I don’t care if people wear shoes into my house.
So say my friends over bocce last week in Northbrook. Surprising, no?
I guess I was under the mistaken impression that most people care about this. Think about what we almost step on every day: dog poop, spilled drinks, food remnants, public restroom floors, fertilized grass lawns (especially right now, on a college campus), bird poop. It’s pretty nasty.
Do you want that crap in your home? No you don’t.
Basic conversation went something like this:
Me: “Really? You don’t mind?”
Non-Asian friend: “No. Walk all over with your shoes.”
Me: “But think about where their shoes have been.”
Non-Asian friend: “Nope, I don’t care. And besides, I don’t want to smell your feet.”
Me: “Well, it must be an Asian thing then.”
Asian friend: “I’m Asian. I don’t care.”
Me: <…>
Believe it or not, there is an entire British blog devoted to this topic, which includes, in the sidebar, 37 reasons why you should have a shoes-off policy.
Do you make people remove their shoes when they come into your home?
that asian person should have their card revoked. totally care.
I never cared until moving to Evanston, upon which my apartment started getting mysteriously dusty all of the time, and shoe removal helped to reduce said dustiness.
However, I hope to return to not caring upon my departure.
When I was in high school a [non-Asian] friend of mine came over to my parents house to hang out. It was raining. He didn’t take his shoes off. He walked into the family room which had cream colored carpeting. He got mud all over the carpet. I cared about that. My parents REALLY cared about that.
Do I happen to live with “Non-Asian friend”?
I would only care if mud/sand/dog poo/other pollutant were involved with the shoes. Otherwise I would not care.
Interestingly, I cannot get Justin to take his shoes off in the house ever. He wears them all the time. Puts them on first thing in the morning even way before he has any plans to go out.
That I think is kind of weird.
I don’t care. Clean your floors.
Lan, second that.
Phillip, you’ll never go back.
Sanay, your parents’ carpet is very nice, and I would care if I were them, too.
Yes, Kate, I believe you do live with a “non-Asian friend.”
Becca, that *is* kind of weird.
Meredith, thanks for staying at my apartment this weekend. And thanks anyway for taking off your shoes most of the time.
As a child with terrible allergies who grew up in a white-carpeted Asian household, I used to feel pretty strongly about the shoes-off policy.
Fast forward twenty years. My old and incontinent dog unknowingly did his business on my carpets almost every day for over a year. After that, the shoes issue seemed pretty silly.
That blog is bananacakes! I do not care at all about the shoes. My Mum does – annoyingly she started to care when I was around 20 – why? Why all of a sudden? Clearly, don’t track turds on my carpet, but just outside dirt? Ironically, I bet the no shoes in the house people are the same ones who won’t eat food that landed on the ground. They probably could, as their floors are so damn clean
Thanks for linking to my blog, ‘Shoes Off at the Door, Please.’
Obviously, I care a lot about this issue. A lot of people may not necessarilly put much energy into the issue, but generally see that removing shoes in homes makes a lot more sense than keeping them on.
It actually totally annoys me when people ask you to take your shoes off. Especially in the fall/winter when you might be wearing boots over jeans/leggings. Now thats just awkward. Am I supposed to ruin my entire outfit in order to preserve your carpet???:)
[...] I personally fall in the camp of taking off shoes before I walk into someone’s home, I should say up front that I am a [...]