[QUOTE=enipla;13511968I’m curious Cat Whisperer if you had a task that had you coming in and out of the house 4 or 5 times, would you take your shoes off every time?[/QUOTE]
I know you are asking Cat Whisperer but I thought I would answer as a fellow Canuck. I would totally take my shoes on and off.
However, I am not sure what kind of task that would be. If I were bringing in groceries and had to take several trips to the car, I would just put the bags near the front mat in the short term (without taking off my shoes) and then move them to the kitchen once I had taken my shoes off.
I think the only times I have been in a private residence with my shoes on is if I am helping someone move. But then they have put down tarps/runners/cardboard to walk on (and not the floor itself). Otherwise, it would be:
I’m moderately weirded out by the prospect of taking off my shoes in someone else’s home, but I’m seriously skeeved at the idea of wearing slippers around people who are not extremely close family members. Seriously. Wearing slippers totally equals not being dressed in my mind. If I’m at home in my slippers and the FedEx guy arrives, I will change into shoes before I open the door, or at the very least kick off the slippers and just go in my socks. I guess the closest comparison to slippers for me is pajamas. I’d sprint to my room and change into jeans before opening the door in my pjs. Wearing someone else’s slippers would be very uncomfortable.
But, as has been said before in this thread, it’s all what you’re used to. I’ll just wait until summer to visit people in Western Canada.
I like how the shoes off crowd always brings up dog shit as if the whole outside world is covered in it. I remember the first time at a shoe off house, I thought they were joking. seems Minnesota is different from Texas. I’m with others who feel too intimate with shoes off. Plus I wear parachute jump boots and all that lacing is a pain in the ass to undo.
This is seriously mind-blowing to me. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a home where adults took their shoes off. Kids, yes, but not adults. Now, at our house, we don’t actually wear shoes until we are getting into a vehicle (redneck alert), but I can’t imagine taking my shoes off in someone else’s house. That feels like I’m going to put on my jammies and curl up on their couch. Too weird.
In Canada, for goodly portions of the year, the ground (or at least sidewalks) are covered with slush - a churned-up mixture of snow, water, dirt and salt. Given we are generally wearing boots with deep treads, walking about indoors without removing outer footwear will deposit this substance all over the house; no amout of scraping boots at the entrance will get rid of it.
Given this fact, it is not surprising that the habit developed to take one’s boots off - at least, during the winter. Generally, once the habit is ingrained, people do it all year, even though there is less obvious justification for it during the summer.
In short, because people effectively have to remove boots in winter (or leave wet, dirty slush-trails everywhere), they quickly lose the notion that going without footwear is “too intimate”.
I can’t stand wearing shoes indoors. We don’t have carpeting, so it’s not feasible to walk around in socks, but we have slippers, separate ones for downstairs and upstairs. When we’ve lived in carpeted surroundings, we have had a leave-your-shoes-in-the-foyer policy, and that’s so common with regard to the houses I visit, that my instinct is to pop off the shoes as soon as I see a carpeted floor.
A shoes of policy in warmer climates is unusual and seems to ask a lot of the guests who do not regularly encounter such a thing. Where it is the cultural norm it is just ingrained and no big deal. Folks visiting catch or right away and quickly seem to get use to it.
I seem to live in a similar climate as some of my Canadian neighbors posting here. It is mostly shushy, icy, muddy, gravely, dirt year round. Many folks live on dirt roads and fish or work outdoors. Hiking to you house or cabin is not uncommon here. Shoe treads are filled with some sort of debris almost always. It is just standard and no big deal. If you were to visit and spend time in peoples homes you would get over it quickly. And catch on to the nuances of when and were to take your shoes off.
It is kinda like wearing a bathing suit. You are fine if everyone else has one on. You will be fine if everyone is in their socks.
True, but not everyone’s wearing socks. Either way, I don’t want to risk contracting it and/or spreading it. It’s just easier to bring my own slippers.
(Although I agree – don’t ask people to leave their shoes outside or in the hallway of an apartment building. THAT is rude.)
I’ve never been inside a house that was “shoes-off” and the idea of it seems really foreign to me. In fact, if I have company coming over, I’ll put my shoes on if I wasn’t already wearing them for no other reason than that I don’t like being barefoot around other people.
This has derailed a bit from the original question, which wasn’t about whether or not wearing shoes inside a house is the norm, or rude, or required. I am kind of surprised that anyone has opinions as strong as those I’ve seen here, but to each his own. I would certainly try to abide by whatever house rules I was told of or could figure out.
For what it’s worth, I’m no stranger to no-shoe houses. It’s common enough in my social circle that I’ll generally ask at the front door if I should take my shoes off if I see either of the tell-tale signs of a shoeless household: (1) a shoe rack/pile of shoes by the door or (2) other occupants wearing no shoes. My impression is that this is pretty common. To test it, this weekend I had a small gathering at my house, and before the guests arrived, I took my shoes off and set them inside the front door. Almost everyone who arrived took their shoes off without asking. One person asked and I said that there was no rule; they were welcome to do whatever.
The thing that struck me as odd in this case was that my shoes (which were inside the front door along with many other shoes) were placed outside. I was not worried about the safety of my shoes. I just got a “not welcome here” vibe from the action (and, like I said, from the wife in general)
Heh, when I was growing up, moire than 30 years ago, “shoes-on” households were I think a lot more common here in Toronto. Also, “generally unlocked door” households. Now, when I come in the front door of someone’s house, I tend to lock it behind me and take off my shoes as a matter of course.
We have gone from “shoes on, doors unlocked” to “shoes off, doors locked”.
Atlantic Canada here, and it’s shoes off almost exclusively. However, like others have said it depends of the household.
In my house I expect guests to take off their shoes, as is the custom here, but should someone ask to keep their shoes on I will of course tell them it’s not a problem as it’s my job as host to make sure they’re comfortable. I would never ever ask someone to remove their shoes as the request is implied and if someone refused to comply I would assume they have their own reasons and it would be very rude to point it out.
When helping someone move I never take off my shoes, nor is it expected. Along the same lines I always tell the plumber, contractor, etc, to keep their boots on. Most appreciate it, but half of them usually have their boots off before the offer is finished!
That wouldn’t go over well here. In ranch country, the rule with gates is, leave it the way you found it. Never leave a gate open if it was closed, or closed if it was open. The same rule should apply to locking doors. If my door was unlocked when you arrived, please leave it that way.
You saw shoes outside. You took yours off inside. She moved yours outside rather than being a douche and telling you to do it. It’s as if you put your coat on the table and later found she’d moved it to a coat rack.
We get it. For whatever reason you don’t like this chick. But you’ll have to find a different excuse to get pissed at her because this one doesn’t fit the bill.
Only if the coat rack was on the outside of the door. The issue here isn’t the removal of shoes, it’s the outside part. Taking any property that doesn’t belong to you – like a guest’s shoes – and placing it somewhere out of sight and where all manner of damage or theft could occur isn’t on. If you need so desperately for people to take their shoes off in your home, then you provide a place for them to sit to remove them, and a safe place for them to be stored. And no, historical “no one ever stole shoes here before” anecdote isn’t enough to say that outside an apartment is a safe place.
