New to finger bowls!

A few year back a friend and myself went to meet a manager in a big
multinational firm. Our meeting went smooth and all of us were happy.
The manager invited us for lunch and as it was late we agreed (plus
we could save money if we had to eat out).
We went to their dining hall.The workers were eating on one side
while the managers had separate seating on the other side of the hall.
The workers went and collected their food from a counter while we were
served on the table. As it was late most of them had finished their
lunch and gone.
The food was great and both of us hungry, and we were all out
The guy who served us finally left a small bowl of water? with a piece
of lime in it. I looked at my friend and he also had the surprise look
on his face. What was that for? It was a hot day, was it some sort of
drink? Did we have to add salt or sugar and drink it?A thousand questions
ran through our minds, but we finally decided to have the last drink in
the bowl with the manager :)
So we sat down waiting for the manager to finish. He must have known
for sure we did not know what that bowl was about as all our plates
were removed and both of us were sitting with unwashed hands with
a finger bowl waiting in front of us.
Finally he finished his lunch and washed his hands in the bowl. God!
was that for it? We washed our hands too with a stupid smile on our face.
The manager was a gentleman and he did not comment...
Even today when I see a finger bowl I smile on how our patience did not
make us do something stupid when we were ignorant.