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...)