Rule shadows

I may be a million miles off here but I think there is a hidden unspoken rule surrounding closed biscuit packets versus a plate of loose biscuits on it (this is in relation to guests visiting a house).

I think if the host lays out cookies on a plate visitors would have no qualms about taking one.

But if an unopened box of Jaffa cakes were placed on the table it would be a different story.

I think there is a subtle hesitancy and unwritten social norm around opening the packet.

I think it could be perceived as rude and if you are playing host it might relax your guests a bit more if you opened the packet and took the first one.

And yet I don’t think anyone would be aware of this rule (if I’m correct in saying it’s a thing).

I don’t think anyone could whip out their etiquette guides and reference page 37 ‘open v closed biscuit packets’.

That, if it is a thing, it would be a product of implicit cultural norms.

Laws that no one could point to or explain but somehow govern our behaviour.

Rules from another time that we are unconsciously upholding.