This Chicken Bocker Wears Excessive Jewelry and T-Shirts

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the great discussion on yesterday's post about the dress code at The Wine Loft. I very much appreciated that you didn't all agree and that you seemed to say what you really felt.

Veggie Mama summed up my opinion nicely with this comment,

It just seems really excessive, like they're going out of their way to be snobby. I like the idea of a nice place you can go and not feel out of place by being a little dressed up. If the sign simply said, "Business Casual dress code strictly enforced," I wouldn't think twice. But listing all of the specifics (like we're too stupid to figure out business attire) just makes you feel like a child. NOT the kind of place I'd want to frequent.

Precisely.

I fully appreciate that a business wishes to cater to a specific clientele. McDonald's caters to kids, certain restaurants require gentlemen to wear a jacket, biker bars are typically filled with bikers. Having a dress code is not in an of itself a problem, it's how The Wine Loft has chosen to be very specific in it's exclusions that I have a issues with.

Having stated at the bottom of their list of rules that "business casual or business attire is suggested" seems sufficient enough of a guideline. Why do they feel the need to include such specific exclusions? This is a chain restaurant with more than one location. Mobile's location has only been open for several months and this sign was on the door before it ever even opened. Therefore, it appears that this was a proactive list of rules rather than a reactive list of rules.

Their rules are incredibly subjective and most likely very difficult to enforce. What exactly defines "excessive jewelry" or "baggy clothing?" If a woman with excessive jewelry and her boyfriend wearing a hat and baggy shorts enters the restaurant to be seated, does the maitre'd ask them to wait just a moment, only to return with a manager who has the job of asking these people to leave? Do they allow them to be seated, only to have the other patrons stare at these hooligans who are clearly not following the posted dress code?

Several comments were made in regards to whether these rules were targeting African Americans. Anonymous asked this question,

I'm troubled, is it the "no excessive jewelry" rule that is making some of you view the sign as "racist" or excluding blacks?

My reason for asking is because it seems racist to me to automatically jump to the conclusion that only black people wear excessive jewelry and baggy clothing so the sign was therefore aimed at black people.

Every race is guilty of breaking those restrictions and not EVERYTHING is about race. My other question is that if you saw this same sign in lets say New York (being more culturally diverse than the deep South) would you still think they were trying to restrict blacks?

It doesn't seem too unreasonable to me although I'm not into upscale places. My third question is that they typically expect the same dress code at church so does that mean churches are trying to exclude black people as well?

When you work at a business with a similar dress code does that mean the business is trying to avoid hiring black people? I could go on all day here but I just thought some of those comments accusing the sign of "racism" were actually very subtle form of racism in itself. Think about it.

This was a good point, yet just because this dress code is the same for church or work, there's just something that feels very exclusionary about their rules. Being that this is a culturally diverse city, perhaps I do feel this way because this is the Deep South. I see, hear, and feel racism more here than I have anywhere else I've ever lived, so this may be why I wondered if this sign was directed at African Americans. The question of whether this thought is a "very subtle form of racism in itself" is a valid one. Maybe it is, but I really don't think that those who pointed it out meant their statements to appear racist.

I feel very strongly that they are losing potential customers with a sign such as this. Although I could easily put together an outfit that would pass their very critical standards, I would not consider visiting this establishment simply because of their rules. If they had a sign that merely stated their business casual suggestion, I would actually be interested in checking this place out on a rare evening out with Tate.

So there you have it! My opinion! Your life is now complete, you can sleep better knowing this vital information.

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If I had the guts, and I do not, I would call them myself and ask them the reason behind this specific dress code. If anybody out there would like to do so, feel free and let me know what you find out. I'm way to chicken to do it myself.