Does anyone else miss hat-stands?
I started wearing hats in the military, stopped for a bit after I got out, then a combination of living in the American West and being a fair-skinned, light-eyed redhead meant I started wearing them again.
Gentle Readers who have met me in the paint know that I’m going to be wearing either a pecan-coloured pinch-front Western hat or straw hat if I’m in jeans, or a boonie hat if I’m in shorts.
However, enough of the hat culture from my youth and the military has stuck that I find it uncomfortable to be wearing a hat indoors. When I was working in an indoor office, I would wear my hat to my desk, and then it came off until it was time to leave the building.
And I absolutely can not wear a hat while sitting at a dining table. Period. Not even a ball cap.
Used to be that dining establishments understood this, and provided a place for gentlemen to stow their headgear. I can remember restaurants having hooks at each booth for hats, and a hat-stand or a hat-rack at the door, Back In The Day.
As the Age of the Common Man has swept in from the big coastal cities, and the “trendy kids” cock their snooks at social conventions by — amongst other kittenish acts of rebellion — wearing their hats everywhere, including at the dining table, hat-stands and hat-racks in eating establishments have gone by the wayside.
Several months ago Jim Curtis and I were in a cafe and noticed a table full of cowboys having lunch — every one of them with his hat perched firmly on his topknot. Seriously thought about contacting the lady of the ranch and informing her that her hands were being louts, making the ranch she and her husband were busting their humps to make work look bad …
… But, quite honestly the role of the rancher’s wife in making sure their hands maintained some minimal amount of social decorum is yet another of those things that are being cast aside as “old fashioned” and “not progressive”, so we didn’t bother.
Harrumph. That’s a rant for another time.
Anyhoo, of the eating establishments in Tiny Town, two of them — the BBQ joint and the cafe on the highway — still had a some place to put your hat. Until the cafe recently redid their decor; and one of the first things they got rid of was the hat-rack.
Sigh.
It’s annoying has hell trying to find a place to perch your chapeau, but not annoying enough to make me either wear at hat at the table, or stop wearing one to the cafe at all.
Still have a Constitutional right to grouse about it, though.
Grr.
LawDog
I agree with everything you say about hats and hat racks. I wear hats pretty much all the time, as I’d rather not slather sunscreen goop on my face or get rain on my noggin.
We have them. But they tend to always be pretty full…
Currently my hat rack is parked in the utility room, where you pass it on the way to the beverage fridge. Soon, I hope to have it back in it’s proper place behind the front door, ready for hats of the people-who-insist-on-parking-on-my-lawn type.
As a pale-faced hat wearer, I share your issues.
Even more annoying is that many places that at least had coat hooks, etc. have done away with those as well. So you come in from the cold and have no where to put your hat or coat except on your chair somewhere. Or sit on it if you’re in a booth.
Farmer.
Always, always, always wear a hat outside.
Hat comes off when I walk into my house, your house, church or social setting. Commercial setting – shops, workshops, offices, not so much. That’s “work” and we have better things to do than worry about dress unless we are sitting down.
If I’m wearing work-boots, they are likely to come off when I enter your house, too. Or I will at least make the offer. Farmer-thing.
Not the point of your post, but maybe helpful for the problem: for ladies there are ‘table-hooks’ for handbags avaluable. Perhaps something like that could work for a hat?
If I sit, the hat comes off. Especially at a dining table. My hat often goes on the unused chair, the same one my cane leans against.
Seldom eat out but when we do we always go for a booth or a 4-person table. That gives us extra seats for her purse, my hat and coats as needed.
These days it’s probably at risk of being stolen if it’s a nice hat. (Hell, I once had my leather jacket stolen off the hook in the lobby of my Orthodontist’s office! Someone walked in, put it on, and walked out!)
Fellow I once knew had a joke about a fellow who thanked the preacher at church. He had forgotten his hat somewhere and had decided to go into the church and steal a hat. The preacher asked if the bit of the sermon about theft had changed his mind. The fellow replied that was all good, but it was the bit about adultery that really helped him. How so? “That’s when I remembered where I left my hat.”
I agree with doc. It’s not just that fewer men wear hats and those that do are failing to take them off. It’s a matter of liability. I know how much a good Stetson (or similar) costs!
I have had an umbrella go missing at CHURCH. Now granted, it was a nondescript black brolly type that was a close match to several others dripping out in the vestibule, but still!
