Can you wear a baseball cap to a restaurant?

[TwinsinCA]

I was always taught that men shouldn't wear hats in a restaurant, and that is what we are teaching our son.

But honestly, it's one of those things that I don't understand. Someone decided years and years ago that it was rude, so now people have to abide by what someone else decided was rude a long time ago. Just doesn't make sense to me. I really can't think of one good reason why a person wearing a hat indoors is rude, other than that it has always been considered rude.

Not touching other people, not cutting in line, keeping your conversation down, giving up your seat to an elderly person, those are all things that if you don't them make sense to be considered rude, because they directly affect other people. Hat in a restaurant = rude, just doesn't make sense to me.
.

It just seem so arbitrary to me. To me it is like saying once you enter a building you must remove your left sock. WHY is it rude to keep your head covered???

 

[gina2000]

I can tell you what I think about hat wearing protocol but I have no idea if it's correct.

When I sit at a restaurant, I want to see your eyes. A hat's brim shades the eyes in a place where no shading is necessary. To me, it's akin to wearing sunglasses indoors. Unless you have a pressing reason, I think it's rude. You are hiding your eyes and people who are conversing with you cannot make adequate eye contact.

To me, it's also a show of respect. Wearing a hat suggests you're ready to leave and go outside. And as far as church and school are concerned, it's respectful. Don't you remove your hat if you're at an outdoor venue and the Star Spangled Banner is being played? Again, it's all about respect.

On the old debate board, there was once a heated topic about wearing hats indoors at WDW restaurants. Advocates of indoor hat wearing cited hat head as their primary reason for continuing to wear a hat indoors. Personally, I still would vastly prefer a hat head to a covered one. Washrooms exist to freshen up should one need to comb one's hair or wipe one's head after a hot day in the park.

One gentleman cited religious beliefs and stated that wearing a baseball cap indoors satisfied his religion's rules. Personally, I felt that he should wear whatever designated hat his religion demanded (such as a yarmulke) and not use a baseball cap as a religious article of clothing. I think that if you honor your religion, you should honor its tenets traditionally and not confuse the world at large about your reasons and/or intentions for wearing a hat at a nice restaurant. Or even a fast food restaurant for that matter.

We're training our son to take off his hat. He does fight us on it citing hat head and general lack of acceptance of society's rules. He'll learn. He'd never dream of walking into a country club with a hat on but he rebels about removing it at McDonald's. What can I tell you? There is always generational resistance to old ways but most adults will adhere to whatever rules their peers, co-workers, and social circle subscribe to.

 

[twinklebug]

I was brought up that removing one's hat while indoors is the proper thing to do. I overlook it in most cases nowdays as people wear their hats everywhere, but at the dining table I still consider it rude to continue wearing a hat unless there's a very good reason for it (thinking such as with chemotherapy patients if they're sensitive to their condition)

 

[dizluvah]

I was also taught that men must remove their hats inside but woman are "allowed" to wear hats inside.

That being said, my DH has worn a baseball hat inside a casual restaurant such as the Cracker Barrel and it doesn't bother me or him. I think it simply boils down to traditional values vs more contemporary norms. The older gentleman in the OPs example was likely raised that men must remove their hats.

IMHO the older gentleman was rude to make a comment to a strangerXbvjmni. cxz

 

[DVC-Don]

I always take my hat off in a restaurant or someones home.

 

[npmommie]

However, you should keep your shoes on.

and add that you should wear shoes to begin with. how many times do we see people at the grocery store etc in bedroom slippers
i don't get it.

we went to the zoo the other day and there was a girl wearing bedroom slippers

 

[TangaroaTiki]

Absolutely - Hats off at the table - especially a restaurant!!

 

[EMom]

Why is it considered rude to wear a hat at the dinner table? My parents and their siblings also feel this way. Personally, I think there are real things to be concerned about, not whether someone wears a hat indoors. I think that if the man had approached me and commanded me to take off my hat, my reply would probably have been to tell him to $&^%# off and mind his own *^*&% business.

