Most offices, alas, don't have showers these days, so you're on your own to combat the sweat (see below). We suggest bringing along deodorant, and possibly a change of shirt (or bike shirtless—also below). One indisputable rule of summer: Take regular showers.
On face sweat and other environmental concerns:
Is it OK to wipe your face with bar napkins while you're waiting for your drink? —Francesca Stabile
It may be OK, i.e., you won't get tossed from the bar, but it's not your best option. Instead, you should carry a small pack of face wipes, and use them to sop your sweaty brow outside of the bar before you even go in. The cool air then tingling against your slightly damp but freshened cheeks will feel ever so invigorating, and you can enjoy your cold beer without fear of those nubbly white napkin-turds clinging to your face.
If you're not the type to carry around packs of wipes (and frankly, who is?) you may alternatively use your cold drink to cool down, pressing it alluringly against your face between sips and sighing with great pleasure. This is a conversation starter! Or, in a pinch, wipe your face with your hand and then wipe the sweat on your tote bag, surreptitiously. Resist the urge to wipe on someone else's, even if they've gone to the bathroom and seem like kind of a jerk. Don't drink their drink, either.
Free the shirtless! One reader brings up a topic for which we can create our own associated questions. She writes:
This is directed at the mens: I do not care HOW hot you are (both from a temperature standpoint and a physical one) or how jacked you are, jogging with your shirt off is gross. So, for that matter, is playing tennis with your shirt off on public courts.
Maybe it's acceptable to jog while at the beach, and on the beach, topless, but in the City please keep your shirt on. —Amy Hecht
A side note for the future, readers and etiquette puzzlers: Please ask your questions as questions. This is not a place for you to rant about your own personal beliefs. This is serious business. We'll make an exception for this week, as this question intrigues us. Related, is "mens" an approved term, or does it belittle men? Fodder for future debate!
But on to the shirtless dilemma. Actually, we think that people don't take their tops off enough in this lonely world. Why not stop hiding behind that cloth and thread we call a shirt altogether? Are we so hitched to the drab buggies of our Puritan ancestors that we must cover each little body part so protectively? (We draw the line at pants, however.) But in support of gender equality—going topless is legal for women in New York City, after all, even if not everyone knows that—we support the implementation of a nationwide shirtless law. And maybe shoes, too! Signs should say "Shirts, shoes: No business." Imagine the good this would do for society: Less need to wash clothes. Less status-based one-upsmanship and showing off of those brand name attire labels up top. Fewer decisions in the morning over what to wear! No more terrible surprises when you realize the object of your affection, when unclad, has a giant tattoo of the Tasmanian devil peeing on a tree on his or her stomach! This also will be very good for the sunscreen industry, because all of these pale naked torsos need some sort of protection from the UV rays, and it will eradicate the scourge of the "farmer's tan." We should all be more, not less, comfortable with our God-given anatomies, no? We say yes, jacked or not. And who does not adore a nice, sweaty naked-body embrace in a heat wave?