Welp, my workplace says I have to wear shoes from now on. My supervisor, who’s actually an 80-year old woman trapped in a 35-year old man’s body, cracked the whip and invoked the name of our company overlord in sending me an e-mail that I can’t go walking around barefoot anymore.
I admit, it’s one part of my hillbilly past that’ll never go away. I hate wearing shoes. I wear flipflops to work, and then take them off when I get to my desk and walk around barefoot. Even when the weather gets cool and I wear shoes, I shake them off at my desk and walk around in my socks.
So, I ask the fashion savvy among you, what kind of footwear can I get that has as little material as possible and is technically still a shoe? What kind of socks can I get that breathe well? Lesbian style Berkenstocks? Mesh that doesn’t scream alternative lifestyle? Slippers?
What sort of business are you in? I assume it’s an office environment, but what sort of duties do you havem, and what sort of people do you interact with?
-stonebow, whose only dress code for his office staff is that thay wear sensible shoes
I’m a graphic designer for a testing company. I don’t interact with the clients. I mainly hobnob with content writers who don’t really have a dress code themselves, and I attend the occasional departmental meeting. I also bring invoices to our department head, who supposedly is the one who objects to my feets.
That’s horrible! You have my sympathies. As a rule I don’t wear socks except when there’s snow on the ground, so I feel your pain. I have gotten stern warnings in a number of environments for going barefoot.
Do flip-flops not count as shoes? Where’s the dividing line? I’ve got a few pairs of shoes that are basically flip-flops but with a few extra straps, and they’re fine for all the offices I’ve worked in. I buy them at Payless and leave them under my desk when I skip home in my $5 flip-flops.
(I’m assuming you’re female; I’ve never seen a man in the office with non-shoe shoes. Except a long-time director of a unit I worked in, who wore Birkies (and socks!!!) every day of his working life, including to Cabinet meetings. Impressive.)
Just get some little ballet-looking slippers–they’ve got them at asian import stores, or you can get a bit different version at the discount stores–and keep them at your desk. You’d only need to put them on to go walking about and there’s barely anything to them so they wouldn’t feel confining.
I have to wear full shoes at my job since I work in a laboratory, but the second I’m into my car at night those little bastards go into my backseat until I need them the next morning. Shoes, especially in the summer, are the suckage.
WTF! You’re at work not your living room. Put on some damn shoes. Show some respect for your coworkers and jobsite.
Sorry… pet peeve of mine.
BTW
Flip Flops are not shows they are for locker rooms and the beach… adults in flip flops outside of those situations always look ridiculous to me. Like men in capris.
I wear 10s, and I found a pair that fitted me. The size was written on the inside heel section. One size larger shouldn’t be a problem, especially at a kung-fu supply store.
I would recommend the Birkenstocks. They are leather and so look a little more like a “real” shoe, but you can just slip them off when you are in your own office or what have you. Also, you get a special bonus if you wear them with white tube socks.
Quick question for Push You Down: how is it that being barefoot is disrespectful? I can understand it as an issue from a safety/liability issue but you have sort of lost me on the respect front.
We’re all going to draw the line somewhere, it’s opinion and there’s no use arguing about it. I personally think people who do not interact with customers should dress any way they want, including being barefoot. But there’s a still a line for me. Comging to work wearing, say, Wesson cooking oil and nothing else, that a bit unprofessional I think inappropriate. Probably messy too.
So, lets say I am at a desk. I take off my shoes, inside my cubicle. No one can see my shoes under my desk. However, it allows me to feel more comfortable. People have a problem with this? :eek:
Let’s say I then go to make a cup of tea. I walk down the carpeted corridor towards the break-room. My socks are immaculate. I don’t see the problem here.
Push You Down’s post is another great example of post matching username.
I recommend Birkenstocks, too. You can get leather or nonleather versions. They kind of mold to your foot and are very comfortable, plus you can just slip them on when you need to walk somewhere, and easily slip right out of them when you sit down at your desk and your feet are hidden. The texture and support of the insole feels closer to being barefoot than any plastic flip-flop, too. This shoe-hater wears them every day.
The first example, no problem. The second, I’d be uncomfortable with. You’re in a professional environment, not in your home. It’s the same reason people don’t wear sweats to work, or their pajamas. Work isn’t that casual.
