Wearing shoes in the house

IK04 said:
Having lived among the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska, I can tell you the position on the Totem Pole is not related to social station.

From Oscar Newman (2004). Secret Stories in the Art of the Northwest Indian:

"Those from cultures that do not carve totem poles often assume that the linear representation of the figures places the most importance on the highest figure, an idea that became pervasive in the dominant culture after it entered into mainstream parlance by the 1930s with the phrase "low man on the totem pole" (and as the title of a bestselling 1941 humor book by H. Allen Smith). However, Native sources either reject the linear component altogether, or reverse the hierarchy, with the most important representations on the bottom, bearing the weight of all the other figures, or at eye level with the viewer to heighten their significance. Many poles have no vertical arrangement at all, consisting of a lone figure atop an undecorated column."
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You missed the joke. :)
 
We have never had friends or family that wanted shoes off in the house. So I most likely would not notice going into someone's house. If I did notice, I would politely oblige. But I never look down at people's feet when I walk into their home.

I did build a large custom home for one couple, and the wife is Korean. I have been in their home quite a few times since they moved in, and because of her culture, I always remove my shoes there. That's the one exception I can think of.
 
Ryanb said:
You missed the joke. :)
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I got the joke. :D

I was just pouncing on an opportunity to dispel a myth I've heard so many times.

I lived in Korea for a total of ten years and they live and sleep on the floor.

Floors are heated in Korean houses and covered with some kind of easily washable vinyl or linoleum and they keep the floor super clean. I adopted that practice, except for the sleeping on the floor part...

I don't like wearing shoes and spend 100% of my time barefoot when at home. I put on the flip flops to go outside to check the mail or shoo the critters off my lawn. :mad:
 
Ryanb said:
No sign here, but as I said, we’ll politely ask guests to remove their shoes if it’s their first time over. If they’ve been over many times, it’s usually a ‘go without saying’ implied type of thing. Most of the guests that we have over, who have been here a time or two all know that we prefer shoes removed.
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As others have said, some people are oblivious or don't remember. Yours is not the only house people visit, so "go without saying" may not work. Remind them again if it's that important to you. Better than stewing in silence.
 
I'm barefoot as much as possible, indoors or out. Not sure where that would put me at RyanB's house. Would I have to put shoes on? Or put them on so that I could take them off? :confused2:

Never had athlete's foot or any other foot problems, other than the occasional thorn or splinter. There isn't much in the way of disease you can get through your feet, unless you walk into an overflowing public toilet with open cuts on your feet. Of course I live far enough north that it freezes hard at least once each winter so that we don't have the chiggers and other nasties that the southern states have.
 
I used to race with a guy whose wife never wore shoes. Even in the summer on hot asphalt. Not sure I’d want her barefoot in my house, lol.
 
Brad Z said:
This is a cultural/regional thing. When I go to visit mt wife's family in maritime Canada I make it a habit to pack slip on shoes because we're constantly taking out shoes off to go in and out of people's houses. It seems to be the rule there because of constant rain and snow making everyone's shoes dirty. In some parts of the world its just a cultural norm. In much of the US it's nearly unheard of.
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Yes, a regional thing. In ND/MN it was normal for everyone to kick off their shoes when they enter your house. Once we moved to MD, much less so.

Now if you try to go upstairs in our house my wife will make you take off your shoes or make you put OR slippers over your shoes/boots. She gets kind of militant about her cream colored carpets :)
 
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After demolishing a carpet in my apartment in college, it’s been shoes off ever since, for all guests. It was as cream carpet that ended up with black pathways where the most walking was done. Disgusting!
 
In the past, I would have done anything you liked.

In the present, if I saw a pile of shoes I would ask politely if there was some way I could retain my footwear for traction. Especially if you have hard floors.

My cane isn’t going to save me from breaking an ankle or a leg with balance and neurological control issues and weak sensory input.

Someone mentioned providing slippers but if they’re not rubber on the bottom they’re also a no-go for me. Even then, I’m way better off using my own footwear that I know what it feels like.

At home I do kick off the shoes and wear sock most of the time. But I know my floors and where I can safely step. And quite often I put the rubber soled slippers on, even at home.

More than happy to be seated somewhere reasonable and wash the soles and dry them if you allow that, too. Not going to try to get down on the floor of your mudroom and do it, though.

Might... and I barely mean might... ask my wife to assist if you’re a super pain in the ass about it. Not really her job though. I’d more likely just bid you a fine evening and go home.

Your floor just isn’t worth a major injury or months of rehab. Sorry.
 
I'm Asian, my wife is Ukrainian, and shoe removal is a thing in both of our cultures. We don't wear shoes in the house... unless they're indoor shoes (sandals, slippers... and those never go outside.)

We have a bench in the foyer for sitting and removing shoes. We also have a stash of slippers in the bench that pull out and invite guests (strongly) to use since we are either barefoot or wearing slippers in the house.

The guests we have over regularly understand and comply. The guests that don't get it usually don't get invited back (which is very few.)
 
rtk11 said:
I'm Asian, my wife is Ukrainian, and shoe removal is a thing in both of our cultures. We don't wear shoes in the house... unless they're indoor shoes (sandals, slippers... and those never go outside.)

We have a bench in the foyer for sitting and removing shoes. We also have a stash of slippers in the bench that pull out and invite guests (strongly) to use since we are either barefoot or wearing slippers in the house.

The guests we have over regularly understand and comply. The guests that don't get it usually don't get invited back (which is very few.)
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Sounds about like us.
 
