Have you ever wished that you had paid closer attention to your mother when she told you how to eat your soup and butter your bread? Well, Lydia Ramsey is not your mother, but she has compiled a list of 85 tips for dining for success. It's all your mother ever told you and more in an easy-to-read format.

The next time you are stuck wondering which fork to use, how to eat your pasta or what to do with that olive pit in your mouth, pick up Lydia Ramsey's Little Book of Table Manners for the answer. Whether you are trying to impress your boss, win over a potential client or make hit with your new in-laws, this handy little guide to table manners is a must.

To purchase this pocket guide visit http://www.mannersthatsell.com/tms/books.html

The business meal is a perfect opportunity to develop relationships. Unfortunately it can also be a time to ruin them. With so many details to attend to, these occasions are not to be entered into lightly. In addition to considerations about extending the invitation, choosing the restaurant and making your guests comfortable, there are the issues of when to make small talk and when to get down to business.

As the host, you are the one who decides when to discuss business. That depends on a number of factors such as the time of day and how well you know your clients. At breakfast, get down to business quickly. At lunch, wait until you have ordered so you won't be interrupted. At dinner, the more social occasion, hold off on the business talk until after the main course is completed.

When you know your clients well, you have more of a basis for small talk. However, because you have established a business friendship, you can eliminate some of the chitchat when time is an issue. When you don't know your clients well, have some personal conversation before launching your shoptalk.

Sometimes you simply need to use your own judgment about when to get down to business, realizing that if you wait too long, your clients may start to wonder why they were invited. If you begin too early in the meal, your guests might suspect that you are more interested in their money than you are in them.

Keep an eye on the time. Breakfast should typically last an hour; lunch an hour and a half. Wrap up your business dinner in two to three hours, no more.

Seat your guests so you can converse comfortably. When there are just two of you, sit next to each other rather than across the table. With two clients, put one across from you and the other to your side. If you sit between them, you will look as if you are watching a match at Wimbledon as you try to follow the conversation.

Limit the amount of alcohol at the business meal. The three-Martini lunch is mostly a thing of the past. However, cocktails and wine are often part of the business dinner. Since alcohol can have the same effect as truth serum, keep your consumption to one or two glasses. When guests are drinking liberally and you sense trouble, excuse yourself and discreetly ask the server to hold back on refilling the wine glasses or offering another cocktail.

Meals with clients and colleagues are business functions first, social events secondarily. No matter how relaxed and comfortable the atmosphere, keep in mind that your conduct will affect your professional relationships that day and into the future.

(c) Lydia Ramsey. All rights in all media reserved.

A reader recently wrote that he had had a particularly unpleasant experience while entertaining a client at dinner. The client became very loud and obnoxious during the meal. He was vocal in his criticism of the restaurant, berating the wine list, the prices, and the quality of the food. He evidently consumed more than his share of the wine that he professed to dislike and became an embarrassment to everyone around him. The host felt badly for the other guests and for the owners of the restaurant who were friends of his. He wondered what he might have done to smooth over the situation.

Actually there is little anyone can do about someone else's behavior. If you find yourself in a similar predicament, the best you can do is to excuse yourself from the table, and ask the waiter's help in accelerating the food service, slowing down the alcohol and bringing you the bill as quickly as possible so you can beat a hasty retreat. The next day, a handwritten note or a phone call to the owner would help to relieve some of the distress. When the client returns to town, he either does not get invited out to dinner again or he is taken to an establishment where no one knows the host, and the activity level is such that his bizarre behavior won't stand out.

The role of a guest at a business meal-or any other, for that matter-is to follow the lead of the host. That is the person who chooses the restaurant, suggests the courses that might be ordered, selects the wine and deals with the wait staff. If a guest has problems with the food or drink, he mentions it quietly to his host who then handles the matter with the waiter, the chef or the appropriate person. A good guest does not overindulge, order expensive food from the menu, talk loudly and boisterously or criticize any of the details of the evening.

Business people dining out should always remember that wherever they are, they represent the company. A fact of life is that people will judge an entire organization on the behavior of one.

(c) Lydia Ramsey. All rights in all media reserved.