Delilah's Dress Code

At the Wynn in Las Vegas, apparently you cannot enter a certain fine dining establishment wearing shorts as a man. Even if they're nice shorts!

The staff are more than happy to let you in, after you go upstairs and put on khakis in your hotel room then come back down.

A woman can enter, no problem, wearing even shabbier clothes than the ones I was turned away with...for example, denim cutoffs and Van's sneakers. No problem.

But I could not get away with identifying as a woman. Granted, it was past midnight, but still...I wonder if I'd still be denied entry as George Clooney or even just a few inches taller.

Seth Godin often defines culture as "people like us do things like this." C.S. Lewis lectured about "The Inner Ring".

At the Imperial Hotel Tokyo, I wore their provided robe as I explored the halls. In the lobby, one of the attendants speed-walked up and told me, "sir, I'm sorry, this is very rude. You must go change, you cannot be here, I'm sorry sir, you are very rude to dress like this. I'm sorry. Very rude. Please go to your room immediately."

In countries like Japan or Malaysia, I accept the occasionally mindless conformity and various formalities. Who am I to critique the policies of other peoples, even if they're unusually restrictive for me as an American who cherishes freedom?

In Las Vegas, I guess there's something for everybody too. It's a different form of freedom to knowingly deny entry to potential paying customers, in one of the most freewheeling of all places, just because.

I am simultaneously extremely frustrated and also wondrously admiring of Delilah's unreasonable adherence to their dress code.