to think that asking a visitor to take of their shoes in my house, is an OK thing to do

[fluffybutt]

I don't have many rules at home, just shoes on if outside and off if you are inside. Just had a friend and her DCs over, and asked them if they would mind taking their shoes off - well apparently thats really rude and made my visitors feel uncomfortable. FFS, it's not like I asked them to walk through an antiseptic food bath or anything.

It wouldn't cross my mind to keep my shoes on at someone else's house.

I don't ask people to take their shoes off at my house but most people have the decency to take their shoes off. Those who leave them on tend to make a mess one way or another generally.

...and I have an average house - not sterile or filthy.

There's a woman who visits me every couple of months, who scrubs her shoes on the doormat before coming in, she takes 3 or 4 minutes getting every little bacteria off her trainers, and THEN she takes them off anyway!! I would never ask people to take their shoes off in my house, I thinks it's very rude and, well a little bit, um, common.

NoseyNooNoo, you are so right. When I think of my friends who like to keep their shoes on, they are messy buggers. (disclaimer - I am relating this to my friends only)

'When I was a weirdy student, I was commonly to be found walking through central London in bare feet. I'd walk from college to the tube with no shoes on, get on the tube with no shoes on, get off the tube and walk half a mile to my oboe teacher's house with no shoes on, then slip on a pair of velvet pumps at her door so my filthy feet didn't desecrate her cream carpets '

Wow, that is so minging hippy.

Jux - common? How on earth is it common?

Cant win either way sunshine, my carpet used to look perfectly ok (dark blue, early 90s ) it was minging underneath but wouldn't have dirtied a sock.

Now I have floors, they are actually cleaner, but if you walked on them without shoes you'd definately see the evidence!

Reminds me of this minging flatmate we had once in this flatshare at university who would walk around in her filthy feet. The girl I shared a room with asked her to wash her feet so she did. In the toilet. And my roommate, plus two other flatmates, had parents from Vietnam so we were shoe-free in the home.

Yak. She was a real soap dodger, too.

Whenever I enter someone's home for the first time, I look to see what they have on their feet, if anything. If the host is wearing outdoor shoes, I walk in with mine on. If slippers/bare feet, I ask if they'd prefer I remove my shoes. Or I simply take them off if that's obviously the norm or won't offend.

We never wear shoes inside in my home, and though I never ask guests to remove their shoes, I find it incredibly rude that some guests will tromp over my carpet in outdoor shoes. It's insensitive and ... yucky.

Liverpoolleap, I thought thats what everyone did, but I am obviously very wrong.

Lesson learnt for me tonight, :)

Though I guess it's better than having them wash their feet in the toilet!! Fabulous.

I am sure she would have used the bidet, if there was one, much roomier

I suppose the bog water is nice and clean, it's just dodging all the cling-on pieces of shit that could pose a problem

Ewww, and do you think she washed her hands after the bog dip?

YANBU - so many people don't allow shoes in the house, only thing is maybe to have a spare pair of socks to offer if they need.

ZigZag - seriously, do you think someone who washes their feet in a toilet, would really think hand washing necessary? I am sure that if her hands accidently got wet, she would just run them through her hair to dry them off.

I think she was allergic to soap, Zigzag. She walked around barefoot because it was 'being free' and 'being alive'. And she didn't even smoke pot all the time like we did.

One of my flatmates's girlfriends got really stoned and drunk one night and told her she was also 'being stinky'. She wasn't amused.

I would not be happy if a visitor took their shoes off in my home. I hate feet. Bare feet are the worst looking things, yuck. Socks I can handle I suppose but I just imagine them being all sweaty.

Do you mind removing your shoes
-Well yes I do actually, I have verucca/atheletes foot/odour problems/etc.
Oh thats OK, just put on these visitors socks.
:o :o

I had friends, a family, who used to visit and they'd leave all their shoes in a (messy) heap at the front door. I used to laugh and say there was no need, but they just did it automatically. I ALWAYS forgot to take mine off when I visited them, then hop around around saying "oh God sorry".

What do the shoe haterz do with bags that have been on the ground? Are they airlifted into a clean room before hitting the house?

It is rude not to offer to take your shoes off- very bad manners.

YANBU- just ask people politely and they will remember next time it is a shoe free zone. When you have littlies and they drop food on the carpet and eat it....eeergh you don't want muck off the streets mingled in bc people are too precious to take their shoes off!

I'd rather not visit tbh.

and it is always the bolshy ones that make a big deal of taking them off..... try to avoid those people.....domineering tw*ts...just disrespectful and egocentric-oh it makes me uncomfortable as a guest......all about them.

Yeah, it's common to be so bothered about your floor and carpets - especially at the expense of the comfort of your guests. You'd never see people rattling around in a stately manor in their socks, asking Lord and Lady Muck to take their shoes off before coming inside. Some people on MN don't like that it's deemed common, but there you go.

What are door mats for, if not to wipe off any excesses.

I totally do the inward eye-roll at anyone who asks me to remove shoes, and actively stop people from doing it when they come to mine.

It's a recent phenomenon. And given that we've billions of years of people not removing footwear before entering homes behind us and we're all still here as a species, I don't think the 'hygiene' reason really stands up.