Etiquette is important

Etiquette is important. It helps avoid many uncomfortable situations and in most cases helps life flow a little more easily. Take men's urinals for example (not that there are women's urinals to the best of my knowledge). One of the foundations of toilet etiquette comes when a toilet has 2 urinals and at least one cubicle. Let's say one man is already in the toilet standing at the urinal doing whatever he needs to do. At that point, another chap walks in and has 2 choices:

1. use the spare urinal
2. use the cubicle

The only choice in my eyes is to go for Option 2. It's nothing to do with embarrassment over size or anything else, it's just polite. A man should have space to wee in peace without anyone sidling up next to him. If Option 1 is chosen the whole scenario changes as you wonder whether to acknowledge the person (only consider this if they're a friend, never if they're a stranger) and this in itself means that you have to look at another man while weeing. I don't like this myself, I feel a bit like a cat when you catch it going to the toilet. They really don't like that.

For more on toilet etiquette check this video out. As you can see, it's a minefield.

My most recent etiquette issue came when out for dinner with my girlfriend. For some reason she never, ever, places her knife and fork correctly. See image here. Instead, she always places them as though she's finished like this. It might not seem like a major issue and you may call me grumpy (please do, it's true) but it has led to waiters trying to take her plate while we're having a little rest to talk, drink etc... It also indicates to me that I might be able to finish off one of the dishes on the table, say the grilled haloumi that I've had my eye on during the meal, or the piece of vine leaf that's sitting uneaten on the plate. It is, of course, not OK for me to eat them and I should've known better that to have taken the internationally recognised 'meal finished' arrangement of the knife and fork to be true in this instance.

Now, can I get the bill? (do internationally recognised waggle imaginary pen over imaginary piece of paper gesture)