Just to clarify as I did in post #37. gone2thedogs has it backwards for me. Though I do like their username and it would be very fitting for my home.
Here in the country, we have clean dirt. Doesn’t bother me a bit.
I am happy to conform to the rules of the house when I’m a visitor, but it’s incumbent upon the host to make those rules known in advance. I don’t have good circulation in my feet. If I’m wearing thin socks and you have tile floors, I’m going to be miserable without shoes and I’m going to leave at the first opportunity. Tell me in advance, I’ll bring some slippers, and we’ll both be happy. Don’t tell me in advance and you’re a bad host.
I’d be pissed if my shoes were placed outside in a common area of an apartment complex where they could be stolen, chewed up by a stray dog, or whatever. I’d also be angry if they were placed outside around here in the winter. As I said, my feet get cold easily. I do not want my shoes sitting outside when it’s below freezing. I’ll do my part as a guest and remove the shoes; you do your part as a host and keep them safe and warm.
Although I find gone2thedogs’ comments a bit over-the-top, I do agree with one thing. If you’ve been working in warm weather all day with socks and closed shoes, I’d rather you wear your shoes in my house than have to smell your feet. I have wood floors. They’re easy to sweep.
My husband and I have a shoes-off house for ourselves, and we put a nice big shoe caddy beside our main entrance door for people to leave their shoes in if they want to join us in our barefoot/sockfoot happiness.
Some of our best friends even have pairs of slippers or special socks or flipflop/slides that they leave there constantly to wear inside our house while they’re visiting. Others just plunk their shoes down and live in socks for a while.
Most of them have barefoot houses also, so it just seems to be a group thing for us. (None of us are Russian, Canadian/Yankee, or Asian, so we really don’t know where we picked it up, other than it’s a nice relaxed habit, and most of us seem to like sitting on our feet in furniture.)
We do have one friend who always leaves his shoes on inside - even in a traditional Japanese tatami-room restaurant one time. I asked him about it afterwards, and he told me that since he paces so constantly and forcefully, his feet get sore if he goes barefoot. He wears shoes constantly, from first thing in the morning until he goes to bed.
I find that totally strange (my shoes don’t get touched until I’m ready to head out the door, and they’re the first thing off when I get back home), but I’m not going to harass him or any of my guests about their shoes while they’re visiting us. Floors and carpets are meant to be walked on, and it doesn’t hurt anything if people wear shoes or don’t.
I try to make it easier for people to leave their shoes if they want to, but I would never think to ask people to take them off.
Did they wash the slippers between each wearing? Because I wouldn’t be able to stick my feet into slippers someone else had worn.
I rarely wear shoes in my home, but personally, I think making guests take off their shoes when they enter your house is rude and I don’t know anyone who has that policy. But then, I’m not a fan of the foot except as an instrument for walking. I live in Florida, though; perhaps if people came in with muddy snowy shoes, I would think differently.
The best way is to ask the host/hostess about the rules.
Most places I’ve been here in Southern Ontario are shoes-off in the house. There were a couple of exceptions. I seem to recall that shoes-off was less common when I was a kid. Are the shoes-off types taking over?
That definitely makes a difference. When you have to take your winter boots off anyways, simply because they are much too warm to wear inside (even ignoring melting problems), taking off shoes becomes more common.
Well, sure, but I’d never even think of asking that question. I’ve encountered so few “take your shoes off” homes that it catches me unawares every time.
I always bring my slippers with me (they’re in my bag – you can’t tell I have them, so if I don’t need them, it’s no big deal). I usually take my shoes off at family get togethers, no big deal. (We’re a really informal family, nobody gives a shit one way or another, unless your shoes are filthy muddy or something) If you have problems with being shoeless, (especially medical) either ask in advance, or bring slippers just in case. Your hostess may have forgotten.
My cousin had top ask us one year when her daughter was crawling around – the steps outside were all wet and covered in salt. She didn’t want it on the floor. shrugs No big deal, I had my new slippers.
Get over it, people.
(Keeping slippers for guests is gross, though. Athletes foot? I’d never wear other peoples’ slippers. I always bring my own)
My mother on the other hand, gets pissed when she’s asked. She takes her shoes off, of course, but it annoys her. Not because her feet bother or anything – she just doesn’t like doing it.
