Etiquette business consultant Nonnie Cameron Owens tells the woeful tale of a young man being asked twice to remove his baseball cap during a formal business dinner. She laments the memory of a young woman who licked a drip of ketchup off the bottle at an important luncheon.

“We are dealing with the product of the flower children,” Owens told about 300 Northwestern students and staff members Thursday night. “What’s the problem? College kids.”

The Northwestern Alumni Association and the Northwestern Class Alliance sponsored the fourth annual etiquette banquet at the Omni Orrington Hotel, 1710 Orrington Ave., to help students learn some manners before they enter the business world.

Cameron, who owns the company Etiquette Plus, presented the seminar over a five-course meal so students could learn the meat and potatoes of formal dining. Making sense of the four forks at each setting is only half the battle, Cameron said as she also supplied tips on making good impressions.

“Etiquette is fun,” Cameron said as she instructed attendees on the proper way to eat soup. “As the ship goes out to sea, the soup boat goes away from me,” she said, instructing her pupils to angle spoons away from themselves to avoid drips on clothing.

Cameron covered many of the finer points of etiquette, such as always passing the salt and pepper together and only cutting bread that is served as a loaf.

She also advised diners to keep their hands above the table. Otherwise, “who knows what you’re doing under there,” she said.

The meal consisted of challenging foods such as pasta and peas. Diners could decide on their own whether to use the traditional “American zig-zag” style of switching utensils from hand to hand, or the more universal “Continental,” sporting an upside-down fork in the left hand and knife in the right.

Attendees were instructed that under no circumstances were they to use the dormitory fork-in-the-fist style.

Cameron also made a point to tell students to be mindful that cultures differ on proper eating styles. When asked about drinking the last drop of soup from the bowl, she responded that it would be perfectly acceptable – when in China.

Although still far from entering the job market, Weinberg freshman Holly Sonneland said she wanted to start early.

“Hopefully in four years I’ll be able to get this right,” Sonneland said.