So the hats go and then what? I can see it now...
"Excuse me Mr. Chief Pilot but I don't think that as a first officer I should have to wear three stripes."
"Um why?"
"Because I should not be made to feel inferior with three stripes on my shoulder when I am just as qualified as a captain. When I was in little league we all got to play regardless of our skills and we all got a trophy at the end of the season just for participating, and when I was at school my teachers did not grade with red ink, they used blue or green, and they wrote nice things like 'super' or 'good job' on my paper even if I got a lot of wrong answers, it made me feel good about myself. And my Mom always told me that I was the best and she always hung my papers and colorings on the refrigerator even if I got a 'D' on something, you know because it said 'good job'. I felt really good about myself, very positive."
"And sometimes when I didn't do my homework and the teacher got mad at me and gave me a zero I would have my mom call and complain and then the teacher would give me an extra week to do the assignment, and one day in high school I forgot my lunch money and my mom brought it to me, it was really neat, I always felt special. So I don't like wearing three stripes, I don't feel special, although my mommy told me I was super. So can we not wear any stripes at all?"
You are not there to look cool or the bomb or skillz or shizniz or whatever, you are hired to be a professional. Most pilots look like total 'tards anyway so losing a hat ain't going to help you. In fact it might cover up your crappy spike job or frosted tips that make you look like more of a dork.
Believe me I am all for f#$*ing off and doing some stupid crap and having fun, unfortunately I had to grow up and knock a lot of that crap off. And I realized that when I signed up for this career there were going to be a few things that I HAD to do. Kind of like what our drill instructors told us in boot camp in the Marines..."Recruits, U.S.M.C. stands for U Signed a MotherF$&^ing Contract..." Have a great night...heres to hoping Oklahoma loses tonight...back to the beer.