Am I the only hat wearer in Southeast Missouri ???

I am starting this post because I feel like the Lone Ranger when it comes to wearing a hat here in Southeast Missouri.

I joined the Fl a few months ago to find a solution to find where to buy a great dress hat and a summer hat. After a sunny Saturday, my scalp was burnt and the Panama got ordered. Since it was going to take awhile until it came in, Robert had a cheaper cuenca in my size, so I got it to protect my scalp.

I was really impressed how nice the "cheap" one was....I really enjoy wearing it everywhere I go...but this is where the fun begins...

A few months ago Brad Bowers visited my area. He wore his dress hat as he went around and he said that he had favorable reactions to it. One waitress even took his hat and placed it n a safe place for him.

Well, you ought to see the looks that I have received as I walk into a resturant, pizza parlor, or a business that I am calling on. Today, I was on the street chatting with some friends, people were rubber necking to look at me.

I had to stop to buy gas today. One good ol boy was pumping gas and he took a good long look at me and then got into his truck and woke his buddy up for him to look at me.

I have seen some cowboys and a few "country gentlemen" hats but no one wears a fedora or a panama hat in my area.

Two things are for certain...my scalp is protected and alot of people notice who I am, which is a good thing in sales....(like many of the FL members advised)

I will keep you all posted about the amusing incidents as they happen. Hopefully, nobody around me suffers whiplash...when they see the Tucker !!!!

mark the shoeshine boy

maybe it's not the hat but that mud mask your wearing....

"Is he the only mud mask wearer in Southeast Missouri ???"

.

without the mask...

<img src="http://badgerandblade.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=2011" alt="my hat" />


lol...ok this is without the mask.....scary...huh ???

mark the shoeshine boy

In the Fall and Winter you will occasionally see me in my fedora at the mall in Cape or Wal-Mart in Sikeston; when I’m in town on business. I have seen a few people come into Lambert’s wearing Tilley hats.
Regards,
Forrestal

Forrestal said:

In the Fall and Winter you will occasionally see me in my fedora at the mall in Cape or Wal-Mart in Sikeston; when I’m in town on business. I have seen a few people come into Lambert’s wearing Tilley hats.
Regards,
Forrestal

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Home of the Throwed Rolls! I can never catch those things. Same reason I was never picked to play on anybody's baseball team when I was a kid. Any athletic ability was bred out of my family, I think.lol

Brad

I live now in Des Moines, Iowa, and I see very few fedora wearers here. When I do, they are middle-aged men wearing Akubra type hats, or younger gals wearing the funky stingy brim fedoras.

Everything else is bareheaded or ballcaps, some backwards (which went out in California 5 years ago).

Welcome to the Lone Ranger club.

karol

K.D. Lightner said:

Everything else is bareheaded or ballcaps, some backwards (which went out in California 5 years ago).

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I don't mind ballcaps so much, it's the wearer insisting that the bill point any direction but forward. If that particular look is out in California, it's only a matter of time until it percolates through the rest of the country. That couldn't come soon enough for me!

-Zepp

I wouldn't mind the ballcap wearers so much if they didn't stare at me (in my fedora) as if I was a freak from the planet Claire.

Or those who think they are protecting themselves from the sun by wearing them.

Oh, well, there were reasons I left the place 35-plus years ago.

karol

On Friday night, I drove out in the country to a small but terrific resturant. When I say country, they are so way off the main roads, they have only one dusk to dawn light for the parking light.

Fantastic catfish !!! But the local country boys got aload of my Panama !!! I got the usual stares, but I did remove as soon as I stepped in the door.

Saturday, was a day from heaven...sunny a nd about 75 in the afternoon. I stayed out on the lot most of the day without any sunburn this evening. That is a good thing. One gentlemen about 65 plus in age, told me that I almost lost my hat because he liked it so well !!! I have heard "the guy in hat" many times now when customers are looking for me...

I need for Brad Bowers to come back and we'll cruise the neighborhoods with our hats on.

mark the shoeshine boy

shoeshineboy said:

I need for Brad Bowers to come back and we'll cruise the neighborhoods with our hats on.

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Sounds like great fun! Only thing is, I don't when I'll be back there again.

Keep wearing the hat!

Brad

I sent to the bank today. I bet it was 75 years ago when bonnie and clyde walked in there with a hat on. Of course I took it off once inside. Walkeda around Lowe's too. All the baseball caps were turning to see if this hat had two sides to it, I guess.

Wal-mart wasn't much better.

Felt like I should jump back in my spaceship and go home to my planet.

But I looked good, so I think I will stick around for awhile.

mark the shoeshine boy

Each day is a new adventure in the non-hat wearing corner of my world.

