What Do You Think?

[Winchester]

On another board I frequent (lurking mostly), they're having a discussion on whether it's polite to ask guests to remove their shoes when entering homes. I have friends who do this....when I visit, they ask that I take my shoes off as they have white carpet. I get that and have never been offended. In fact, now when I visit them, I automatically take off my shoes and will put on a pair of slippers that I take with me.

Would you be offended if you were asked to remove your shoes? Would you do so?

What are your thoughts?

 

[Katie M]

I wouldn't be offended. I'd be more comfortable, in fact.

 

[catlover73]

I would not be offended if someone asked me to take off my shoes when I enter their home.

I have always removed my shoes at my parents house. Everyone that comes in the house is asked to do this. There are slippers available for any guests that want them.

In my home we have never asked people to remove their shoes. I noticed that most of our friends take off their shoes any ways at the entrance. My friends do not ask us to remove our shoes at their homes.

My brother takes off his shoes when he enters his home. He has never asked us to take off our shoes but we do it any way.

 

[betsygee]

I wouldn't be offended. Some people take off their shoes when they come here. I tell them to do so at their own risk and to keep an eye out for random hairballs, lizard tails, and whatnot.

 

[surya]

I would not be offended. I think people do this in Japan maybe? Who knows what might be on the bottom of your shoes. It's a good idea. I mostly go stocking foot in my apartment. As a bonus the cat hair sticks to my socks, so it helps clean up the floating fur balls.

 

[LisaT.]

I wouldn't be offended. They would have to tell me to do so though, as I'm not used to taking off my shoes when entering a house.

 

[LTS3]

In some cultures, it's considered rude or unsanitary to wear shoes in the house. A host should make the no shoe rule known upon greeting guests at the door. If one can't remove the shoes due to mobility issues or whatever, the host shouldn't make a fuss over it. I grew up in a no shoes except slippers home and many relatives also had the same rule.

 

[foxxycat]

I ask people to remove shoes in my home. I don't have a mud room or third room to walk through to get mud off. my livingroom is right at the front door. Plus the person who lived there before I did put in light grey carpets and it makes cleaning easier. Plus I hate sand and stuff sticking to my bare feet. I hate shoes so I always remove my shoes when entering others homes so they dont have to walk on mud n sand, it is much more sanitary in my view. Cuts down on vacuuming and just plain comfortable. I can see some people want to keep shoes on..then I would put down drop clothes for them. When contractors come over that's what I do otherwise their muddy boots would permanently mark my carpets.

I would think people feel more comfortable in stocking feet than shoes..in my home the livingroom is built for comfort so curling up on the sofa is a requirement since I don't have chairs to sit in.

 

[mightyboosh]

Not offended but worried about holes in my socks. I'm not kidding, I can wear through a pair of thin socks at the toe in ONE day! So most have holes in them. This is because I broke my leg many years ago and my big toe wants to stick up, tendons or something. I'm always buying socks and ask for them at Xmas despite them being a boring present.

 

[foxxycat]

Well you aren't alone mightyboosh, my Jon wears holes in his socks too. We would buy socks every 6 months..

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I know a few people who do. One keeps a basket of socks and slipper socks for people to use if they want. It's expected more than it's unheard of here.

I personally won't ask that even though I have ridiculous light gray carpet (that came with the house). Many people just automatically do it when they come over and I tell them not to worry. We have sandy soil that gets tracked in from the kids going in and out. We have the cats. Oh and bird seed gets tracked in a lot too. If anything it's another excuse to get rid of this carpet. My back door opens to carpet. A carpeted dining area. All not my idea.

My other issue is that I spent from last September to this past May in daily foot pain. If I wasn't wearing my shoes with arch support I was visibly limping. And sometimes with the shoes. People are guests in my home and as guests; they shouldn't be inconvenienced at best; in pain at worst. I have brought my "inside" Crocs with me to some places because they offer a little support. But during the height of my foot pain they wouldn't have made much of a difference. It was bad enough wearing athletic shoes with a nice outfit to a baby shower.

