# Taking shoes off before entering medical clinic--is this a thing now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 1, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668 "2017-05-01T22:12:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/41 "2017-05-02T10:33:52Z")
> [@Athabasca](#): > > Hey Dopers, > > Appealing to the collective wisdom on this phenomenon. I took my kid to see her doctor in her new clinic today. Kid had allergic reaction to meds, so when we get to this new place, the sign on the door ‘Take off shoes before entering’ kind of left us nonplussed. Kid was in too much physical discomfort to comply and I didn’t like leaving my shoes in an area where I couldn’t keep my eye on who was coming and going, and the socks they provided, as Kid said, looked questionable. No one challenged us, so it was ok, but the clinic was full and everyone complied, except nous. > > So, is this a regular practice now? Is it even hygienic, let alone safe? Stores and restaurants still say ‘no shirt, no shoes, no service’ but is that even meaningful now? > > Appreciate your thoughts… Must be In Japan or China. Never seen this in the US or Canada. And never seen any store, fat food, restaurant, bar or plaza do this that alone doctors or dentist office. ---
**Author:** ![Athabasca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Athabasca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athabasca)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/42 "2017-05-05T02:52:30Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > It’s funny, having lived my whole life in extremely snowy areas, I’ve never walked into a business drenched in slush and sleet. Most people stomp their feet outside the store, or stores have vestibules and floor mats for wiping shoes on, and mats inside as needed. > > I’m not sure we need to make this a “crass and impolite Americans” thing. After all, the OP was Canadian, and was just as confused. Yes, this. And I have lived in northern Canada, as well as Winnipeg, so lots of snow experience. This experience with a business, or clinic was new to me in my 58 years. And in May, of all things. Anyway, thanks for weighing in. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/43 "2017-05-05T03:04:06Z")
Rochester Minnesota - lots of snow - long winters - home of the Mayo Clinic At Mayo you keep your shoes on. I’ve never seen a sign asking otherwise, but I’ll amend this if these signs start showing up here. I will take off my shoes in an examination room, mostly because the floors are tiled and accumulate dirt easily. Also removing your shoes reduces your weight a bit! ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/44 "2017-05-05T07:29:13Z")
I’ve never seen or heard of this in the UK. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of it in an Intensive Care Unit or where some special isolation barrier is needed, but for the general run of primary care or outpatient clinics, it hardly seems necessary. They do have things like disposable paper covers for examination beds, and handwashing facilities these days. (At the _dentist’s_? I 've heard of putting one’s foot in one’s mouth, but I always thought that was comic hyperbole…) ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/45 "2017-05-05T07:48:45Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I’ve never seen or heard of this in the UK. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of it in an Intensive Care Unit or where some special isolation barrier is needed, but for the general run of primary care or outpatient clinics, it hardly seems necessary. They do have things like disposable paper covers for examination beds, and handwashing facilities these days. > > (At the _dentist’s_? I 've heard of putting one’s foot in one’s mouth, but I always thought that was comic hyperbole…) But then we don’t have the extreme weather that those upthread seem to suffer from. I moved to Bristol 4 years ago and haven’t seen\* any\* snow yet. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/46 "2017-05-05T07:59:37Z")
I wonder if People in this thread are thinking of different Kind of shoes, or even boots. In cold weather or rural Areas, I would expect People not to wear the usual City Dress shoes with flat soles, but sturdy hiking boots or snow boots - wich have profiled soles which trap a lot of snow or mud in them, and slowly release it when sitting/ Walking around in the house.\* A quick “stamping” doesn’t get rid of that. It also reminds me of Douglas Adams, “Last Chance to see” description of how when he arrived in Australia, the custom Service cleaned his hiking boots for him - because again, mud trapped in the sole might contain foreign plant seed or animals that would be bad for the isolated Australian wildlife. Esp. with an allergy doctor, I can see why not tracking pollen inside through your shoes might be a good idea. - Since my City used to get snow during winter, I both wear boots or hiking boots or Sneakers with profiled sole, but also flat-soled normal shoes during summer. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/47 "2017-05-05T12:54:59Z")
There are a shitload\* of American cities that have average annual snowfall matching or exceeding the annual total for, say, Toronto (including such places as Pittsburgh, Boston and Minneapolis), so I’d say there are lots of people familiar with “extreme” winter weather. Medical and dental offices seem to have adjusted nicely without requiring their clientele to go around in booties and retrieve their shoes from a bin or other communal storage later.\*\* \*not a commentary on quality of life in those places. 🙂 \*\*maybe Canadians are used to this from the experience of hurling their hats on the ice when hockey players score a hat trick; at least I’m assuming they have a place to collect their headgear later on. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/48 "2017-05-05T13:07:18Z")
Never seen such nonsense where I live, and we get a LOT of snow. Two days ago, May 3rd, we got three inches. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/49 "2017-05-05T13:24:33Z")