Geosync said:
After demolishing a carpet in my apartment in college, it’s been shoes off ever since, for all guests. It was as cream carpet that ended up with black pathways where the most walking was done. Disgusting!
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Yup. If you think about all the places your shoes have been, I don’t know why the heck anybody would want to wear them in their home. Each to their own...
 
When I visited labs in Japan, I was often asked to take off my shoes and wear slippers that they provide. For the rest of my visit, I could hardly pay attention to what I was being told as we moved about, because all my bandwidth was consumed by just keeping those tiny little slippers from falling off my feet, as I shuffled my feet from one place to another.
 
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these little bastards are why I like ppl to remove their shoes.
otherwise they track them all over the house and then I find them in my feet or when I am laying on the carpet next to the woodstove - MAN they are horrible!


sandspur.jpg
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
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these little bastards are why I like ppl to remove their shoes.
otherwise they track them all over the house and then I find them in my feet or when I am laying on the carpet next to the woodstove - MAN they are horrible!


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Ran through about 30’ stretch of field of those burrs in my soccer socks about 3 years ago after a match. Guy came around the curve too fast and flipped his car into a ditch right outside the soccer pitch, and I had just taken off my cleats. Helped get the guy out through his window with my two teammates following people behind me. Very painful walk back to the parking lot and removing socks that were attached to my feet with 40-50 burrs was quite the experience, lol.
 
Our son asks people to remove their shoes. He didn't before he got married, so I suspect his wife was the driving force. Our daughter does not. Both have dogs, so I have a hard time using having or not having dogs a reason.

Personally, I prefer to keep my shoes on due to comfort due to injuries suffered in 1973. However, sometimes it's just not worth the fight. We certainly don't worry about it in our house.
 
Ryanb said:
Interesting. Many people’s homes that I’ve been to over the years, friends, co-workers etc., all do the same thing. A few don’t, so I didn’t think it was that unheard of.
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I rarely run into that; where people want everyone to take off their shoes in the house.



Wayne
 
I have gone to so many people's homes and the place is immaculate. Not a bit of dirt or dust anywhere, not a single out of place item. Nothing on the counters anywhere. I always wonder how they do it. I just cleaned the whole upstairs yesterday and already there are dog prints, fur, baby toys, and other crap all over. Hats off to those of you who have those perfect homes, I have no idea how it gets done without spending half of every day on cleaning which I just do not have the time or patience for.

We usually take our shoes off at the door but not always. Especially if I'm wearing boots which can be difficult to lace up I'm not going to take them off if I'm just running in to grab something or get a quick lunch of whatever.
 
If you expect people to take their shoes off in your home, you should offer to lend them complimentary slippers to wear while they are there.
 
Ryanb said:
Protocol at our house is removing your shoes at the door
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Yes, 100%. Drives me crazy when people don't take their shoes off. Why would you want the filth from outside in your home? I have one friend who never takes his shoes off... it's so weird.
 
Tantalum said:
Yes, 100%. Drives me crazy when people don't take their shoes off. Why would you want the filth from outside in your home? I have one friend who never takes his shoes off... it's so weird.
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Thank you! I was starting to think I was the only one around here...
 
Our house:
Clean enough to be healthy.
Dirty enough to be comfortable.

Not my original saying, saw it on the wall in someones home once. I liked it.
 
All I can think of is those thousands or hundreds of thousands of people who stroll down sidewalks in San Francisco, that have been repeatedly defecated on, picking it up on their shoes, then tracking it through out their house. I'm not talking about stepping directly into it, but stepping into the foot print of someone who stepped in it, or in the dried up wash that didn't quite get rid of it. No thanks, I take my shoes off at the door.
 
PaulS said:
All I can think of is those thousands or hundreds of thousands of people who stroll down sidewalks in San Francisco, that have been repeatedly defecated on, picking it up on their shoes, then tracking it through out their house. I'm not talking about stepping directly into it, but stepping into the foot print of someone who stepped in it, or in the dried up wash that didn't quite get rid of it. No thanks, I take my shoes off at the door.
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I'm going to market/design a shoe bidet in place of the welcome mats. All shoes will enter sanitized!
 
If you had a black tie affair in your house, you wouldn't make people take their shoes off. If you had a pool party, you would. Everything between is discretionary. It isn't good hosting to expect your guests to read your mind.
 
cowman said:
I have gone to so many people's homes and the place is immaculate. Not a bit of dirt or dust anywhere, not a single out of place item. Nothing on the counters anywhere. I always wonder how they do it. I just cleaned the whole upstairs yesterday and already there are dog prints, fur, baby toys, and other crap all over. Hats off to those of you who have those perfect homes, I have no idea how it gets done without spending half of every day on cleaning which I just do not have the time or patience for.

We usually take our shoes off at the door but not always. Especially if I'm wearing boots which can be difficult to lace up I'm not going to take them off if I'm just running in to grab something or get a quick lunch of whatever.
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My parents' house is not perfectly clean, but it is very clean. My mom loves to clean, has always had the energy, and she just enjoys doing it. She's 75 and still going strong. Unfortunately, the cleaning gene did not get passed along to her son!
 
PaulS said:
All I can think of is those thousands or hundreds of thousands of people who stroll down sidewalks in San Francisco, that have been repeatedly defecated on, picking it up on their shoes, then tracking it through out their house. I'm not talking about stepping directly into it, but stepping into the foot print of someone who stepped in it, or in the dried up wash that didn't quite get rid of it. No thanks, I take my shoes off at the door.
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Oh, you were thinking of me! ;) Good thing those kinds of things don't bother me. Wherever you live, you probably visit public bathrooms too...
 
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