 

[Kat0121]

I wouldn't be offended but would be concerned that someone would steal my Manolo Blahniks.

 

[aliceneko]

My aunt has recently had her house redecorated, so often asks us to take off our shoes when we enter certain rooms (mainly the rooms that have new carpets), though since I regularly visit her house I automatically take off my shoes. I have a friend with a similar "policy" in her house.
I don't think it's impolite nor would I be offended (sometimes I get worried about people leaving marks or stains on my furniture when they come in, so I understand why some people prefer their guests to wear socks!) and on certain chairs and sofas I ask people if they can take off their shoes (for example, we have quite a brightly coloured sofa in the sitting room that people have to take their shoes off on in order to sit down on it as we don't want the colour to fade or get stained), but generally in our house we're quite relaxed about shoes.

In some cultures, particularly in Japan and Korea, it's customary to take off shoes and put on slippers since many Koreans and Japanese people sleep on mattresses on the floor (futons/tatami) and it is considered incredibly rude if you don't take off your shoes when entering someone else's house. School children in Japan have slippers that they wear in classrooms and schools in Japan have dedicated lockers for outdoor and indoor shoes.

 

[azpops]

In some cultures, it's considered rude or unsanitary to wear shoes in the house. A host should make the no shoe rule known upon greeting guests at the door. If one can't remove the shoes due to mobility issues or whatever, the host shouldn't make a fuss over it. I grew up in a no shoes except slippers home and many relatives also had the same rule.

Yes, in the Islands (Hawaii) we don't wear shoes in the house. If we tried wearing shoes, slippers, or anything in the house when we were kids. Forget about it! The back of your head will hurt for a week or so! ...

Pops

 

[denice]

I wouldn't be offended. I kind of got used to this when I was in the Army. Many men in the Army had wives who were from a country in Southeast Asia, South Korea mostly, and most of their wives asked that shoes not be worn in their house. I got used to it.

 

[Willowy]

I grew up in Japan, so of course I'm not offended by it. I might feel a bit put out if the homeowner is overly demanding about it or feels the need to go on about how "dirty" it is to have shoes inside (normal, non-muddy shoes of course). Or insists that people who have problems like diabetes or reduced mobility take their shoes off even though it's a hardship. And I feel like some have issues that are kind of sad (like the people who keep plastic on their couches! Live in your own home, for pete's sake!)

But that's their problem not mine. I might be inclined not to go to their house more often than strictly necessary though.

I don't recommend anyone take their shoes off at my house . I don't vacuum enough, the dogs are messy drinkers, and there's probably some cat barf somewhere that I haven't found yet. . .

 

[Elphaba09]

I don't recommend anyone take their shoes off at my house . I don't vacuum enough, the dogs are messy drinkers, and there's probably some cat barf somewhere that I haven't found yet. . .

Haha! Someone is always likely to step in cat vomit!

We prefer people to take of their shoes: however, it is not a requirement. We rarely invite people into our home because we are all a bit misanthropic when it comes to visitors, so it is not often that it actually comes up. On the rare occasion that someone new comes over, they just see the shoe rack and the person bringing them in taking off their shoes and tend to go along with it.

 

[marmoset]

I wouldn't be offended but I'd like a heads up. Recently I went someplace where they wanted us to remove our shoes. It wasn't a problem for me but my husband was wearing sandals without socks. Yes his feet got cold and yeah he had black feet soles from those sandals so I spent the whole night worrying.

Other than that I have no problem going without shoes. I don't wear them in the house at home so it feels better to me anyway.

 

[maggiedemi]

No, I wouldn't be offended. I automatically take my shoes off at other people's homes. I'm not sure about flip-flops though, that would be weird walking around in my bare feet. I have an Uncle that gets really offended, if someone tells him to take his shoes off, he leaves.

 

[LTS3]

The only people I wouldn't ask to take off shoes are service people like the plumber. They're required to wear shoes for their job. Some will bring their own shoe covers and put them on before entering. I should buy shoe covers to have to hand