I live in a smallish town in alaska. The entire town is shoes off. Even some rough floored cabins. Occasionally a cabin owner will say you dont have to but all homes it goes without saying. M cabin is wood heat only I will often in the winter tell guest to leave their shoes on till I get it warmed up if i have been out and he fire has died. I know when they are wam as all shous come off later. At big house parties you have to dig through a sprawling 3 foot pile of shoes, gloves, coats and hats. Even in the summer it is shoes off. Visitors from the lower 48 and other places catch or right away. It does appear some visitors find it odd. It is part of the culture here. I take my shos off when traveling or visiting other places.
Oh, a common feature of homes and cabins up here is a mud room. I have a large one attached so it is easy. Funny thing many of the fanciest homes don’t seem to have a mud room. I think they pay high dollar out of state architects that don’t think of it. The rest,ust a big ass pile of shoes and gear near the entry.
How is putting your feet into slippers that other feet have been in different from walking on a floor that other feet have been walking on?
I wondered that too. I also would expect folks taking off shoes would have socks or stockings on which they wouldn’t remove to put on slippers.
Also, when you try on shoes at the store, it is behind dozens of other people. That includes slippers.
I love shoes. I love high heels and I hate to take them off when I go to someone else’s house. I will though, toot suite, if that is their policy. But like Freudian said, I really want to wear my shiney shoes.
My apartment is anything goes, do what you want. But I have always thought that a good hostess doesn’t ask anyone to remove their shoes. A good hostess does everything to make the guest feel comfortable, within reason. I would put ‘sweep up and clean up any melted snow or dust after the guests leave’ a reasonable expectation for the host.
Of course, in cultures where it is common and expected, it is no reflection on the host. In the U.S. though…yeah, I take points off for good hosting. Only in my head though, while graciously taking off my beloved 4 inch platform Steve Madden burgandy wine patent leather shoes.
ETA: Yes, somebody went shoe shopping today and is using this thread to sneak-brag on a great deal. Gotta love Macy’s clearance!
Sweat and fungus for two things. It also seems too intimate (as someone else mentioned).
Yabbut people haven’t been wearing them around sweating in them.
Lets see some pics of your Stevies. 
Like the difference between shaking a hand that lots of people have touched before and letting the bearer put said hand up your vagina.
Our studio apartment is do-whatever-you-want. The only time shoes-off bugs me is when they don’t provide a place to sit down. I have bad knees+ankles, and I thoroughly tighten the laces on my sneakers, so that the orthotics are firmly strapped to my feet. The point here is that it takes me a minute (while sitting down) to put on or take off my shoes, and I find that most shoes-off people don’t expect this.
It was only recently that I finally got rid of a bad case of athlete’s foot. How do I know that the host washes said slippers between each visit?
As for trying on shoes at stores, most of them have those little disposable pantyhose type socks you put over your feet before you try on shoes. And you’re only wearing them for a second – you’re not walking around in them all day.
My husband even gets a little peeved with me when I don’t take my outside shoes off when going from the back door to my shoe stool ten feet from it, and I’m the one who cleans the (laminate) floor here. He either doesn’t like getting a soaker, or he doesn’t like all the spots I make on the floor.
All the Canadians on the board have never been able to adequately express how small a deal taking your shoes off while visiting is - a hostess never asks guests to take their shoes off, because it is never necessary - you come in, you take your shoes off. We wouldn’t think of tracking snow and mud onto someone else’s floor any more than we would come in and strip down to our undies.
I agree that it is a little familiar; just another Canadian dichotomy, that we’re known as stand-offish people, but we’ll take our shoes off for anyone.
Agreed. I do wish some of the die hard “taking shoes off is so RUDE!” people would visit Canada in winter and see how small a deal it is and how universal it is, though.
And how perceptions change with practice. If I went over to a friend’s house and sat down on the couch while still wearing my shoes, I would feel like I was getting ready to leave the entire time. It would be more like being at the doctor’s office than in a private home. If I had an American friend over who wasn’t used to it, I would try to make him or her comfortable, understanding that others don’t necessarily feel the same way.
How much will I gross others out if I say that if I start feeling too at home somewhere, it’ll become second nature to take my shoes off there? I usually take my boots off in the university library so I can cross my legs, and I’ve gone to fetch a book without bothering to put my shoes back on.
Well, yeah. Sitting on the couch at a friend’s house, I wouldn’t be wearing shoes (assuming it is a reasonably close friend). That is a somewhat intimate and casual setting.
What I am uncomfortable with is undressing at something like a work or family gathering. Somewhere with people I am not close friends with, and which is not entirely casual. I feel it is rude to host a non-intimate gathering, and then ask guests to undress without having warned them in advance.