Dave, I had a similar experience some years ago when my wife & I called in for a beer on the way home from watching cricket. I was wearing a wide brimmed leather hat, which I only ever wear when I'm in the sun for a long time, and which I took off as I walked in from the street. (This is what I was brought up to do.) I went to the bar, ordered drinks for my wife and myself, and finding I had only one hand to take two drinks I put the hat in the only place it would go. The barmaid didn't ask, she told me to take it off. I had to walk to the table with a beer in each hand and a hat hanging from my teeth.

I don't care what the reason is, and I don't mind if it's as silly as 'that's the way it's always been', what annoyed me was the petty pedanticism. I had to carry my hat in my mouth about ten paces, when I had a perfectly good head going to waste. Ridiculous.