Well, people could be distracted by the sexual allure of my manly unclothed torso, and walk into shelves and walls. 
I wouldn’t want to be responsible! The guilt would be terrible!
Pretty much. I mean you can say basically all of societies conventions are arbitrary. But they are there, nevertheless.
And honestly, other than maybe certain chain stores or restaurant where presumably corporate policy makes them put the sticker there for liability purposes, I feel like I’ve mostly seen “no shirt / no shoes / no service” signs in establishments where they didn’t want people just strolling in directly from the beach or pool.
We are oppressed in one way so we should also be oppressed in another?
It’s not really a social convention when it’s a directly stated rule.
I’m not ruining the classy vibe at the 7-11 by not putting shoes on, though actually I can recall only one time I’ve been called out on my shoelessness and it has been at least ten years. They allowed me to shop, but insisted I ride on a cart!
I think about the no shirt, no shoes rule every time an airport makes me take off my shoes. It feels so WRONG. I’ve been so inculcated with this no shirt, no shoes that I feel like I’m breaking some sort of law of the universe standing in line in security in my socks. Besides, airport floors, OMG, ew. I try not to think about what creeping crud I might pick up walking through there. I should probably throw away my socks after flying, but I don’t think my germophobia is quite that bad. Yet.
I would’ve told HER to leave.
Why is she so sensitive? Never saw a man without shirt? Ever ? Just ridiculous.
It bothers me to see shirtless men in public because it is unfair. If I have to wear a shirt, so should they.
They (men) do wear shirts in almost all cases.
ONCE in 15 years ONE man appeared shirtless and the lady nearly fainted
what a delicate snowflake…
Hand sanitizer, if you feel really OCD about it…
I wonder if anyone wore their shoes on their hands or shirt on their head or something silly like that.
And what about folks in a wheelchair, do they have to wear shoes even if their feet never touch the ground?
At that location, sure… IRL, every day.
You realize that humans are a type of animal, and that we’re designed to walk barefoot. Shoes are convenient but usually not necessary, and I have absolutely no idea how you can come to the conclusion that bare feet are disgusting.
Nope, what an excellent employee.
If she ever said to me, “I don’t wanna discuss why, but that person creeps me out and I’d rather not do business with them”, I’d tell the person to leave.
Great employees are worth being kept happy.
The same could be said about pants. We are animals, not designed with clothing in mind. So what’s wrong with walking about nekkid, assuming it is warm outside and mosquito-free?
It is simply a matter of social convention. Breaking a social convention causes uneasiness. If I was to walk about, dick flapping free in the breeze, people would wonder if my beaking the social convention (that men cover their crotches with clothing in public) meant I was likely to be a problem in other ways. To a lesser degree, lacking a shirt and shoes in places where these things are understood to be necessary (such as a courtroom, a fine restaurant, etc.) conveys a similar message - that you don’t care about basic formalities, so what else don’t you care about?
Stores and shoes/shirts are a special case because some stores may not care - it may be expected that some customers will be shirtless and shoeless.
Sorry, Flyer. I thought your actual topic was interesting. Because women do wear translucent clothing (as long as they cover up the important parts), and we do tend to try avoid sexism now, so saying it’s just for men wouldn’t really fly. (Hell, I’ve seen more partially see-through clothing on women than shirtless guys in public, excluding the pool or their backyards.)
Since I think the rules are silly, anyways, I wouldn’t enforce them against these women, or less attractive women, or even men. I would follow the letter of the law.
Well, at least, for shirts. I’ve noticed for a while how selectively the “no shoes” is enforced. As long as I’m not in position to see their feet/socks, I can just say I didn’t notice. I’d only enforce it in a place where being barefoot was dangerous.
I have tested those. I used to have a very elaborate foot bracelet. It looked like the top of a sandal. I wore it into more than one restaurant with those signs. Nobody ever cared. So I stopped testing that. I think I once did get kicked out of a library for being barefoot. I had shoes, but had kicked them off as I was sitting there reading, but you can’t argue with a librarian.
The no shirt policy is pretty hard to ignore. No shoes? I went barefoot many summers and didn’t get hassled. I learned most clerks don’t look down at the floor.
I think going barefoot in public is risky. Who knows where a small shard of broken glass might be? If I’m a store, I’d rather force my customers to wear shoes than to have to deal with blood on my floor and/or merchandise plus have some knucklehead sue me because he stepped on something that just dropped on the floor.
Shirtless guys are gross. Shirtless girls can be, too.
One Friday night I was in a local Walgreens when I saw a woman in a sheer top. Being careful not to stare and also careful not to miss anything, I saw quite clearly that she wore nothing beneath.
The man working the register said nothing. He did give me a big smile as we watched her walk out.
Re No Shirt No Shoes
I’m going with the shoes thing being a liability issue. Things have to be much cleaner to be safe to walk barefoot. It’s much easier just to require people to wear shoes.
In the overwhelming amount of businesses, requiring shirts is just an aesthetic choice.
She might have had an ulterior motive.
I worked in a store that was across the street from a well-know strip club. One night a gorgeous, large-breasted woman came in wearing a dress slit up past her crotch. And no panties.
Turned out that while all the employees were distracted with ogling her lady garden, an accomplice was busying making off with a double armload of expensive merchandise.
Yup. The fact that warehouses require employees to wear not just shoes but specifically steel-toed shoes suggests that it’s an issue of safety and liability, rather than aesthetics.