Where are the Gentlemen?

I took my family to a fancy restaurant in our area to celebrate our 12th anniversary.  It's not something we do every day, or even every year (most of our anniversaries are spent at home with pizza delivery or at a chain restaurant, nothing bad, just not fancy) so we thought it would be fun.

This restaurant isn't one of those that require black tie attire but after 5pm they do require "business casual".  Basically they don't want jeans and a t-shirt.

I make the reservations at this restaurant well over 2 months before our anniversary just because of the lack of "fine dining" in our area (we live in WV, most people consider Cracker Barrel or Golden Corral "fine dining" here) I wanted to make sure we have a seat.  The reservations are made without a problem.

Fast forward to the actual dinner night.  This restaurant is hopping.  Way busier than we've seen in the past (the one other time we went).  Turns out that it is both Prom night for the small city but it is also college graduation for the campus next door.

Busy.

As we sit there at the dinner table I'm observing some of the other parties near our table.  I notice one of the prom girls at one point get up to go powder her nose.  As she returns I notice her date push the chair out for her.

Admittedly I am no scholar in turns of what would be considered appropriate etiquette, especially when it comes to eating at a fancy restaurant (hell, I still put the fork on the right and the knife on the left because you're supposed to use the fork as a shovel to get the food to your mouth, right?).  One of the few things I know is when you're date leaves the table you should stand up (or at least rise) and when they return you stand up and pull the chair out to help her sit back down.  This guy reached across the table and pushed the chair out for his date.  In the same manner you would push the chair out for your sister at home.  He never stood up, just half-assed his way to "being a gentleman".

I was ashamed for him.  What's the point in half-assing your way to a gentleman?  If you're going to try go all in.  Once again, I'm no expert but I know that.  I'm sad for this generation.  Here's hoping I can teach my boy how to be a gentleman when it's time.