\u201cTake off that hat!\u201d The first time I yelled it, I was watching a professional golf tournament on TV. Another tournament, and yet another winner, walking over to receive his trophy and a check for a million dollars or more after sinking his winning putt on the eighteenth hole with a bright white forehead sparkling in the dwindling sunlight, in stark contrast to the rest of his face, which was well tanned from the eyebrow line down. I yelled at the TV, like old coots routinely do, \u201cTake off that hat!\u201d At least once in a while, as you\u2019re strolling down the fairways, to tan up that forehead and avoid looking like a half-moon cookie.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t just inappropriate use of hats on the golf course that caught my attention; I began noticing them on guy\u2019s heads in church, one or two at first and then more and more. \u201cTake off that hat!\u201d There they were in restaurants, movie theatres, business offices. Everyplace that admitted men. And oddest of all, hats with sunglasses parked above the brim. At first, I thought all these hats might be a \u201cbald\u201d cover up, but now that bald and shaved heads are in fashion, I realized it\u2019s a hat thing, not a bald thing.<\/p>\n
Lois Bingley came up to me at a Rotary picnic and suggested I write an article about the rudeness of men wearing baseball caps in restaurants. \u201cAnd, don\u2019t use my name like you did in the article about old guys swinging wide when they drive around a corner.\u201d I looked over at her husband, Al, in the process of climbing into a picnic table while at the same time removing his hat. Quite a feat for a guy of my vintage. If he can do it, why can\u2019t young, non-bald guys do it when the waiter pulls out their chair to seat them at a table in a restaurant?<\/p>\n
I checked with Emily Post, to make sure my hat rant wasn\u2019t just some old coot thing. I\u2019m on safe ground (for a change). Emily goes even further. She says, \u201cTake off that hat!\u201d – when in someone\u2019s home, at the dinner table, in restaurants and coffee shops, while being introduced to someone, in public buildings and private offices, at the movies or any indoor performance, when the national anthem is played and when the U.S. flag passes in a parade.<\/p>\n
I take my hat off to Emily! Now, I hope the rest of you take yours off like she said.<\/p>\n
Complaints? Comments? Send to mlessler7@gmail.com.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cTake off that hat!\u201d The first time I yelled it, I was watching a professional golf tournament on TV. Another tournament, and yet another winner,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n