Hat Etiquette
I’ve been reading a lot about hat etiquette lately and frequently have customers ask about etiquette when they’re buying their hat. Here are a few sample questions I get regularly:
Do I take my hat off in an elevator?
When I tip my hat do I grab it by the crown or the brim?
Do I remove my hat when in a restaurant? What about if I’m sitting at the bar?
Should I tip my hat to every woman I pass walking down the street?
If you still want to follow very strict hat etiquette as dictated by Emily Post then you better do some research because there’s a lot to learn. For me personally, here’s what I do. I rarely, if ever, tip my hat. In a restaurant I’ll take my hat off if sitting at a table. If I’m at the bar and there’s an open seat next to me I’ll remove my hat otherwise it stays on. Taking my hat off I use both the crown and the brim depending on which hat I’m wearing. In any indoor public area I keep my hat on, once I enter a private area I’ll remove my hat.
In the end, here’s what I tell my customers. Do what feels right to you and if in doubt remove your hat. Nobody is going to give you a hard time about being too polite.
Get a hat on,
Aaron