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How do folks react to your hat wearing?

hatguy1

One Too Many
Messages
1,145
Location
Da Pairee of da prairee
Recently I was traveling and wearing my "walkabout" hat. As I approached the check-in counter, the agent told me "No, no. That hat will not be allowed on the flight. As such, I will have to impound it and keep it at my house for its own protection." As I almost always travel in this hat, and therefore I write on it any new states/countries it's been to with me, I was puzzled at why it wouldn't be allowed on the plane.

The agent smiled and told me he had been kidding me. Actually he thought the hat style was very cool to begin with but the fact that I'd so personalized it with a written record of its/my travels just really made it awesome. I swelled with pride at such fine praise for my WAH.
 

TomS

One Too Many
Messages
1,202
Location
USA.
I've found that fedoras are very well received by the folks I've encountered. Young ladies seem to be particularly enamored with them.
 

jhe888

One of the Regulars
Messages
265
Location
Texas, United States
I don't get many comments. Maybe that is because in Texas, even in Houston, people can still be seen wearing cowboy hats with some regularity, even if they are in the small minority. Even though they are not common, proper hats are still not surprising to people. And perhaps southerners have more old-fashioned manners and refrain from making personal remarks, even positive ones.
 

Liquesence

New in Town
Messages
13
Location
Georgia.
Interesting.

Last year I went out with some friends in the Buckhead area (in Atlanta, GA) wearing my grey Dobbs. We went into this one very trendy bar/club (I don't normally frequent clubs), and the girls at the entrance said I couldn't wear a hat in there. I was a bit taken aback, but she let me in anyway. About 10 or 15 minutes later I was standing there with a drink talking to my friend, and security/bouncer came up and said I had to take off the hat or leave. So I left, bristling. Now, I know the no hat umbrella policy was likely tied to ball caps, but a fedora is a completely different story and I was quite angry.

In this same area (Buckhead), i met my sister, who had come into town, at a nice restaurant/martini/sushi bar. There was a sign on the door that said "No Hats." Again, I was wearing my fedora, but since I was sitting at a table, I naturally took it off. I had no problems, but the fact that hats are such an issue, and these ignorant people extend their no hat policies to fedoras, which have been a staple in America for so long, really gets under my skin.

It's not a ball cap, people, it's a fedora.
 
Messages
12,002
Location
Southern California
...I know the no hat umbrella policy was likely tied to ball caps, but a fedora is a completely different story and I was quite angry...
From their perspective, the problem is that most people don't make that distinction, and any customers wearing a ball cap could point to you and argue, "He's wearing a hat; why can't I wear mine?" Of course, that doesn't explain why these establishments have a "no hats" policy in the first place, but they're their establishments and they're allowed (to a point) to establish a code of conduct for their patrons regardless of how arbitrary or unnecessary their rules might seem to be.
 

Matt Crunk

One Too Many
Messages
1,029
Location
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
I rarely wear my good fedoras out anywhere unless I have an occasion to wear a suit as well, but even when I wear one of my beaters with jeans and a jacket I always get comments and compliments from people. They for sure notice.
 
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Ghost Rider

One of the Regulars
Messages
187
Location
Bühl, Germany
Of course, that doesn't explain why these establishments have a "no hats" policy in the first place

I've never heard of such a policy. OK, I can understand a no smoking policy, or a "no colours" policy in some "biker" haunts, but why no hats? However, I always adhere to traditional hat etiquette and take my hat off as soon as I'm in the doorway of any club/restaurant anyway...
 
Messages
13,668
Location
down south
I've never heard of such a policy. OK, I can understand a no smoking policy, or a "no colours" policy in some "biker" haunts, but why no hats? However, I always adhere to traditional hat etiquette and take my hat off as soon as I'm in the doorway of any club/restaurant anyway...
I've found it to be the case where I live, and the same is most likely true for Atlanta, that the no hats rule, which specifically applies to ball caps but is blanket policied by some less than mentally gifted staff, is along the same lines as the "no colors" rule in a biker establishment. A lot of urban gang members use different sports teams caps like their colors. If they dress "normal" and are just wearing their favorite team's cap they don't draw attention in a public setting, but often enough has been the case that some gangsta up in the club is recognized by his choice of cap and a fight breaks out.
If you live in an area not particularly known for gang violence you may not have noticed this, be thankful for that.

btw - Buckhead is a fairly affluent area of Atl and probably not to many gangstas live there, but MARTA is pretty efficient, and some of them even have cars, and sometimes they do leave the 'hood you know.

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2
 
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Ghost Rider

One of the Regulars
Messages
187
Location
Bühl, Germany
Many thanks for enlightening me :)

Believe it or not, I've actually been to Buckhead a few times when my brother in law lived just outside Atlanta. I can't remember seeing too many gangstas in Georgia, but this was about 5 years ago.
 

MCrider

A-List Customer
Messages
360
Location
hills of West Virginia
Saturday I stopped into a bookstore and the young (to me) cashier told me that my grey Akubra Stylemaster was "dashing." I thanked her and walked out with a smile on my face!
 

Lotsahats

One Too Many
Messages
1,370
Had a grocery store baker tell me that I looked distinguished in my Disney 15; I was wearing a suit and collared shirt, no tie, too, which probably helped. I'll take distinguished. :)
 

Matt Crunk

One Too Many
Messages
1,029
Location
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Many thanks for enlightening me :)

Believe it or not, I've actually been to Buckhead a few times when my brother in law lived just outside Atlanta. I can't remember seeing too many gangstas in Georgia, but this was about 5 years ago.

You just didn't go the the right (or wrong) neighborhoods. Believe me, HOTlanta is full of gangsta types. Pity a few folks got to ruin it for everyone.
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,066
Location
London, UK
I've never heard of such a policy. OK, I can understand a no smoking policy, or a "no colours" policy in some "biker" haunts, but why no hats? However, I always adhere to traditional hat etiquette and take my hat off as soon as I'm in the doorway of any club/restaurant anyway...


It's very common in London's West End in larger, fashionable pubs, clubs, and casinos. It's a security thing: the venues are covered by CCTV - patrons who have a hat over their face are harder to identify should they cause trouble, whether by stealing, starting a brawl, or counting cards or otherwise cheating the house. I've never felt any need to object, but then anywhere I've seen it in force I'd have instinctively removed my hat on the way in anyhow. [huh]
 
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