I just walked by a speech therapist’s office in my building. There’s is a mat out front with shoes and boots on it. In other words, no shoes allowed inside. ETA: Like one of [these](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Boot-and-Shoe-Household-Utility-Tray/42339062?action=product_interest&action_type=title&beacon_version=1.0.2&bucket_id=irsbucketdefault&client_guid=236145eb-151b-4a7b-837f-d59405a4ac9b&config_id=106&customer_id_enc&findingMethod=p13n&guid=236145eb-151b-4a7b-837f-d59405a4ac9b&item_id=42339062&parent_anchor_item_id=15734493&parent_item_id=15734493&placement_id=irs-106-t1&reporter=recommendations&source=new_site&strategy=PWVUB&visitor_id=bzKsqHK61yMXJHgnfH3n0E). ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/50 "2017-05-05T13:40:38Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I just walked by a speech therapist’s office in my building. There’s is a mat out front with shoes and boots on it. In other words, no shoes allowed inside. That better not become a ‘thing’ where I live. I don’t care how careful you are, if a lot of people are taking their shoes off near that mat, your socks are bound to get wet. Seems ridiculous to me. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/51 "2017-05-05T16:31:28Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > Very very common in most clinics I’ve been to in Ontario during the late fall/winter/early spring months. It’s bad form to leave on your clunky winter boots because you track in snow, slush, dirt, and salt, and leave filthy wet footprints all over the place. Usually only enforced in the winter months, and no one will care if you leave your sandals or shoes on all summer. I’ve seen it at doctors’ offices, dentists, spas, that sort of place. Fancy places will provide slippers or booties to go over your socks, but most people go around in their sock feet with no ill effects. The alternative is that someone is forced to mop the floors every twenty minutes to keep the salt and slush from becoming a slipping hazard on tile, or the wet dirt will stain carpets. Does Canada have anything equivalent to the ADA? Because it seems to me that such a requirement would run afoul of a law like that. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/52 "2017-05-05T16:35:46Z")
Of course we do. It’s not an iron clad requirement, it’s a request to help keep floors in better shape. I’ve seen elderly people with shoes on and I’m confident that no place would have a problem with someone saying they had to keep their shoes on. It’s just a cultural norm here. We all manage to get by. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/53 "2017-05-05T16:48:50Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > We had a thing (no idea what it’s called, but sort of the opposite of a shoe-horn) by the entryway to our house that helped people get their boots off so they wouldn’t track a mess into the house. [Boot Puller](https://www.amazon.com/Jobsite-Heavy-Duty-Boot-Puller/dp/B003OFM27W) > [@sweat209](#): > > Must be In Japan or China. > > Never seen this in the US or Canada. You must not read so well. The OP said he/she was in Canada. > [@constanze](#): > > In cold weather or rural Areas, I would expect People not to wear the usual City Dress shoes with flat soles, And your ‘expectation’ would be wrong. People wear all kinds of different shoes in cold weather and rural areas (and even in rural areas that have cold weather). ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/54 "2017-05-05T18:31:09Z")
I live in Georgia, where it rarely snows and I have been to one particular local doctor who insists that shoes be removed. Of course, he’s a podiatrist… ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/55 "2017-05-05T18:33:50Z")
[Rim shot](http://instantrimshot.com/) ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2017, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/56 "2017-05-06T07:05:18Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Try not to get too frustrated, **Leaffan** - I am completely with you on this one. > > Of course people who can’t walk without shoes, or have some medical reason that their extremities are unusually sensitive to cold, should be accommodated. (Although if shoe removal is a cultural norm and I had unusually sensitive feet, I’d travel with my own booties so I could manage the latter situation.) > > I grew up in New England and know how much ice and slush and snow accumulates on boots. We had a thing (no idea what it’s called, but sort of the opposite of a shoe-horn) by the entryway to our house that helped people get their boots off so they wouldn’t track a mess into the house. > > Commercial establishments didn’t (and presumably still don’t, though I stay far away from cold these days so I have no recent experience) require boot removal, but they generally had tile or linoleum floors for easy cleaning. ISTM that it is perfectly reasonable for any place that has a nice carpet to expect people to remove outer footwear, as long as they don’t pull any United-Dao antics for the occasionally non-compliant. its called a boot-jack. I’ve been seeing a lot of boot-brushes the past few years, the kind you run your shod feet back and forth through a few times and has brushes to clean the gunk from the sides and bottom. Seems to me, it would be more a house keeping and convenience/safety thing. Just a few people walking in and out a door in inclement weather can mess up the area adjacent the entry pretty fast. Slip and falls, having to regularly clean the place up and monitor to prevent the mess from growing etc. its a pita. Just the same, I probably wouldn’t comply either, strange peoples foot funk, ick! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2017, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/57 "2017-05-06T09:16:28Z")
What about those boots that go over your shoes? I would have thought that, in places where it was snowy all the time, these would be very common. They’re kinda like rainboots, but we call them snow boots. My dad wears them when he wears that full body suit instead of just a coat–when covering up your upper body is not enough for the cold. I have to admit, I would least want to take off my shoes in that environment, because I hate getting my socks wet. And if the snow is that bad, it’s gonna be very wet around where the shoes are, so my socked feet are gonna get wet. And in cold weather, too. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/58 "2017-05-06T15:06:56Z")
I can’t think of any clinics in Japan where I didn’t have to take off shoes. When I first moved to Taiwan it felt strange to not take off my shoes in clinics. They do for homes, of course. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/59 "2017-05-06T15:17:41Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > Very very common in most clinics I’ve been to in Ontario during the late fall/winter/early spring months. For what it’s worth, I have lived in Ontario for 20 years (Toronto and Kitchener) and I have never ever seen a clinic where people removed their shoes upon entering. A person’s home, of course. But never in a public building. Then again, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a doctor or dentist’s office with carpeting, either. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2017, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668/60 "2017-05-06T18:22:42Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Well, what can I say. We do things differently in our different countries. > Sure, maybe not every office follows the same rules, **but the number of bleeding times this shoe thing has been debated here is almost comical.** > We clearly have a cultural difference here; we don’t have many! But this is one. > > Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk bolding mine This thread is the first time I have seen removing your footwear at a doctor’s/dentist’s on the boards. Around here they just put down extra mats to protect the floors. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-shoes-off-before-entering-medical-clinic-is-this-a-thing-now/785668.md?page=4)