# What's with the ban on hats in the workplace?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 13, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526 "2015-02-13T00:25:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/1 "2015-02-13T00:25:07Z")
Since losing my job 18 months ago, I have been on a _lot_ of temporary assignments. Dress code varies, but the universal constants are no hateful/racist clothing and no hats. I don’t wear a hat, so it doesn’t affect me, but what is it about hats in the workplace that they remain unacceptable even under a minimalist dress code?
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/2 "2015-02-13T00:32:51Z")
It’s generally still considered rude for gentlemen to wear hats indoors. You may not have to wear a three-piece suit, but they still want you to be basically presentable to other humans.
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### Author:  [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/3 "2015-02-13T00:41:07Z")
The explanation I’ve always gotten is that it’s “disrespectful to the flag”. Which is bizarre, but hey, America. It’s probably a leftover from an earlier time, especially given that it’s usually more acceptable for women to wear hats inside than men.
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### Author:  [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/4 "2015-02-13T00:57:28Z")
Traditionally men removed their hats indoors as sign of respect to the host. In offices, the boss was assumed to have sort of a host like role (i.e. person in charge). Hats on women are a more complicated issue. Traditionally women outside of their homes have not been expected to remove their hats even when pledging allegiance to the flag. However this tradition dates back to time when the women who wore hats outside their homes (as opposed to working poor who had handerchiefs, scarves or nothing on their heads) were always presumed to be “guests” of whatever building they were inside. They were not workers. When “respectable” women started working the rules started varying and the were several opinions. Since married women did not wear hats inside their homes, some school teachers removed their hats to symbolize that their position at the head of the class room was similar to that of a matron in her home (i.e., the schoolroom was her place and she was the head, not the students and they should respect her as they would their mother in their home). Nurses wore caps because they were part of their uniform and helped establish them as part of a profession. Professional women sometimes wore hat sometimes did not depending on the fashion and their preference. John Mallory’s first edition of Dress for Success for Women actually recommends business women wear hats (he recommends fedoras) because it was an authoritative item of clothing that they could wear indoors while their male co-workers could not.
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/5 "2015-02-13T03:14:48Z")
> [@friedo](#):
>
> It’s generally still considered rude for gentlemen to wear hats indoors. You may not have to wear a three-piece suit, but they still want you to be basically presentable to other humans.
But what if you’re a normal man, not a gentleman?
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/6 "2015-02-13T03:16:16Z")
> [@TBG](#):
>
> But what if you’re a normal man, not a gentleman?
Then you can beg for potato peels in the gutter.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/7 "2015-02-13T04:06:56Z")
The woman thing also has the practical aspect of a lady’s hat, when ladies wore hats, being a part of her hairstyle and therefore not really removable without pins and replaceable without a mirror.
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### Author:  [@mind\_the\_gap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mind_the_gap)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/8 "2015-02-13T04:22:23Z")
Well, if it helps stop young guys from wearing flat brimmed baseball caps over their ears I’m all for it. Damn, give your big brother his hat back or have mom buy you one that fits. And pull your damn pants up. And get the hell off my lawn!😃
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### Author:  [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/9 "2015-02-13T04:47:27Z")
Unless your workplace has an excess of sun, rain, or cold why on earth would you want to wear a hat?
You can always get work at a diner and wear their paper hats… or a rodeo… State Troopers get to wear hats… or professional football or baseball player. Maybe you just aren’t looking in the right fields.
I find the “no hats” restriction about as restraining as the “no feather boas” rule.
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### Author:  [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/10 "2015-02-13T07:02:07Z")
I happen to be watching a lot of Midsommer Murders at the moment, and whenever they show a factory, the workers all seem to be wearing white lab coats and white mesh trilby hats - like this one, only white and more disposable looking.
> **[DIME Designer Beanies Air Mesh Trilby Fedora Baby Blue Large/Extra Large at...](https://www.amazon.com/Mesh-Trilby-Fedora-Baby-Blue/dp/B00D99FPI6)**
>
> Trilby fedoras are angled down at the front and tipped up in the back, and have an overall shorter brim. This trilby features gutter top and the meshed textile is great for structure of the hat. Wrapped in a band ribbon on top.
OH! Here it is, I think -
[http://hygienicuk.com/headwear/white-mesh-trilby-hat-medium.#.VN2hGS43DsA](http://hygienicuk.com/headwear/white-mesh-trilby-hat-medium.#.VN2hGS43DsA)
That’s about $8, so not disposable, exactly. And all the factory workers seem to wear them in place of hairnets. It definitely improves the tone of a place.
