to let my kids try out beds with their shoes on in Ikea?

[firsttimetwins]

We were in Ikea today because we need beds for the kids. My daughters (5) wanted to take their shoes off to try out the display beds (not just the matresses, the actual beds, so some had duvets etc. on them) but I asked them to keep them on. I wasn't sure exactly what was best, but in the end my thinking was that we would either lose the shoes or someone would trip over them, plus to be honest I couldn't be bothered with the hassle. Then, when one of my daughters was trying out a bed, an older woman came past and snapped at my daughter (not to me) "You've got your outdoor shoes on! You can't do that!" I responded to the woman myself, saying that I had told my daughter to keep them on because I felt that the store expects the exhibition furniture to get dirty. I was cross about the fact that the woman spoke angrily to my daughter, especially given that she had wanted to take her shoes off in the first place and I'm not having her feel that she got a row from a stranger because of my poor decision-making, but I don't know whether we were in fact in the wrong. So I'm looking for opinions on furniture-testing etiquette, I guess (the fact that I was raging with the woman is another thing altogether...)

To be honest OP, in our Ikea's the bedding department looks like a student hostel at the end of the day, I doubt many people there would have batted an eyelid about it. I think you were unlucky, don't worry about it.

I hope you didn't take a shit in the bathroom display.

You shouldn't have let your children clamber all over the display stuff. Bad manners.

I'd have told your kid off but that's because I'm a teacher and I can't help myself

The beds aren't for trying out! That's what the mattress trying out section is for- and they usually have plastic cover bits where feet/shoes go.

No-one, certainly not children should be climbing into the beds. A 5 year old cannot properly judge the subtlties between different beds fgs.

A bed is a bed. The difference is in the mattress.

I think I would usually try the mattress rather than the bed and would keep shoes on what with the plastic strip etc.

If I was trying the actual bed, I think I would keep shoes on unless they were particularly wet or dirty. It's not as if it's an actual bed that someone is going to sleep in or anything.

So imo you WNBU. Woman should have kept her opinion to herself. I'm sure staff could have told you if they thought there was a problem. Not sure why you had to mention that she was 'older' though I'm older and clearly very slack in my standards with regard to trying out beds

Ywbu

You don't need to try bed frames. It has never crossed my mind to lay on a display bed because it is the mattress which makes it comfortable or not.

I would've been irritated at the women telling my child off. But really I can't believe you didn't just remove the shoes in the first place if you wanted to try out the beds. All you had to do was just hold on to them.

Just found this on the Ikea web site:

The store has lots of fully furnished showrooms. You can sit on the chairs, lie on the beds and try out everything.

So they obviously don't think wanting to try out a bed is too odd. So the shoes were the wrong thing to do but lying on the bed doesn't make me a crazy lady!

I can't see the problem with leaving shoes on.
It's IKEA not John Lewis.

I would not be taking shoes off to lie on a display bed.
There's rugs on the floor. I walk on them in shoes too.
Unless shoes were muddy / wet i really don't see an issue.
Are you meant to wear a bio-hazard suit to test out the sofas?

Fair point about mentioning that the woman was "older," totally irrelevant!

People leave their shoes on. Shocked. Ikea sells the display bed at end of season. Yabvu op. On a separate note do think my sister once used the toilet in b&q display. Not tried to cook a meal yet but could be a good idea mntters. Wonder what the showers are like!

Now that I think about it though, the way they herd you through the shop, but yet invite you to try "everything" out, I bet they'd be really annoyed if every customer who wanted to try out a bed stopped and took their shoes off, there would be a total traffic jam!

Genuine question, do they sell the display bedlinen at the end of the season too?

Good golly, were you in the Thurrock Lakeside branch? There was lots of furniture jumping with shoes on today, I have never seen anything like it...

They do sell all display stuff at a discount.

Was there a queue for the beds then?

By that I mean on the sofas, not just the beds. It was full-on "would never be allowed to do this at home" style of jumping from one chair to another..

They do have bedlinen in bargain corner, I imagine it's ex-display. Our ikea doesn't have kids beds in the mattress section, and I would want to try the bed as well as the mattress (didn't realise this was odd - some beds have bouncy slats and some have rigid ones) but I wouldn't keep shoes on, or let the dcs. I wouldn't want them to think it's ok to get into shop beds with shoes on, because it isn't really.
I can't get worked up about people speaking to my dcs. That's just part of life.

Thanks CaptainHolt, that was my genuine question, whether it's ok to get into shop beds with shoes on or not. It's not an area I'm all that experienced in.

YABU i'm afraid

I'm really trying to join in the 'outrage' but finding it a struggle!

I'd let my DD lay on a display bed with her shoes on (sure I have actually, we like to play house in IKEA ) Would I let her stamp and climb all over it and do a back-flip on a sofa? No. But simply lay down on a bed, why not?

In some bed shops, the mattresses all have a thick plastic sheet across the bottom, so people can try them out without taking their shoes off. That seems like the most sensible idea to me.

What DuckandCat said.

Thank you for acknowledging the age thing op

Oh god. Really? Why do people have such a problem with children being reprimanded directly? It's so weird and precious. Life never used to be like that (I'm 33 btw and can remember being roundly told off by older members of my local community, all for the good).

Yabu, and yab particularly u to come back on and start clarifying that you had a particular problem with your dd being reprimanded for your poor decision making. How the fuck is some random woman going to know whether it was your fault or your dd's fault? She probably assumed, as I would, that no adult would knowingly let their children get their outdoor shoes all over a shop display. If it bothers you so much, make better decisions.

I'm glad your dd has better manners than you.