Might appear funny, but we must understand

Hi professor, This happens quite often, some people are unaware why the warm water and lemon is given at the end of the meal. However, it is best to let the person know the purpose of this custom instead of laughing at him/her whether he is young or old, the feelings are the same - all the best, have a nice weekend

After laughter calmed down I hope someone told him what he did wrong and then he could join in the laughter. I is alot of movies about the finger bowls you would have thought he knew at age 50+

happy Pongal professor...though its late i know... the incident u have mentioned may happen with those who are the first time hotel visitors....and the youngsters who laughed must remember that there was also first time for them...and they must have also been confused (if not drank) about the water presented with lemon piece in it...and many old people drink lemon water after their food for proper digestion....there was nothing to laugh...

They were wrong in laughing. However, I also feel like it is necessary to say that if I was in that same position I believe that I would have a hard time not laughing about something like that. This story brings to mind an event in my life when I was a child. We went to Texas for my second cousin's wedding and the rehersal dinner was a formal five course meal. Of course I was nine years old at the time and had never had a formal meal. The second course was sorbet to cleanse the palatte and I remember throwing such a fit because I only got one bite of ice cream.

I did not drink the lemon water but had no idea as to what to do with that when I was given this for the first time but my friend saved me from being offended. Now I know what to do with the lemon water and try to let the new person know about it so that there is no situation like this. I can imagine his situation when he faced peoples who were making fun of his scenario, we should not do that as this can happen with the new people experiencing such grand events. Thank you for sharing.

I take pity on the senior man.He attends a banquet ,as a result he goes cheerfully and returns disappointedly.People do not know everything,no man in the world so wise that he does not make mistakes, but that does not warrant our sneering at them.we must learn to be tolerant no matter who he is.

Hi professor, I agree with you it's not necessary to offend another. I have heard of the same thing happening to someone who didn't know what the water was to be used for but I would not laugh and offend the person. Blessings.

dear professor, it is never nice to laugh at anyone's mistake whether he is young or older. i never embarrass anyone like that. i always make sure. unlike the kids of today, it seems that this value has totally been eradicated from their vocabulary. i hope teachers teach the younger ones not to laugh at other's mistake. i have this experience also in a 5 star hotel when i attended a seminar several years back. i have together with me, some students from the province, eating together in one table. the food was free courtesy of the host of the seminar and it was a grand one. food was served with all the utensils arranged in front and if one is not taught how to use it, he would not know which to pick up first. and there were many who didnt know how to. at last, all food taken and the students were telling me now nice the service is. and then suddenly the waiter appeared bringing a tray of hot towels for the cleaning of the hands. alas, one student suddenly said "i thought eating is already finished. but there is still this food on the tray". then everyone was laughing except me. he didnt know those were towels because it was very nicely arranged. i can see the blush on his face. have a nice day. ann

hello dada, They might not intend to offend the old man,but overwhelmed with the scenario. I myself could have burst into laughter,but i know i can managed to cover my mouth. Yes,it's not good to laugh when someone made mistakes but we can't avoid to laugh. Maybe,after the laugh we can say sorry...just putting himself to other's shoe...would he (the old man) won't laugh too? Okay,have you watched the video of a well-known person who made speech infront of people and his false teeth fall off? It's a good laugh from the audience thu he is a well respected man (that happens...this is life) I also had my own experience,it was long time ago,i also attended a party held in a grand hotel. One of the guest tried to pick up the warm towel that was rolled like shang-hai with his pork(shang-hai a Chinese cuisine wrapped with a wrapper that is similar to chapati with fillings inside,a veggies and meat or seafoods)and all eyes in our group look at him ..what is he trying to do. Then,one of the person near him whispered on his ear ..maybe saying..."it's not a food,that's a hot towel to wipe your mouth to remove oil after eating ". I could see how that person blushed and look around if we ever noticed what he did,which is very obvious (hehehe) Then,we laughed and say.."'it's okay...there is always a first time" The person laughed then...and even laugh louder (hahaha) Have a great Sunday dear dada

You are correct. One should not laugh and make that man in a embarassing situation. Instead educate him about that water and lime purpose. What to do, some people are ignorant about such things. They are not bothered about others feelings but hurt them indirectly though not intentionally

Well, that almost happened to us! We went to a Chinese wedding - and that was the first time that we ever had a Chinese wedding banquet. They served all kinds of Chinese dishes that were not familiar to us (all we knew were the typical fair that you would find at a typical restaurant). Our friends at the table had to explain to us what every dish was and what it meant. Well, this duck meat dish came out. Some vegetables and circular tortilla-like wrappings were also served on the side. There was a bowl which had some kind of light sauce - or at least that's what we thought. The people at the table stopped us - I think, like you said, it was lemon water or at least cleaning water so that people can eat this duck dish wrapping with their hands. AHHHHHHH!!! If they had not told us, we would have poured "the sauce" on our food - ha ha! They did laugh at us anyway - and we laughed at ourselves. Oh, but poor 50+ year old guy that you know - it sounds like he was not amused for sure - I'm sure he was plenty embarrassed by his actions - but he didn't know!! Some people can laugh at a situation like that (no matter what the age) at themselves and some cannot.

Professor shame on those men. First of all they probably did not who he was and did not have a close friendship with him, therefore, laughing cause quite an embarrassment. This was so wrong, as if it were a friend of the entire group it probably would not hurt the man as they would know one another personality. Regardless,even as a friend I would have silently said something. I can understand that they chuckle silently as perhaps it was something truly funny to them. I do hope the man is okay after that as why would anyone make intentional fun of a persons non-knowledge. I hope they can sleep comfortable at night as this was so wrong. I wished someone would have said something to comfort the man, as I know I would be ashamed after something like that.

They were wrong in laughing. I only hope they are laughing because they have done something like this themselves. My husband is very smart and organized. Just about everything I can do, he can do 100 times better! One day he made a mistake because he didn't put much thought into it and it left a mess for me to clean up. I laughed. When he asked me why I told him because of all the people on earth he would be the last person I would think of who would do it! I don't feel so inadequate! Its hard for all of us to have patience.

I feel so sorry for that senior man! People shouldn't have laughed at him! That's so rude even if the situation is something that we can't control! I think people of our generation are lacking the thought of understanding others feelings and emotions. This is a perfect example of how we are moving away from our basic humanitarian values! We certainly should feel sorry for ourselves! Hope that the senior man is alright and next time he won't do the same mistake! We all need to understand one thing before laughing at others. When we are in such a situation for the first time, even we wouldn't know the purpose and somebody would have told us like our friend or a relative. I think we should not forget that, somebody was there to help me and now i need to help someone when they doesn't know! But, as humans, we often forget this! I hope to keep an eye on myself if I come across something like this again! Its a very good thing you brought this up prof! We need to learn a lot of such things. Small things like this certainly helps us grow bigger as a person! :) Kudos to you!

Oh, Sorry the older man was offended.. But it is funny. But sadly, I probably would have done the same myself.. not understanding what it was for :) .. But many do not realize lemon is good antibiotic as well, so help keep the skin clean.

I'd say their laughter was somewhat understandable, but not very polite. Nobody likes to be laughed at for something like that.