BTW, I do wish more men wore hats routinely. I miss fedoras and Stetsons. One of the gentlemen I saw a a funeral this weekend was wearing a flat driving cap and he looked so dapper.
I do wear a hat indoors at time, BUT… it’s out of public view for my work hours, it’s company approved (their cap) and only when I need it for heat retention.
My problem is that, as much as I’d like to have a good hat, I tend to look… well, less than right… in almost anything. I recognize this and I admit to having NO fashion sense. (Well, maybe more than The Doctor, but that ain’t sayin’ much!) Also, where I am, it’d likely blow right off unless tied down/on… and that… is non-ideal.
It would be nice to have hat rack or such. A hat check is likely too much to ask for. And likely too fancy anyway.
I don’t wear hats often but I’m moving towards using them more.
I usually wear an adjustable ball cap – I’ve found that when I’m not wearing it, the adjustment strap goes under the strap on my Leatherman pouch quite handily so I have my own place to stow it.
The last time I saw a coat and hat check was at a high end place at least 20 years ago.
My dad would let you know that hats were not worn inside a house. “You weren’t born in a barn, lose the hat!” Not a request.
A good friend had to explain to his granddaughter’s boyfriend that hat’s were not worn at the dinner table in his house. The kid picked it up quickly. Dave thinks he was just ignorant of good manners.
I did watch an episode of Wild Upland about a dove hunt in Texas. The 30-40 year olds, men and women had gimee hats on at the table while eating. My wife said they couldn’t hear my muttering. I would bet 10 Yankee dollars nobody said grace either.
Winter hats don’t seem to be a problem since I stuff it in my coat sleeve, so everything is all together. Ball caps, I can hang on my knee. A hard brimmed hat is an ongoing problem.
Well, the culture as a whole seems to have gone completely hatstand. ;þ
Being “folicularly challenged” myself, I wear hats. I agree with Lawdog that hats belong on one’s head while outdoors and off of it when indoors. I’ll only wear one when at the table if it’s raining on me.
Ulises from the People’s Republik of Kalipornia
‘Dog, you are timely to a fault. My wife and I moved to Texas 3 years ago (but I got here as fast as I could!). I have a felt cowboy hat that I’ve had since the 70’s that has seen better days. When we got here, I bought another “weather-proof” cowboy hat, but it’s too warm for summer. We just went out and finally both bought summer cowboy hats. And realized that we now need a hat rack!
It arrives Tuesday …
BTW, fully agree about when to wear your hat, and wearing at the table being taboo.
Ranger
An old friend of mine once looked around a restaurant in Bryan and said, “There sure are a lot of Jewish cowboys in here.”
I’m lucky enough to advise some scouts teaching National Youth Leadership Training (Grey Wolf in our neck of the woods) and they have a culture of “Uncovered under cover” to include pavillions and dining flies. A light weight gated S CarabinerSimple solution for the staff since they all get really nice boonie hats. just clip it to a belt loop whenever it comes off. Works wonderful. I’ve added the carabiners on a small split ring to my regular wear ball caps as well.
Obviously, that’s not as useful for a cowboy or mor formed hat though a simple length of paracord or latigo with a hook similar to ladies’ purse hooks (mentioned up thread) may work.
Here’s the name of what I use (They come in multiple sizes.): Nite Ize Dual Chamber Carabiner
Abso-bloody-lutely! My headgear of choice has always been flat caps, and I can’t tell how many I’ve had to replace for having left them on a restaurant seat or under a church pew.
We need to re-learn an etiquette of hats!
As a female, I adhere to the old custom of women not removing their hats/scarves/ lacy thingies the Catholics required, unless it’s a requirement, like going into a courtroom, or I get too hot.
That said, it does bug me that so many men don’t even know the teeniest bit of hat etiquette. Sigh.
As for hat racks, we have two, one for my hats and one for his. And yes, we do wear all those hats for different purposes.
Conventions are arbitrary and are retained only for sentimental purposes. There’s no functional reason to remove a hat indoors or at a table aside from perhaps the wearer’s comfort. I wear a hat and I generally only take it off inside my own house; at the office, restaurants, and your house it will stay on. Unless I’m too hot I keep my coat on as well.
I don’t feel anyone needs to tell someone else to take off their clothes.
Convention and tradition are just peer pressure from dead people.