Going up to a senior officer inside a shop and making smart alec comments about head dress is, to my mind, rather puerile.
A bit like the jumped up little tyke at 60 Sqn Wildenrath who stopped me as I walked back in flying kit to my aeroplane.... "Can I see your ID, sir?", he said. "Yes, very probably as it's written on my flying suit. If you mean
may you see my F1250, be more specific in future. By the way, when did you last clean those filthy shoes, airman?".
Do Blunt Wing (or wahtever the latest term for the desk-sucking blotter-jotters is) still expect people to wear hats indoors? Why?? It's correct to wear a hat and salute when entering an office, I was always led to understand, even if you are a Group Captain and the office belongs to a Plt Off.
As for the daft Army in the Malvinas DeathStar who insist on wearing hats inside the concrete canyons.....
Hats should be worn with uniform outdoors, I quite agree. But it's quite difficult to do any shopping if you have to hold a hat in one hand, so walking the few yards between the car park and Sainsburys without a hat is perhaps practical and reasonable. Shopping whilst wearing a hat indoors looks plain daft; fortunately, aircrew can stuff a chip bag into a flying suit lower leg pocket - not really an option for a female Air Cdre in a skirt.
Another idiocy at one station was the SWO who tried to insist on people wearing hats whilst driving. The headroom in most modern cars isn't sufficient to cater for an SD cap, so turning your head only to have the SD cap fall over your eyes is an avoidable hazard - the boss agreed and asked OC Blunts to reprogramme the SWO for the 20th century.