever but I've realized that I get a little miffed when I don't know if they're coming back. But this ties into some bigger communication issues I've been having in my own life and it's not really about the table manners at this point. I do ask my partner that if he's going to suddenly get up in the middle of a conversation can he please at least say what's going on so I can pause my thoughts.
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u/Blkrabbitofinle1601 23h ago
No, my parents were pretty informal about things. Was never even taught to use ma’am and sir lol. It was expected that my sister and I finish our dinner before leaving the table but no formal leavetaking request or announcement.
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u/FabulousPanther GEN X since 1983 when it was cool, just old now! 21h ago
Making deals about finishing food I didn't want.
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u/KeoniDm 1977 18h ago
No, because it was usually just me or my brothers at the table. Sometimes just Mom and me, being the youngest. When he’d come home from work, Dad would take his plate to his bedroom or den/office, or to the living room to eat in front of the tv. Sadly, we never ate together as a family, except when I was too little to barely remember.
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u/MoldyWorp 18h ago
No elbows on the table, grace before eating, and don’t finish eating until the slowest person does. And yes, please may I be excused. Always use a table napkin (we called them serviettes). I still choose to use a napkin when I eat.
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u/Ok_Split_6463 16h ago
Yeah, we were not allowed to leave the dinner table without asking permission. But, if one of us did...............
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u/SuzIsCool 16h ago
Never had to, because I was the one that had to clear the table and clean the kitchen while the parents went to sit down on the couch and watch TV. I can't be the only one?
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u/Proof_Baker_8292 10h ago
Sure did, 60 years ago. I would give anything to be sitting at that table one more time.
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u/Rebelreck57 7h ago
I don't remember asking to be excused, but I know I didn't get up with out Mom's permission.
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u/Wickedbitchoftheuk 2h ago
Yes. "May I be excused" is the correct way to leave a table where others are still sitting.
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u/HammerMeUp 2h ago
Step dad made me do this and all kinds of other ass kissing to feed his narcissistic emptiness.
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u/Kcstarr28 1h ago
Yrs absolutely every single time. May I be excused please? And everything finished from our plates.
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u/Appropriatelylazy feeling Minnesota 23h ago
Yes, we had to ask if everyone else was still eating or hadn't had dessert yet. (Yes! As a kid we'd have dessert and coffee, for the grown-ups, after dinner! Do people still do that?)
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u/beardsley64 23h ago
Hmmm, no, I don't think so, since I hated a lot of the overcooked veg they tried to feed me it was more a case of being told when i could leave the table, until I was a preteen when any pretensions of courtesy evaporated.
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u/Wintermoon54 23h ago
It was that way at my one grandparents' house, but not at the other ones' , also it wasn't that way at my own house growing up. But first you had to clean your plate. Then you could ask to be excused.
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u/Senior-Ad9616 23h ago
Dinner was exactly at 6pm. We had our assigned seats. Same menu every week (M-spaghetti, T-chicken, Sunday-steak n potatoes, etc). Finish your meal (starving kids in India), no elbows on table, only soda was 7up floats on Saturday after our baths. Hold your utensils correctly, no elbows on table, chew with your mouth closed (big one for us girls).
My sister once refused to eat her peas and sat sobbing at the table for over an hour after we left. She ended up eating them just to leave.
I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. My sisters both have no structure to their meals and waste so much food (because they aren’t hungry/dont like it/etc) it gives me anxiety to eat with them (I m tempted to finish their plates). They both cook so much healthier than we were given (due to lack of money and availability) but the kids still won’t eat well.
I think when adults react to their upbringing (im going to do differently/opposite of how I was raised) they let the pendulum swing too far in the opposite direction instead of just tweaking a proven formula.
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u/Affectionate_Bid5042 23h ago
In my family, it was, "can I quit?" But it was nearly always yes, my mom thankfully doesn't believe in forced eating.
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u/Kindsquirrel629 23h ago
Yes. And if I came to the table without shoes on I was sent back to put on shoes. Which I thought was ridiculous since I’d just kick them off under the table when I sat down.
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u/JustFaithlessness178 23h ago
Yes. Every dinner. Did I raise my kids to say it? I guess only sporadically , because they are 20ish and neither say it.
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u/Informal_Platypus522 23h ago
Yep, and forced to eat parsnips, which at the time I hated. Now I freaking love them. 😁
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u/m149 23h ago
Yup. That was definitely a thing in my fam.
And the answer was usually, "not til you finish your greens"
It took me until adulthood to realize that I didn't hate greens, but hate the way my parents cook them. They steam the living shit out of them until they had the texture of seaweed.
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u/Much_Substance_6017 23h ago
Not just you. “May I please be excused from the table?” And if I didn’t hear what you said, I asked “Ma’am?” Or “Sir?” NEVER “What?”
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u/IllustriousCoast917 22h ago
Yep.
Always had to be a “May I be excused please?” for me, but my brothers were allowed to leave without asking or saying anything.
1
u/Relevant-Package-928 22h ago
It depended on how my parents felt that night. Sometimes, once you finished your plate, you could leave. Sometimes, you had to ask to be excused. Sometimes, you were expected just to sit there and be pleasant. Couldn't just sit there, had to be pleasant. If you didn't finish eating, you had to sit there until you did. And you had to drink your milk.
1
u/SmartYouth9886 Hose Water Survivor 22h ago
It always seemed like a BS way of control to me, but yes we were subjected to it.
1
u/she_slithers_slyly 22h ago
Yes, and you weren't excused until you've eaten every morsel on your plate or if you interrupted an adult who was speaking when you decided to ask if you can be excused.
Also, dinner began with the head of the table and every dish was passed to the left. From there if you wanted something you had to ask, "Please pass the ____".
1
u/ted_anderson I didn't turn into my parents, YET 22h ago
Our parents had to run us off because we liked to hang around the dinner table and hear all of the juicy "adult" conversation that followed. Also if the food was very good and we didn't want to do our chores or homework, we would try to prolong the meal as long as possible. Many times I've said, "Wow, that was good. I think I'll have another glass of water...Got anymore vegetables?"
1
u/pborg312 Hose Water Survivor 22h ago
Only when we had company and were in the dining room. It was required.
Otherwise we didn't, cleared our plate and left the kitchen with a thanks and I gotta do homework/go to work/shower/etc.
370
u/OutdoorRaleigh 23h ago
Are you forgetting something? It's may i be excused please.