If you are in the shoes off brigade

[Halfastoneextra]

If you invite someone to your house, say as an evening guest , here is the scenario:

The guest has made an effort to dress up for the evening, say a nice dress, updo, jewellery etc. She turns up at your house where you ask all guests to take their shoes off. This guest turns to a carrier bag she has on her, and withdraws a pair of very nice shoes that she wishes to wear with her dress. They are not stilettos, so won't damage any wooden floors. She shows you the soles and explains they are specially clean ie have not been worn outside and have been wiped down to make sure they are spotless. She says she wishes to wear them as they are part of her outfit and she does not wish to be discomforted by having to go barefoot.

Would you acquiesce. If not, why not?

My regular guests have slipper- but they’re their own …in some cases old ones they had that they’ve left here, in others I bought some cheap hotel guest ones but embroidered their name on them

I agree I wouldn’t wear random slippers someone else had worn- especially if I had bare feet 🫣🤢

I don’t have a bath. I’d also never get in a hot tub, I don’t fancy sitting in someone else’s body soup catching pseudomonas thanks.

@CoorieInByTheFire

Given that I've never showered with a dog and neither have my kids, I doubt that.

This the funniest bit of hypocrisy I've ever read

The thought of carpet in the bathroom makes me shudder!

We're shoes off but only for family. Guests do whatever is comfortable for them! We're only shoes off because we live very rurally and I got fed up with all the mud and or cut grass being dragged into the house. Since most guests arrive by car, and we have a gravel path from driveway up to the house, it's a non issue. But if anyone goes into the garden, then they'll need to change their shoes (unless it's been a dry summer and the grass hasn't been cut).

Glad I’m amusing you. Unless your children have always showered at least daily, my dog is definitely cleaner than them. Showering daily as a minimum doesn’t seem to be a British thing as much as carpet being normal is, so I’ll stick with my dog being cleaner. You don’t have to accept that, it’s not my problem if you don’t.

Carpet is disgusting but carpet in the bathroom is worst, I’ve also seen carpet in kitchens which is just insane.

I didn't realise you could get bathroom or kitchen carpet. Are they special types or just standard carpet?

I really don't get the shoes off argument. I have never been asked by friends and family to do this. Once im dressed for the day with shoes on I don't take them off even when im at home. I hate slippers with a passion ( being nagged as a child - long story) so I just keep my shoes on.

Maybe im just a slattern ..........

@CoorieInByTheFire

Its a physical impossibility for a dog to be cleaner than a human, regardless of showering.

It's not the dog or the human showering that's manky. It's the human showering with a dog and then claiming cleanliness superiority over people who wear shoes indoors

Hilarious

I don't shower daily, I do use baths / hot tubs/swimming pools. I do not have carpets in bathrooms or kitchens. I have never showered with a dog making me the winner in cleanliness stakes

I think just standard!

It’s hilarious that you say that but think you’re cleaner than a dog that showers, with dog shampoo, a minimum of once a day when you happily wallow in dirty bath water and the biological soup that are hot tubs and admit to not showering daily. I bet you have carpet and put your shod feet on the sofa too.

@CoorieInByTheFire

A minimum of once a day?

So now you're upping how often you shower the dog?

🤣

I don't wear shoes in my house at all and don't have carpet downstairs

And I don't even have a dog to shower with.

Im definitely winning

I’m not upping, I said he gets in the shower when I do, I shower morning and evening, and most times he gets in with me, in which case he gets a wash with shampoo. I’m not saying twice daily because I can’t truthfully say he gets in twice a day every day.

You don’t even shower daily.

I think you also missed the bit where I pointed out it’s not only cultural for me but because my family had to be extra careful with cleanliness because of illness, so yes I am fanatical about it because I have to be. And yes I’ve also checked with my consultants and they consider my dog to be clean. Because he does shower daily.

@CoorieInByTheFire

Nope

Dogs are definitely more unhygienic than shoes indoors

Regardless of how often their showered

Do you shower the cat too?

I don’t have a cat to shower, I wouldn’t now have a cat to shower, and as someone who doesn’t shower daily your opinion of whats hygienic seems slightly defective to me.

It's perfectly possible to be clean and not shower daily.

It's not possible to shower with a bloody dog and claim moral superiority over those who don't mind shoes in the house

That’s your opinion. Perhaps you’d like to quote some facts on how an unwashed person can possibly be more hygienic than a dog that showers, not bathed, with soap, a minimum of once a day. Because he’s washing his whole body daily and you are not. Do you think germs are magically more attracted to him because he’s a dog, because they’re not. His arse is washed daily, yours isn’t. The dirty water mixed with shampoo off my dog goes straight down the drain, and both he and I are rinsed thoroughly, you like to sit in your dirty water without rinsing. You also think all dogs slobber and shed, which again isn’t true, so I’ll take my opinion over yours, thanks.

It’s good that you don’t have carpet or wear shoes in your house though, at least we agree that is disgusting.

@CoorieInByTheFire

Dogs shit and pee more than once a day. They lick their arse more than once a day. Their mouths are full of germs.

Carpets aren't disgusting and neither are shoes indoors.

Do you work? Or even go out in public?

Eat in a restaurant?

I never said I didn't rinse after a bath, although I don't think it's necessary and most swimming pools and hottubs require showering before and after and have chlorine

Anyway I can't keep arguing with some one who thinks it's OK to shower with a fucking dog but not OK to have shoes on in a house

It's too mental

I’d let you wear your special matchy shoes. But really, if keeping your outfit consistent is that important to you (and I get that, I feel the same and wouldn’t want to stick silly slippers on the end of an ensemble designed for delicate sandals) why don’t you choose an outfit that works with socks? I would never go to someone else’s house sockless for this reason. Not unless it was so hot that my toes were already out and happy to be bare.

Explain to me again why it’s unhygienic to shower with a dog when the dog is shampooed and the dirty water goes straight down the drain, because I’m a very logical person and I cannot see why that’s unhygienic.

He can lick his arse all he likes, he doesn’t lick me so again I’m not seeing the issue as he doesn’t walk around with his tongue dragging on the floor or licking surfaces. It stays in his mouth and like I said, he doesn’t lick me.

You just seem to have an issue with dogs, which is fine, but don’t conflate your dog issues with being cleaner because you’re not. Because you don’t even keep yourself clean.

We are a shoes off house. I wouldn't make them remove their shoes if they didn't want to, but I would think they were disrespectful. If they brought 'indoor shoes' for the sake of their outfit, I would let them wear them but would also think they were nuts.

We are a shoes off house, though since we no longer have young children I do not enforce it as a hard rule.

I have foot problems and can’t be barefoot. I wear special orthotic shoes per doctor’s orders. If I know I am going to a shoes off house, I bring one of my pairs of house shoes with me in my bag. None of them have ever been outside. All of them have soft soles and are incapable of scratching floors. (None of them match my outfits though, with my house shoes I tend towards the super practical)

Completely barefoot?

Have these people never seen feet before?
What about verrucas, fungal nail infections, hard heel skin?

People expect their guests to eat dinner while everyone has their feet on display? It'd be a cheap dinner party - who could eat through that?

This thread has taken a weird turn 😂

From a vain guest wanting to insist on wearing shoes in other peoples homes to “match her outfit” to people showering with their dog 🤣