New Guy On The Block

[Ordinary Guy]

Been lurking for a long time. I didn't know there was so much involved in hats.

I always wanted to wear real hats not baseball caps but couldn't figure out why people didn't do this anymore.

Of course once I found this site, I found people that are like me, and I didn't know that there were so many of you. So I got the courage to do what I always wanted to do..... Of course Fedora was my choice. I have just started my collection and also barely started my knowledge, so I will either have a ton of questions or spend hours searching this site, which is a veritable goldmine of hat info....

This for having this site and my first questions is:

What do you do with your hat when you go to a restaurant???
It isn't like it used to be, no hat check girl to take care of your trusty Fedora.
I have put mine on an empty seat at the table but I am not sure if that is good or not and certainly can't come up with anywhere else... HELP

 

[Lefty]

Welcome to the Lounge.

Yours is a question that sometimes invites controversy. As far as I can tell, there have been 3 schools of thought on the subject of where to put your hat. The first says to leave it in the car or at home, you're going to have nothing but trouble if you bring it. The second says to remove it upon arrival in the restaurant and keep it on a rack, on your knee, on an empty chair, on the cross-bars beneath a chair, etc. The third option is to leave it on. That's the one that people tend to argue over. If it's not going to bake in the car during the Summer months, when I'll bring mine in and hope there's an empty chair, I just leave it in the car.

 

[Ordinary Guy]

Hmmm your reply seems to cover about most of the options.

I really don't want to leave it at home or in the car, I bought it to wear so I want to do that......

In My Humble Opinion, I wouldn't feel right eating with my hat on, so I guess back to the empty chair or I like your idea,under the chair ..

Maybe if enough of us keep wearing our hats, the restaurants will put in hat racks .. Oh well, I can dream can't I??

 

[Lefty]

The chair idea isn't mine and, while it sounds very attractive, few chairs have the right base for holding a hat. With restaurants, I think of my hat as an umbrella. It's just going to be trouble if I bring it in, so why bother.

On the flip side of this disappointment with a lack of infrastructure for holding our stuff is the history of the hat check industry, which is discussed in several threads. If you had to leave your hat, they could charge you whatever they wanted to hold it. On an open rack, it's just inviting theft.

 

[Cricket]

Speaking of hats in restaurants...my older relatives were stern about removing your hat at the dinner table or a table at a restaurant and some even made a hat come off at picnics. It is an unwritten law that all hats must be removed while eating.
I think it is a wonderful tradition that should be kept alive.

 

[Daoud]

Welcome from another new guy! I have to say I vehemently disagree about wearing a hat while in a restaurant even being an option. Better you should do anything else with it, then wear it indoors, in public anyway. I was conditioned by years in the Army to remove my hat when going indoors, and it's as automatic as holding the door open for someone. It's one of the marks of a mannerly person that sets us apart from the louts and barbarians.

 

[Lefty]

See what I mean? The question then becomes whether it's OK in a diner, where there has been plenty of support for the position that it's acceptable in such a busy, casual, and usually cramped atmosphere.

Be sure to check out the hat etiquette thread and all of the other sticky threads.

 

[RBH]

Welcome to the Lounge... we are glad to have you!

First off read my tag line...

OK then, If I have my hat on I leave it on. If a place is there to put I do so... otherwise its on my head.

 

[scotrace]

Why hat checks died out (click)

Welcome to the Lounge!

(hat on while eating at diner counter)

 

[jec]

Hats off at the table

Hi and welcome Ordinary Guy! Good question.

I agree that hats should come off when eating. At a restaurant, I usually bring my hat inside with the assumption that there will be an empty seat available at the table for it. But I have sometimes been stuck holding it on my lap during the meal, or even placing it on the floor under my seat. Keeping it on my head, however, is never an option.

My 2 cents...

 

[Akubra Man]

Well said jecoe :eusa_clap ... I completely agree with you that it is always hats off when eating. Cheers

 

[ScionPI2005]

Welcome to the Lounge!

