For asking the heating engineer to wear shoe covers in my house

So why make them even dirtier with outside shoes that bring in more dust, grit and potentially tiny bits of animal poo or wee?

If one of my friends had accidentally stepped in shit, my first thought would be to offer them a dish of hot soapy water, some rubber gloves, and a scrubbing brush, not to refuse them entry unless they agreed to be barefoot.

If they did unintentionally get some on the floor, I would fetch the mop and disinfectant while they were cleaning their shoes.

I sort of understand if you have carpet, but otoh, I find carpet to be far dirtier than shoes. How do you clean it? I get people own hoovers, steam vacs, etc, but I'm allergic to house dust, and no matter how clean someone's carpet appears, I always end up having a reaction in a carpeted house. Carpets are never truly clean, and it's not shoes that is the issue with them, it is a buildup of dead skin cells.

It’s not that the flooring can’t take shoes. It’s that shoes are unclean.

have you never travelled? Because more of the world are shoes off indoors than shoes on. Particularly places thought of as clean, highly educated, very polite and well mannered. like Korea, Japan and Scandinavia

Yes, I am friends with people who have accidentally stepped into dog or fox poo near our house.

You are friends with people who stink of poo? That so much more strange than keeping shoes on.

All these years on MN I’ve laughed at people for thinking I have low standards cos I wear shoes indoors. Turns out I actually have high standards cos I’m not friends with anyone who wanders around with shoes stinking of poo!

These threads always end up with shoes-off people saying “you’re completely disgusting, have dirty houses and are so unhygienic you make people sick”. The shoes-on people tend to be “meh, I’m fine with dirty floors and have no intention of licking the floor so I’m not going to get sick, but you are antisocial and everyone secretly hates being told to take their shoes off in your house”. Both extremes are clearly ridiculous. Shoes off or shoes on is cultural and trying to justify it with logic will always make you sound a bit silly.

Anyone who comes to my house to work has offered to remove or cover shoes without being asked!

So you are ill. I don’t vomit all over threads. Very unhygienic.

Even if they’re muddy or stink of poo?

I've never asked anyone to remove their shoes in my home and can't imagine I ever will. I've had tradespeople say they will remove their boots and I tell them it's not necessary. In fact I don't recall ever being asked to remove my shoes in any of my friend's houses, it doesn't seem to be that common were I live. Personally I think it's rude and weird to expect people to do so.

Wow. How ridiculous. I think you have a problem.

Exactly! Accidentally spreading only a small amount of stinky dog poo stuck to the bottom your shoes all around your carpets is a huge pain in the * to clean!!

Just leave any outdoor shoes by the entrance and wear comfy & clean slippers inside.

You do know a dishwasher basically sterilises dishes? My standards are fine and we’re never ill. How about you?

Because I wouldn’t ever want to ask guests who come for say, a party, to take their shoes off? It feels like something you say to small children.
And no, it isn’t “filthy behaviour”, everything can be cleaned.

Most bring their own shoe covers , DH is quite DIY oriented so we have a lot of old sheets - old cot and single sheets - that we use as dust covers - if we know someone is going to be in and out to their van a lot we just chuck those down

They’re probably the same people who think that all cats should be indoor cats, because outdoor cats are furry bird-murdering hooligans who shit in other people’s gardens.

Not sure about dogs. I once saw a dog wearing shoes during the “extreme heat” (help! Murder! Panic! Global apocalypse!) of 2022, but think that was to protect the dog’s paws from hot pavements.

They’re probably the same people who think that all cats should be indoor cats, because outdoor cats are furry bird-murdering hooligans who shit in other people’s gardens.

Not sure about dogs. I once saw a dog wearing shoes during the “extreme heat” (help! Murder! Panic! Global apocalypse!) of 2022, but think that was to protect the dog’s from hot pavements.

A few years ago we had CH cover with British Gas and had our annual service booked, engineer turned up in his BG van and I asked him if he had shoe covers and he said no, so I asked if he’d take his boots off as we had newish carpets. He refused and said he had to wear his boots in case of injury, so I told him that in that case I was refusing him entry to do the service. I immediately rang BG to complain and they agreed with my reasonable requests. Sent another engineer the following week, asked him if he had shoe covers, he said no but not a problem I can take my boots off! I then told him about the palaver the week before and he was shocked and totally sided with me.

I always wonder whether shoes-off fanatics with cats or dogs make their pets wear little bootees in the house. Or maybe they are too hygiene-conscious to want pets.

I work at home. I have a dog. I live in slippers or walking boots most of the time. The walking boots don't come in but if I've nipped to the supermarket or been to the pub then my shoes are fine. I clean my floors every day. I don't want visitors taking their shoes off. The floor is getting cleaned anyway.

You were not unreasonable to ask, but you are unreasonable to be so horrified by people who can’t read your mind.

I'm horrified that someone would ask a nurse, carer or paramedic to remove their shoes.
For one i thought they were not allowed to in case they need to leave in a hurry if someone became aggressive or something.
It really is stretching it to ask a paramedic to remove shoes. They could be taking someone out on a stretcher FFS
how often do all these shoes off people clean their floors?

It's not all about large piles of shit.

You only have to have one of your kids or one of their friends tread even a relatively small amount of dog shit into the carpet once to realise that shoes off at the door might actually be a better plan.

People are very welcome in my home. The mud, dog poo, grit etc are not!