Why is that not surprising?

 

[dumboiu]

Yes, it is considered rude not to remove ones hat when in a restaurant. It is also courteous for a man to remove his hat when going inside a building as well.

I think the gentleman who said something to your DH was just trying to teach him some manners. I don't think he meant to upset him to the point of him not being able to finish his meal. Maybe your DH's parents neglected to teach him this social etiquette when he was growing up?

 

[brockash]

I think it really depends on the type of restaurant and how fancy it is. However, regardless even if it was a very fancy restaurant (I don't know) I think it was even more rude of the man who told your DH to take the hat off.

 

[metalis4ever]

I personally don't think that it is rude to wear a hat while dining in a restaurant unless there is a specific dress code at said restaurant....After all the paying customer is always right therefore if said customer is comfortable with wearing a hat then so be it they are within their rights. I personally wouldn't wear a hat while eating as I don't find it enjoyable or comfortable....Social norms and values are overrated especially ones as infinitesimal as wearing a hat indoors or at a restaurant....

 

[MouseLover]

My DH almost always wears a hat into casual restaurants. It is apparently the "social norm" around here, as there are always many other men with hats on too. Personally, I would rather look at his hat than hat-hair. If we are going out to a nice restaurant, he does not wear a hat. He also takes his hat off for the national anthem.

We visit the Arlington/Dallas area often and see so many men there with hats on as well, that we don't even give it a thought. However we were visiting a city in the north last year and DH noticed that only one other man was wearing a cap in the restaurant we were in. He removed his, as it seemed to be the "social norm" there.

I think it is good manners to remove a hat indoors. I do not think it is rude not to.

 

[PghLybrt]

Were talking about Bravo, not some fine dinning establishment. Hats are fine.

 

[kaytieeldr]

ETA: My Mom always says she would have a ball working at 50s Prime Time Cafe because she could walk around knocking hats off of guys and wouldn't get in trouble for it!

Thank your mom for me. I thought I'd just work at my current job forever and ever... but maybe instead I'll retire to Orlando with this specific job as my goal

Why is it considered rude to wear a hat at the dinner table?

Since that's already been explained here, several times, including via a link to a site regarding hats and manners, let's turn it around: why should it be considered polite - respectful, necessary - to wear a hat at the dinner table? From what are you protecting your head?

I think that if the man had approached me and commanded me to take off my hat, my reply would probably have been to tell him to $&^%# off and mind his own *^*&% business.

Because... two wrongs don't make a right, but two wrongs and an obscenity-laden response do?

 

[ntsammy5]

I think that if the man had approached me and commanded me to take off my hat, my reply would probably have been to tell him to $&^%# off and mind his own *^*&% business.

My response would have been similar to yours --- the man who made the comment was more lacking in manners than anyone else.

Those types of gratuitous comments sometimes lead to violence.

 

[hentob]

Were talking about Bravo, not some fine dinning establishment. Hats are fine.

So, how do you feel about belching out loud just because it is Bravo

 

[clarabelle]

Etiquette is not a sword to be wielded. If your husband is out of line wearing the hat the man saying something to him is just as out of line.

And OP it would bother me too to have someone say something to me. I stew over things like that and would probably think about it for days.

 

[ntsammy5]

 

[kaytieeldr]

My DH almost always wears a hat into casual restaurants. It is apparently the "social norm" around here, as there are always many other men with hats on too.

Were talking about Bravo, not some fine dinning establishment. Hats are fine.

Respectfully (because that's what proper etiquette/good manners are - respect for one's surroundings and fellow beings), simply because something is the 'social norm' or 'typical practice' in a given establishment, or deemed acceptable by some customers, doesn't make it proper etiquette or good manners.

 

[onelilspark]

Thank your mom for me. I thought I'd just work at my current job forever and ever... but maybe instead I'll retire to Orlando with this specific job as my goal

Haha...well, I'll thank her, but now her retirement job is going to have competition