No Shirt*, No Shoes, No Service

Greenhouse Grille is one of our favorite restaurants in the area. This place doesn't seem to have a dress code, but there seems to be an unspoken understanding; don't show up looking like a schlub.

A couple of months ago, Jenn and I were eating there at the table where we have coincidentally been seated multiple times. We like this table because it's in a section a few steps up from the rest of the place. It's a good people-watching spot.

On this evening, there was a large party eating at a long row of tables. One of the men in the party was wearing overalls. No shirt, just overalls. I wondered why this place, of all places, not only let this guy in, but also seated and served him.

As the summer progressed, and triple-digit temperatures became commonplace, I saw a few other men sporting the same look in public. They were in stores or businesses wearing overalls without a shirt. How are these guys able to skirt the universal "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service" policy? It's almost as if there's an asterisk on all of those signs that lets people know that overalls would do fine in lieu of a shirt. That just doesn't seem right.

Although, now that I'm thinking about it, overalls offer the same amount of cover as tank tops of sleeveless shirts that I see guys wearing. While I wouldn't go out in public wearing anything like this, I wouldn't think twice about seeing someone wearing one of those in a supermarket or a Jimmy Johns. I wouldn't expect to see it in Greenhouse Grille, but whatever.

So, I guess one could argue that overalls fill the shirt requirement, as it does cover most of the torso. I guess my real problem is that these guys don't seem to mind being a walking cliche. I honestly want to walk up to the next person I see in just overalls and say, "You're what people think of when they think of Arkansas. You know that, right?"