As you can see from the number of responses so far, the dilemma over whether to wear the hat in a restaurant is something that comes up a lot here, and something that many of us have different opinions on.

My take is this: If I am going to be eating with others at my table, I will take my hat off and place it in a vacant chair, or under my own chair (assuming the floor is clean, free of feet kicking it, etc). If there are positively no places to put the hat when I am with others, then I will let the people I'm eating with know that I would normally take the hat off but am going to leave it on because there's no place for me to put it.

If I'm eating by myself, I usually just leave it on, though that is not always the case. My view is, as a college student, even doing this makes my code of etiquette a dozen times more traditional than the norm in my generation is these days anyway.

 

[Belegnole]

Remembering my Father and having been in the Military I have certain habits concerning hats. When it comes to places in which to eat I believe that part of the current problem lies with the blurring between Fast food/diner/ cafe` and Restaurant. Old etiquette stated that the hat was kept on in the diner or cafe` possibly because many were outdoors and no distinction was made between in and out of doors for them. Another reason could be the setting in general. I have noted that most of the origins of the rules were from medieval times and the setting was the reason not the place. The diner is a public place while the restaurant is private. In a restaurant your table is to be considered as if in your home and you do NOT chat with people at other tables. In a diner this is not true. Diners moved towards restaurants with the advent of the booth and the lines continue to blur. I live in a smaller city of 70+ thousand and consider all but a few of the eateries here to be fast food and not restaurants no matter how they try to pass themselves off. That being said I remove my cover at all of them except at Mickey D's or similar places.

 

[Ordinary Guy]

Welcome to the Lounge... we are glad to have you!

First off read my tag line...

OK then, If I have my hat on I leave it on. If a place is there to put I do so... otherwise its on my head.

Interesting article and thread, thanks for the link....

 

[HatMagnet]

Welcome from another new guy! I have to say I vehemently disagree about wearing a hat while in a restaurant even being an option. Better you should do anything else with it, then wear it indoors, in public anyway. I was conditioned by years in the Army to remove my hat when going indoors, and it's as automatic as holding the door open for someone. It's one of the marks of a mannerly person that sets us apart from the louts and barbarians.

Good it's not just me! After 20 years spent in the Army I just automatically remove my hat as soon as I go through a door. It's pretty much indelibly ingrained I think. [huh]

 

[duggap]

I always wear my hat in a restaurant. I take it off as soon as I am shown to a table. I always put my hat on an empty chair. If there is not an empty chair I ask the waiter to bring me one. It has never failed me yet.

 

[John in Covina]

What I have thought about is a piece of metal that would clip or hang from the edge of the table that would act as a portable hat hook.

There are portable hooks for womens pocketbooks and purses so they may hang them from the edge of a table. I think it may be posible to fashion a similar design that would be pocket sized and work for men's dress hats.

 

[ScionPI2005]

What I have thought about is a piece of metal that would clip or hang from the edge of the table that would act as a portable hat hook.

There are portable hooks for womens pocketbooks and purses so they may hang them from the edge of a table. I think it may be posible to fashion a similar design that would be pocket sized and work for men's dress hats.

I have thought of the same thing for my backpack. For most modern "Jansport-type" backpacks, there's that loop-handle at the top of the pack. I've considered attaching some sort of clip with a soft clamp to that loop to attach to the brims of my hats once I get settled in the classroom. It's easier than keeping the hat on my lap, and its better than trying to balance it on the pack and having it fall and roll on the floor.

Still, I'm graduating at the end of this semester, so the odds of me having a traditional backpack on me throughout the day again are somewhat small...so thus I haven't actually done this. Still, it may be a good idea for others.

 

[John in Covina]

You may move on to a briefcase, so a device that will keep a fedora connected to the case and off the floor may be viable too.

 

[ScionPI2005]

You may move on to a briefcase, so a device that will keep a fedora connected to the case and off the floor may be viable too.

Actually, that's a good point. I could definitely see myself carrying a briefcase around for work. If that's the case, I'd consider that.