I went farther and deeper into Southeast Missouri to a place called Marble Hill. When I got into the city limits, the banjos stared playing. If you don;t understand that one it is a throwback to the movie "Deliverance".

I stopped in a restuarant and the stares started again. I took my hat off when I went, but had to put it back on when i carried my tray. We had a full table and I had to find a spot for my hat. While I was enjoying my meal, I noticed the eyes flash over to the spot placed my hat. You know how you get that feeling they are talking about you. I probably messed those people minds up for life.

Pressing on....

I have some great news....as I have told many of you I am a Internet manager of a Dodge/Jeep/Chyrsler dealer. Yee Haw...

Last month I came in second in sales. This was the first time I was up at the top in a long time. Perhaps it was a fluke, we will see this month. This month I jumped up there already and have a slight lead of ONE at this time. What do I contribute this success to ??? Possibly three things...

One) I just finished some great training from Chyrsler. It took over 3 months to complete. It basically gave me a solid process to handle the leads.

Two) I got some great tips from another IM from up north. His tips helped me handle the incoming phone calls from the internet sites in a more professional manner.

Three) The Panama Hat. How can a hat increase my sales ??? My comfort level is higher when I am out on the lot in the sunshine. But today I received my biggest compliment from a customer who drove over 2 1/2 hours to buy a truck from me. I wonder if PanamaBob will want residuals now.

They told me, that I was "more Southern" than any other salesperson they have ever met. They told me how nice, informative and professional than other s sales reps. It was the best sales experience they have ever had. They also liked my hat, too.

I am not trying to inflate my ego here...but in reflection with what several you have said about wearing a hat in really has come to frutrition. Respect, authority, style, and standing out in a crowd has been the benefits I have received.

Art Fawcett told me "just wait and you will notice the difference in the way the people will treat you."

I am sure that the above combination has contributed to the sum of my last months sales.

perhaps in a few weeks, I will post another successful month...who knows...

Wear your hat....never leave home without it !!!!

mark the shoeshine boy
He was so right.....

Congratulations, Mark! It's gotta be the hat!

Marble Hill, I've been there! What restaurant? We ate at a really good BBQ place called Jay's. Wish I could get food like that here in Utah.

Brad

Shu-shine,

I turned down a job in Dexter a year or so back, sounds like that's near your neck of the woods.

I frequently sit down in a restaurant, scan the room, and remark to my wife--"Darn it! I forgot my ballcap!".

A ballcap is for uhhmmm, playing ball. It's Freddy G's opinion... I dream of eating in joints so classy, the guys do not wear ball caps. That's how I will know I have arrived!

Keep wearin' the lid. A fella needs to stand out, have his own style.

Good luck selling American iron, sounds like you're having a good year. There's a funny chapter in the great book "The Grapes of Wrath" by Steinbeck, about selling cars, if you haven't you should read it.

Mark, you're gonna be a regular ol' trend setter over there!

Brad Bowers said:

Congratulations, Mark! It's gotta be the hat!

Marble Hill, I've been there! What restaurant? We ate at a really good BBQ place called Jay's. Wish I could get food like that here in Utah.

Brad

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Brad,

That is where I was at...Jays...right next door to the Chevrolet dealer, that my owner just bought.

The food was excellent..the proportions were overwhelming...I'm still full from Friday !!!!

We gotta hook up if you ever come back.

Mark the shoeshine boy

Fred G. said:

Shu-shine,

I turned down a job in Dexter a year or so back, sounds like that's near your neck of the woods.

I frequently sit down in a restaurant, scan the room, and remark to my wife--"Darn it! I forgot my ballcap!".

A ballcap is for uhhmmm, playing ball. It's Freddy G's opinion... I dream of eating in joints so classy, the guys do not wear ball caps. That's how I will know I have arrived!

Keep wearin' the lid. A fella needs to stand out, have his own style.

Good luck selling American iron, sounds like you're having a good year. There's a funny chapter in the great book "The Grapes of Wrath" by Steinbeck, about selling cars, if you haven't you should read it.

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From Los A to Dexter...oooooo....It would be like where time stood still for you. Not much to do there....Unless you like flat land, cotton or rice, with mosquitoes...lol...

mark tssb

mysterygal said:

Mark, you're gonna be a regular ol' trend setter over there!

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MG

your compliments are always the best....if you were here..I'd hug your neck !!!



mark tssb

shoeshineboy said:

MG

your compliments are always the best....if you were here..I'd hug your neck !!!



mark tssb

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thanks...this is actually good motivation for me, I bought two REALLY cute hats, but, out in public feel kind of weird....never been a hat wearer before and something on my head feels foreign. I shall press on then!