Restaurant Hat Issues

[Retro Spectator]

In restaurants, and houses, you are supposed to remove your hat. However, removing a hat is next to impossible in a restaurant, for one simple reason. Where to put it?

 

[guitarmasta12]

I put mine on the table in a convenient spot. Since there isn't hat racks in restaurants any more.

 

[barrowjh]

This issue keeps coming back up, there are several alternatives. Sometimes it is in your lap, maybe sit it on the wife's purse (expecially if it is a large one that she has to set on the floor anyway). Sometimes you can find a spot in the restaurant decor to hang it, just keep it in sight. If all else fails you can just wear it, as the rules are not that strict anymore, plenty of folks wearing caps at their table. If it is a really nice restaurant (nobody in a T-shirt with a baseball cap on) then it may have to go in your lap as the last resort, out towards the knees, requires that you keep your legs under tension througout the meal though, not the best option at all. Along those same lines, if it is a really nice restaurant then the floor is likely clean enough you could lay it on the floor under your chair.

 

[-30-]

" if it is a really nice restaurant then the floor is likely clean enough you could lay it on the floor under your chair."
barrowjh.

Their floor and my hat; never the two will meet.


Regards,
J T

 

[tommyK]

I've recently adopted Barrow's "on the knees under the table technique" when circumstances conspired against putting it on a seat or nearby shelf. You have to concentrate on keeping your knees together. Be wary of fresh gum on the bottom of the table. I've come across it in the best of restaurants. The old stuff is hard as a rock and poses no real threat, it's just gross.

 

[AndyR]

I'm with you JT. Restaurants are a tough place for me even without worrying about a hat. I have some OCD issues and wouldn't be able to leave my hat just anywhere. In fact, this thread has caused me to break out into a cold sweat. LOL!

Andy

 

[Ginseng]

I have been holding it between my knees brim up under the table. Where space permits, on a seat next to me. In casual establishments, I'll simply keep it on considering it more of a fashion accessory and relaxing the traditional guidance.

 

[Slacker Drummer]

If an American president can do, you know, presidential stuff, with his hat in his lap, I don't see why I can't put mine there while I eat.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

I have been holding it between my knees brim up under the table. Where space permits, on a seat next to me. In casual establishments, I'll simply keep it on considering it more of a fashion accessory and relaxing the traditional guidance.

I do the same.

 

[LeBois46]

If you do take the hat off, don't forget it!! I always put my keys in or on my hat at the table or on a chair. I can get a long ways away without my hat but not very far without my keys.

 

[-30-]

"If an American president can do, you know, presidential stuff,"
Slacker Drumer.

Didn't know that Presidents ate pens; I know that I don't.


Regards,
J T

 

[LuvMyMan]

Nice restaurants have a managers office. Tip the manager and bet you can have it sit in that office nice and safe until you are ready to pay the check.....

 

[Shangas]

Unless there's somewhere to put it, or if it's uncomfortable - my hat stays on.

 

[F. J.]

Floor . . .

In restaurants, and houses, you are supposed to remove your hat. However, removing a hat is next to impossible in a restaurant, for one simple reason. Where to put it?

I have been in some places that had someplace to hang it next to the table as part of the décor or even a bentwood tree by the door.
Otherwise, it’s either on the chair next to me or under my chair if the table’s full. If it’s cold or wet, I’ll just set it on top of my overcoat, but the floor ain’t gonna hurt it, and besides, wearing a hat inside a restaurant goes against my raising.

 

[gtdean48]

" if it is a really nice restaurant then the floor is likely clean enough you could lay it on the floor under your chair."
barrowjh.

Their floor and my hat; never the two will meet.


Regards,
J T

Clean napkin on the floor underneath my chair, hat on napkin if I have to...

 

[Frunobulax]

I'm of the opinion that traditional hat etiquette should be followed whenever practical. Emphasis on practical. For the most part, I have little trouble finding a place to put it when I'm dining, as there is usually a free chair or something to hang it on. If I'm in a nice restaurant, I'll ask the server or hostess for a place to put my hat, and it's always accommodated. Most of the restaurants my wife and I frequent know us as regular customers, so they're more than happy to accommodate.

The only time I will wear my hat while I dine is if I'm in a casual place and there is no practical place to put it that's safe and clean, or when dining al fresco, when I normally keep it on. Or in a restaurant/bar where I'm seeing live music; it stays on then.

The point is it has to be practical. Unfortunately, for those of us who want to practice proper etiquette, it's not always practical in a world where folks like us are in the minority. So we make do.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Unless there's somewhere to put it, or if it's uncomfortable - my hat stays on.

Agree wholeheartedly.

 

[MothPrey]

It's a continual problem...

I am not at all comfortable keeping my hat on when seated in a restaurant, or in a lot of other circumstances, My lap is probably out of the question for a relaxed meal, I have trouble enough keeping my napkin there.

The restaurant we frequent almost weekly has two sections, in the old section there is a (clearly visible) wall with coat hooks, but they aren't deep enough for hats. Fortunately there is an elbow-height partition with a platform top beside the booths where I can usually park mine. During the holiday season I've been known to scootch a poinsettia or whatever. The new section actually has posts with coat hooks between the booths. In general I've had a lot more luck with booths than tables, and we often request a booth when dining in other restaurants, they're used to the request and there's usually room on the seat if nowhere else.

We think of there being hat-checks everywhere back in the day, I'm old enough to remember them, but I was watching an old black-and-white movie with Jimmy Stewart years ago and he and another gent (whom I should remember) sat down at a booth in a nightclub and promptly put their hats up on a padded platform behind the seats. Apparently the hat-check thing wasn't universal.

John Penman of Penman hats had a small, wooden portable hat hook at one point that used bungee cord to attach to a chair back or whatever. By the time I saw it (and wanted one) he was no longer carrying it, but the Youtube video is still up, and it doesn't look like it would be impossible to make something of the sort. Every few years I'll think to do web searches to see if anyone has come up with anything better.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Not comfortable with all hat or coat "checks." Stuff happens... "Keep your Kids and Hats close!"

 

[Hercule]

During the winter months I've been known to simply take over a chair or two at a nearby empty table (much to my wife's disgust) for our coats and my hat. As far as I'm concerned its the price they pay for packing people in like cattle and giving no room for such necessary personal items. Other times and circumstances I try to insist on being seated at a table that seats an extra person, or If I know it's going to be crowded and I have no choice, I'll leave it in the car.