"Etiquette is in!"

Apprentices score points with learned table manners

A classic schnitzel was served at the etiquette dinner for the apprentices. Tip from the professionals: Always hold glasses with a stem there - the apprentices show you how.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Attila Molnar)

Current figures from the Ministry of Labor and Economic Affairs show that fewer and fewer companies are training apprentices. However, the construction company Franz Schütz from Weißenkirchen in der Wachau pays particular attention to the skilled workers of tomorrow. In order to encourage the apprentices personally, they even learn the most important rules of etiquette. What are they? The "Krone" will tell you.

While there were still more than 38,000 apprenticeship companies in 2008, the number fell to just over 27,000 in the previous year. Never before have so few companies trained apprentices as in 2023. The decline has particularly affected the trades and crafts and retail sectors. 

The construction company Franz Schütz from Weißenkirchen in der Wachau has been training apprentices since 1927 - almost 100 years ago. In addition to technical expertise - building construction, carpentry, roofing - the future specialists are also given the opportunity to develop their personal skills. In-house training courses and workshops with an apprentice expert are held at regular intervals. These include, for example, how to present themselves to customers, presentation techniques, entrepreneurial thinking, motivation and personal responsibility - but also etiquette rules and table manners. This is something that is extremely important to the family business.

Learning by doing: table manners
Expert Petra Pinker showed the twelve young apprentices how to behave at the table. After a theoretical part in the construction company, the etiquette rules were put to the test over lunch. Particularly tricky: the pancake soup. "The pancakes have to be cut up first. The spoon should be brought to your face and not the other way around," explains apprentice Sebastian, sitting bolt upright with a cloth napkin on his lap at the table with his colleagues and Pinker.

I am very pleased to see the great potential in young people when they are encouraged and challenged. Apprentices must be valued accordingly. Everyone needs praise.

Anna Schütz, Baufirma Franz Schütz GesmbH