Hats in restaurants

[cptjeff]

If you're brought up to think it's rude, it's rude. If you're brought up thinking it's no big deal, it's no big deal.

This is one of those things that is ENTIRELY social convention. It is not rooted in some great universal truth.

Relax and let people wear what they want to wear on their heads. Whether the reason is a lack of a hook or chair, or even if they simply want to wear a hat because it looks good. Hats aren't inherently evil, folks...

 

[tonyb]

This is one of those things that is ENTIRELY social convention. It is not rooted in some great universal truth.

You mean this ain't in the Bible?

 

[Jabos]

"But honey, I know I just got this hat, but Art has new felt colors!"

 

[Tomasso]

Chill...we could be talkin' flip flops in restaurants........

 

[Mav]

Chill...we could be talkin' flip flops in restaurants........

Seen it. Agreed, much worse.

 

[Fingerstyle]

All he needs is one of those adjustable cords the old TV cowboys used to have on their hats. Then, he could just throw it back over his shoulders, and it can just hang there during dinner. Easy solution, secures the hat, and provides amusement for his fellow diners. Heh, heh........lol

 

[Andykev]

NO HATS inside restaurants!

We have all experienced this "dilemma"..what to do with your hat while at a restaurant?

I have always looked to find the table with the extra chair, but when that fails, and it is a "casual" place, and they have booths, I will place the hat on the top of the booth seat (there is a lot of room there).

Placing it on the table is not proper, and we had a member here on the Lounge who posted a picture of his burned hat, when the brim was unfortunately over the small table candle (they get HOT - put your hand over one and see!).

I would NOT put it on the floor under my chair. It would be soiled no doubt. Have you seen the floor under a restaurant table? Ewww.

Sad, with SO few wearing hats these days, the "hat check" is long gone. And of the few establishments with a coat/hat rack, I have seen some dumb a** take off his coat and put it over some poor guys hat (not mine!).

Still, this gentleman, if wearing the hat at an OUTSIDE table, is correct - leave the hat on. But inside, your hat is off. Best leave it in the trunk of the car and put it on after the meal.

 

[Quigley Brown]

I didn't want the guy to be made fun of when posted this photo (by the way, I was out taking photos at the time. I didn't take a camera out of my pocket just to shoot this... lol ). I would have sought a place to put my hat. Behind the bar there's a spot. I would just be plain uncomfortable sitting there in front of a lady like that.....[huh]

 

[Qirrel]

Most restaurants i would go to wearing a hat has some kind of coat rack, and conveniently, nobody ever uses the top of the coat rack to store things on, and my hat gets all the space it needs. I try to plan ahead regarding what hat to wear when going out to eat etc. if i know that i wont be sitting outside or that the place will not have a coat rack i wear a flat cap, which conveniently slips into my pocket or sits between my thigh and the chair.

I did think of making a hook contraption where one end would attach to the table and the other to the hat.

 

[GClark]

I'm willing to cut him slack, as long as there is not a good other option (extra chair, booth top, etc)

Problem with the "leave it in the car" strategy is that you don't know if there is going to be a place for yor hat when you leave the car. I guess you could return to the car - but what a bother. My dermatologist says that 75% of our sun exposure occurs walking across parking lots.

And what if he was not driving, but taking public transportation or walking? I would hate to discourage hat wear because there might not be a place to put it...

This is actually on my mind a lot, and I have determined that I'm going to wear my hat if at all possible, and wear it even where it might not be socially acceptable as a last resort if there is no "safe for my hat" option.

Have not tried the "on my knee under the table" option, but it sounds uncomfortable - like the experience of eating becomes subsumed by the need to protect my hat.

 

[JimWagner]

Seems to me that the people most concerned about hat etiquette today belong to the FD and are firmly rooted in the past.

While there are certainly places I'd not wear a hat inside, (church, court, a funeral home, someone's home for example), most modern business establishments are just not set up to accommodate hat wearers. So you do what's necessary to protect your hat. If you can safely take it off and set it down and that's what you are comfortable with then by all means do so.

What others do with their hats in my line of sight may catch my attention, but it's certainly not worth getting upset about.

 

[mayserwegener]

In most restaurant settings I will try to remove my hat. If it is bar like restaurant I will usually end up wearing the hat. This was the case with my Hückel Sigma last evening at the Church Key (beer bar - restaurant) in DC.

 

[laotou]

I did think of making a hook contraption where one end would attach to the table and the other to the hat.

That's a good idea! Why not a simple S hook from the hardware store? Say 3' or so, slip it in you pocket and you could hang it off the back of your chair.

 

[Shangas]

I always take my hat off in a restaurant. I always read that hats had to be removed when indoors in a public place; and that's what I do.

 

[AntonAAK]

I would always have considered wearing a hat at the table incredibly rude but...

If you're brought up to think it's rude, it's rude. If you're brought up thinking it's no big deal, it's no big deal.

This is one of those things that is ENTIRELY social convention. It is not rooted in some great universal truth.

This is a very good point and has gone a long way towards convincing me, so thank you for challenging my views.

I still don't like it but recognise that my dislike may be irrational.

Personally, etiquette aside, I don't find the wearing of a hat whilst eating comfortable. It gets hot under there and the chewing motion causes the hat to move around so I would prefer to remove it even at an outside table.

 

[Hal]

Most restaurants I would go to wearing a hat has some kind of coat rack, and conveniently, nobody ever uses the top of the coat rack to store things on, and my hat gets all the space it needs.

Scandinavian houses and public places are well geared to the depositing of outer wear - coats and hats, and maybe outdoor footwear as well. Correspondents from North America imply that that continent, with its equally cold winters does not have such facilities. This is strange indeed!

 

[psugrad98]

I always take my hat off in a restaurant. I always read that hats had to be removed when indoors in a public place; and that's what I do.

I think that's a good thing, but I also believe in the lunch counter rule. If you are at a lunch counter and there is no place to put your hat, you either have to wear it, place it someplace where someone may not be aware of it, or just leave it in the car.

Otherwise I remove my hat. always to eat. sometimes even if I'm outside I remove my hat.

 

[St.Ignatz]

Scandinavian houses and public places are well geared to the depositing of outer wear - coats and hats, and maybe outdoor footwear as well. Correspondents from North America imply that that continent, with its equally cold winters does not have such facilities. This is strange indeed!

On occasion we will find a coat rack or coat check with a nice shelf made for hats but used as storage. Sometimes it's covered with about a half inch of dust. Very dicey situation here in the states.
Tom D.

 

[Not-Bogart13]

My read on that picture is a man who is somewhat new to hats. I mean, his hair says he hasn't come to terms with hat-head yet, and the tail says he hasn't gotten annoyed yet that he can't tilt the hat back. So, either he's new-ish or only an occasional hat wearer.

Either way, he may not know better. We like to assume that those of a certain age know things that younger people do not, but that's unfair. Maybe his father wasn't much of a hat wearer, or died when this guy was young. Honestly, if I had been born back when my father first got married, I could be the guy in the photo. Hat etiquette is not something I knew until I came here, and my father knows nothing about it even though he loves hats. To him, the rules of hat-wearing were whatever my mother said. lol

With no place to put it, or with a fear of hat-head, I might have made the same mistake.

Now, what I really want to know is: Where did he get the hat?

 

[Mr_D.]

Got to wonder who set these rules of what is "proper" when it comes to hats.
Who decided that it was rude to eat while wearing a hat and why?