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Do you lose the shoes?

Do you take your shoes off?

  • Never, I wear my shoes everywhere, why would I bother?

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Even if im visitng a country where its the done thing, I wont do it

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    16

Kara_Nari

Angel of Life
13 May 2005
1,154
36
58
Ok, its common in (every?) Asian household to remove your shoes at the door.
This to me was common practice since I was born even though I was bought up in a non-asian household.
I just think that it should be standard procedure, because why would you want to drag dirt, and germs into your house?
Another thing that bothers me is when people put their feet on coffee tables WITH THEIR SHOES ON!!!!!, it doesnt end here... on couches, beds, and basically everywhere.
Do people not think about where they have been walking? Sure the area might look cleanish, but theres nothing to say someone hasn't vomited, or an animal hasn't defecated in that area, spit, rubbish, rotten food the list goes on. Yet some people are still quite happy to put their shoes on the furntiure, and trapse through the house.
Im not perfect all the time, if I enter a house that has animals and the floor is dirty anyway, and nobody has asked me to take my shoes off, then I probably wont, but never in a country that expects me to.
My mother too is pedantic at taking off shoes at the door, but then she is a different species altogether. You wouldnt dare do anything wrong in her house, but I am gratefull that she taught me at a young age to leave my outside shoes, outside.
So regardless of your background etc....
Who takes their shoes off at the door?
 
I will take my shoes off if prompted, or if they're dirty. I'll usually take them off when someone else does.
 
My mom was completely the opposite! She was always afraid I was gonna step on something naaaasty (she'd read a true-horror story about a kid who trod on a needle and it went into a vein and up to his heart and he died :eek: ) so she always made me keep my shoes on! So I tended to judge by the house - if other people took their shoes off, at friends' houses for example, I'd take mine off. I still go by that, in the UK - I don't automatically take my shoes off when I go into someone's house... I used to, out of consideration for keeping the place clean, but sometimes got odd looks... :unsure:

Now, in my own house I take my shoes off but change into house slippers that I keep by the door. It's much more comfy but if I wear no shoes at all I always end up stubbing my toes. :auch: The only exception is if I'm wearing my boots with all the buckles and laces - they're too much of a pain to keep taking on and off. 😊

I really don't understand the 'shoes on the coffee table' thing, though... that's just... not clean... :sick:
 
Takakoo said:
I will take my shoes off if prompted, or if they're dirty. I'll usually take them off when someone else does.

i offer to take them if im in someone else's house, i ask people to take theres off, if they come round mine aswell.
 
I always take my shoes off in my own house for comfort reasons, but I find it rude when I go to someone else's house and they expect me to take my shoes off. It's like they don't trust me to wipe my feet or something. So I am very reluctant to do it unless there is a good reason, like I have stepped in mud. But if I went to a country where it was the culture I think I would take them off anyway.
 
I know that if a house is really dirty, and it seems more hygenic to leave my shoes on, or if they dont have carpet down yet, and its still a concrete base, maybe I would be inclined to leave my shoes on... for my own safety.
I was watching Sex and the City 6 the other night, and it had the classic example of shoe removing. They had young children, and a baby, therefore didnt want any germs trodden through the house.
Actually I prefer to be barefoot inside, but get odd looks here, when I try to do that :D
 
I was always brought up to take my shoes off when i enter the house. My nanny had a lot to do with that, as she spent the most time taking care of us, and lord be damned if we got her clean house dirty! :D

But it's really nasty to keep your shoes on in a house...you track all that nasty stuff from the outside in with you. :auch:

I take my shoes off in any house i enter, even if the residents don't. I always ask as well, since sometimes i get strange looks like Kara Nari does. 😊 But the person has invested time in cleaning up, so why ruin that, ne? :)
 
I selected number one although it was not always my culture until I moved to Japan. Being brought up in a home where it was the norm to wear one's shoes in the house I always thought it was the normal thing to do.

After living in Japan for some time I now feel that taking one's shoes off at the door or entranceway is normal as who knows where one's shoes have been. It just doesn't seem right to wear inside what you have been walking around in outside even if you wipe them at the door. They scuff up floors and wear out carpets.

Even living here in the states I do not wear shoes in the house and all visitors, contractors, deliverymen, etc. must remove their shoes before entering my house. If they don't like it then they don't have to visit. I provide slippers to those who want them.

Some people say that wiping ones shoes off before entering the house is ok. But I say, oh really? I have taken my shoes off in anothers' house while they wore theirs inside as I felt more comfortable and you know what? After I got home the bottoms of my white socks were black! I mean they were really dirty. So, is it really ok to just wipe one's shoes at the door when wearing shoes in the house just makes the carpets and floors dirty?

Nowadays, if I visit someone's house and they wear shoes in the house I keep mine on, but it really feels uncomfortable and abnormal. If I'm sitting on a sofa, I'll usually remove them, but put them on again if I have to move about the house/apartment.

A couple of years ago we moved to a new house and hired a Japanese moving company to move us the 20 miles to our new house. Although the boss was Japanese and the workers American, I didn't have to tell them to remove their shoes before entering as they did it automatically! I was quite surprised. Also the people who bought our house that we built and lived in for ten years complemented us on replacing the wall to wall carpeting throughout the house. I informed them that the carpet was 10 years old and they found it hard to believe. I mentioned that we didn't wear shoes in the house and the wife said to the husband, "Maybe we should take off our shoes also. Just look at the carpet. It looks brand new!"
 
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