# Shoeless at the Office
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 17, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495 "2009-09-17T20:42:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/1 "2009-09-17T20:42:22Z")
I frequently take my shoes off in my office, and sometimes duck around the corner to the shared printer (which is on the outside wall of my office) in socks. My wife was horrified when I happened to mention this, and thinks it’s completely unprofessional.
What’s your take?
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/2 "2009-09-17T20:44:24Z")
I think it’s pretty unprofessional, but I did it a lot when I had broken bones in both feet. When I healed, I was tempted to keep doing it, because it was so damn comfortable.
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### Author:  [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/3 "2009-09-17T21:03:17Z")
I’m with your wife. Not actually at the moment as I type this, but you know what I mean.
Walking around in socks at the office, even just to sneak around the corner to the printer, presents an overly-casual appearance for the office environment. But you don’t work in my office, so do what feels right but don’t be surprised if people are thinking it’s inappropriate.
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### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/4 "2009-09-17T21:03:46Z")
Depends on the office. Here at my conservative private law firm? A big no-no.
At a casual family-owned small business? I don’t see why not.
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### Author:  [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/5 "2009-09-17T21:05:01Z")
Depends. What kind of job do you have? My sister has a job in a cube farm where nobody from the outside could ever even accidentally wander in. I wouldn’t think it was unprofessional of her to go grab something from the printer in just her socks (though I doubt she would). There are only about 6 people who _might_ see her black socks. I’d be surprised if she went as far as the kitchen/break room area, which they share with other departments or to a meeting without shoes.
If clients, or higher up than you executives could stop by unannounced I’d keep my shoes on all the time just to be safe.
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### Author:  [@Pocito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pocito)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/6 "2009-09-17T21:07:39Z")
I wouldn’t worry about the socks. Even the highest muckety-mucks must get tired feet and kick their shoes off once in awhile.
However, if you ever did it in your bare feet, I’d have to cry foul. _gag_
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/7 "2009-09-17T21:12:29Z")
I never wear anything on my feet . . . and not much elsewhere . . . while I’m working. Of course, I work at home.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/8 "2009-09-17T21:13:58Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> I never wear anything on my feet . . . and not much elsewhere . . . while I’m working. Of course, I work at home.
I was going to say this same thing.
But when I did work in an office, I kicked off my shoes all the time. It is one of my many quirks that I hate shoes.
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### Author:  [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/9 "2009-09-17T21:15:48Z")
No, no, no.
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### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/10 "2009-09-17T21:18:46Z")
I don’t think kicking the shoes off at your desk where your feet are hidden is big deal but once you leave your desk then you should put the shoes back on. You never know when the boss or a client might just happen to round the corner and see your socks (OH THE HORROR!) and throughs a hissy fit and then you get fired and lose your house and then your wife leaves you and your kids hate you and then the dog pees on your leg.
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### Author:  [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/11 "2009-09-17T21:41:33Z")
Been there.
I hate that damned dog.
It entirely depends on the setting. I do it all the time, but I’m self-employed. Corporate cube-farm or tight-ass law-firm? Shoes are probably necessary to satisfy convention.
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### Author:  [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/12 "2009-09-17T21:46:23Z")
Wait, is this happening in real life, or in a country music song? Does the dog run off with your wallet at the end?
I don’t think it’s a big deal, as long as you’re not getting up and wandering around, even to and from the printer, very frequently. Getting up once or twice a day in socks is fine, but every 3 minutes seems unprofessional to me. I often took my shoes off at my desk, but I wouldn’t walk around without them.
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### Author:  [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/13 "2009-09-17T21:50:01Z")
Taking them off while sitting at your desk is fine. Once you stand up and start walking around, you’ve got to have shoes on. It just doesn’t look right.
And I say this as someone who would gladly go barefoot at all times if I could.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/14 "2009-09-17T22:14:16Z")
I do it in my bare feet all the time - it’s a workroom that nobody but us chickens uses, though.
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### Author:  [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/15 "2009-09-17T22:24:53Z")
Absolutely not. Wear your shoes at the office.
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### Author:  [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/16 "2009-09-17T22:28:04Z")
Different culture, but in my office in India, shoes weren’t _allowed_ in the office. We had to leave our shoes on a rack outside the door. Result? LOTS of mosquito bites on my feet.
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### Author:  [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/17 "2009-09-17T22:34:49Z")
the last office job i held, we were “client free” so many of us went shoeless quite often. during the summer for me this often meant kicking off my fip-flips and going barefoot. i’d never do that in a normal office setting, but we had the run of the place here.
someone once complained when i used the public washroom barefoot, though. before you reply saying this is disgusting or unsanitary, consider this: whatever it is you think is going to get on my bare feet, is also going to get on my shoes. the difference is that i wash my feet every day - when was the last time you washed your shoes?
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/18 "2009-09-17T22:37:59Z")
You shoeless people don’t want to work at my workplace. You’ll have fiberglass in your feet, yes even in the office.
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/19 "2009-09-17T23:11:28Z")
I generally wear heels with no backs to them, so I will slip my feet in and out of the shoes all day. My feet are clean, my toenails pedicured, and I may dash to the printer (right behind my cube) but I’m not walking down the hall barefoot.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shoeless-at-the-office/510495/20 "2009-09-17T23:23:38Z")
Depends on the office culture. In the lab, it’s flip-flops and shorts.
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