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### Author:  [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/11 "2015-02-13T16:34:42Z")
This is because of 20-something boys who think a baseball cap with a rolled bill is the height of sophisticated haberdashery. If you don’t have this rule in place these clowns would wear them to work, just like they do for weddings funerals and fancy restaurants.
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### Author:  [@Abner\_Ravenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abner_Ravenwood)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/12 "2015-02-13T17:21:37Z")
I’m wearing a knit hat right now, but that’s because I work in an old drafty building that was a church in the late 1800’s and it gets really cold in the winters. Sometimes it gets cold enough that I have to wear a pair of fingerless gloves to keep my hands from cramping up while typing. My boss doesn’t mind.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/13 "2015-02-13T19:11:30Z")
> [@Abner\_Ravenwood](#):
>
> I’m wearing a knit hat right now, but that’s because I work in an old drafty building that was a church in the late 1800’s and it gets really cold in the winters. Sometimes it gets cold enough that I have to wear a pair of fingerless gloves to keep my hands from cramping up while typing. My boss doesn’t mind.
Psst. If that church is “inside the outer marker” of an airport and white vans pull up outside with guys in PACTEL uniforms?
Run.
😛
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/14 "2015-02-13T19:35:58Z")
> [@friedo](#):
>
> It’s generally still considered rude for gentlemen to wear hats indoors.
Yeah, there was a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=748904) about this just a couple of days ago.
Plus, if you’re going to have a dress code at all, you have to either ban hats altogether or go into detail about what kinds of hats are or are not acceptable. If you don’t set a policy at all, then what do you say to Bob, whose backwards ball cap looks stupid with his coat and tie; or Bill, who has the brim of his hat pulled down so that no one can make eye contact with him; or Fred, who’s always knocking stuff over with that big-ass sombrero he always wears?
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/15 "2015-02-13T19:48:11Z")
> [@Spud](#):
>
> Unless your workplace has an excess of sun, rain, or cold why on earth would you want to wear a hat?
Unless your workplace has an excess of heat or cold, why would you want to wear clothes? Neither is based on “need”, just societal expectations.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/16 "2015-02-13T19:56:27Z")
> [@Abner\_Ravenwood](#):
>
> I’m wearing a knit hat right now, but that’s because I work in an old drafty building that was a church in the late 1800’s and it gets really cold in the winters. Sometimes it gets cold enough that I have to wear a pair of fingerless gloves to keep my hands from cramping up while typing. My boss doesn’t mind.
Get a small halogen desk/task lamp that you can direct at your desktop/keyboard. Works wonders.
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### Author:  [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/17 "2015-02-13T20:05:17Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#):
>
> Unless your workplace has an excess of heat or cold, why would you want to wear clothes? Neither is based on “need”, just societal expectations.
Yes, society expects that people wear clothes to work, too. (Except for some dancers.)
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/18 "2015-02-13T21:36:36Z")
> [@Pabitel](#):
>
> This is because of 20-something boys who think a baseball cap with a rolled bill is the height of sophisticated haberdashery. If you don’t have this rule in place these clowns would wear them to work, just like they do for weddings funerals and fancy restaurants.
Bingo! Le’ts not forget about the cohort of clowns who’d wear those goofy looking beanie hats everywhere during every season also.
I kind of suspect that if people were wearing fedoras and trilbies and porkpie hats, people wouldn’t have as much of an issue.
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### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/19 "2015-02-13T21:50:58Z")
> [@bump](#):
>
> Bingo! Le’ts not forget about the cohort of clowns who’d wear those goofy looking beanie hats everywhere during every season also.
Oh god, when I see dudes wearing these in the Florida summer I involuntarily hold my breath.
> [@](#):
>
> I kind of suspect that if people were wearing fedoras and trilbies and porkpie hats, people wouldn’t have as much of an issue.
I would love that, as long as they practiced proper hat etiquette.
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### Author:  [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ban-on-hats-in-the-workplace/712526/20 "2015-02-13T21:53:53Z")
> [@Spud](#):
>
> Unless your workplace has an excess of sun, rain, or cold why on earth would you want to wear a hat?
I wore one so I wouldn’t get welding berries in my hair. It didn’t take long to figure out they are hot and can hurt when they land on your head.
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