Caps in theaters

It's a generational thing. I have never nor ever will wear a cap inside a theater. My mother would reach down from heaven and knock it off my head if I did! I was raised that you didn't wear caps indoors at a lot of places.

With that said, I don't mind them in a theater unless they are obstructing my view. I have asked a few people over the years in front of me to remove them. But along with society's "flux" it isn't just wearing a hat inside but it is also, as the OP mentioned, the attitude you can now get when you ask someone to remove it because it is obstructing your view of the stage. JMO

People are slobs. Yeah, yeah, I know. People want to be comfortable. People can wear what they want. It’s none of my business. Again, people are slobs.

Careful with this one. A lot of people I know wear caps because of personal or medical conditions.

If it's not blocking your view, I would give them the benefit of the doubt or risk embarrassing yourself.

l wear a cap to theatre like 80% of the time. and i always take it off when the show starts.

i think because i am short so i understand how it feels when the view is blocked.



another similar thing is the hairstyle - i once sat behind a lady whose hair was like 5 inches UP on top of her head. I think i was just unlucky because of my height.

If someone is blocking your view with a hat/cap, we should be able to at least ask them to remove it. If we’ve lost the ability to kindly ask someone to do us a favor that will make a difference in our viewing experience - especially when, of course, they have the freedom to decline - then we have a huge, huge problem. It’s not “crazy” at all to ask someone something like that. And if you’re told that it’s because of a medical condition, that doesn’t need to be embarrassing… you just didn’t know. You then just say, “Okay, I understand,” and then move on. No need to feel ashamed or stew in embarrassment. All of this business about not being able to kindly ask things and needing to feel diminishment if it doesn’t go your way is why so many people are so resentful and reactive right now. Just be mature.

Updated On: 5/25/26 at 07:18 AM

Reading this thread makes me wonder if I have lived too long.

another similar thing isthe hairstyle- i once sat behind a lady whose hair was like 5 inches UP on top of her head. I think i was just unlucky because of my height.

"

Exactly, my view has never been blocked by a hat, but was blocked by a very tall man with a high manbun.

This is so interesting because I always take my cap off but a few weeks ago at a show, I noticed several people had theirs on and so I decided to keep mine on too. It felt socially acceptable, but I still always remove it except that one time.

As always, if what someone is wearing doesn’t bother you, shut up.

When I went to see Company, I had a woman ask me to take my beanie (flat, with no pom on it or anything) off. It was not impairing her view whatsoever.

n2nbaby said: "As always, if what someone is wearing doesn’t bother you, shut up.

When I went to see Company, I had a woman ask me to take my beanie (flat, with no pom on it or anything) off. It was not impairing her view whatsoever."

I totally agree that if something isn’t impeding your view, why say anything… but honestly this story and your delivery makes you sound kind of reactive and defensive. She was just asking. Nothing wrong with that. And if you don’t like it, just decline and carry on. People should be allowed to politely ask things of each other, not just be expected “shut up.” This logic breeds resentment. And it’s not really for you to decide what affects another person or not (even though I admit I probably wouldn’t care about a beanie, myself). If she was polite about it and it was no huge deal to me to have it on or not, I’d oblige, but that’s just me. We’d have a much more comfortable and adult-acting society if we just chilled out about people asking things of us. On the surface this feels like a silly thread to get sucked into, but honestly I think this is part of a much larger, society-wide issue I find interesting and discouraging but still have some hope for. We could turn down the volume on so much mass hostility and anxiety if we made less of a big deal about asking for things like people taking hats off to improve a viewing experience, not talking etc.

And to be clear, I’m only talking about if it affects the viewing experience. Not about if you think people should dress more formally. That, I think, is something to get over and accept.

Updated On: 5/25/26 at 06:16 PM