“Bad Shirt.” Or, “Proper Dress Required.”

When I was a young boy, dining out was truly an “affair.” My parents would dress me in a shirt and tie and my father was never without the neck-ware either. When my brother Mark would come over for dinner and sit down at the table with a hat on, my father would yell across the room for him to take it off.

Today it’s a different story.

Men of all ages wear hats in restaurants. AC/DC t-shirts have become acceptable attire not only at the biker bar down the street but at the seafood restaurant around the corner, and nobody seems to care.

Saturday night I went to one of my favorite Italian restaurants, Pete’s Cafe Bella Sera, in Parkland, FL. As you enter the restaurant a sign on the door proclaims, “Proper Dress Required” with examples given including “No Sleeveless Shirts.” Shortly after my arrival, a family walks in and I hear Pete the owner yell to the hostess, “bad shirt!”

I turned around to see what was going on, and the teenager in the group was wearing baggy basketball shorts and a sleeveless shirt which Pete outright rejected. As the teen was given an alternate shirt to wear, his bewilderment in what just happened was apparent in his facial expressions along with a classic “WTF” kind of look.  The parents didn’t seem to care – they just continued to their table.

It’s a sad day when other individuals need to act as parents or enforce the rules. Pete got a nod of satisfaction from me and I felt for a moment like I wasn’t the only one in the world who wants a little etiquette brought back into society.

After all, even 7-Eleven has “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service” on their doors.