AIBU not to remove shoes in the home

[Illtellyouwhatswhat10]

Generally we don't ask guests to remove their shoes, and my SIL said she doesn't either. We both agreed that when you go to the trouble to put on a nice outfit, it's ruined when you have to take off your footwear. SIL added that as we both have tiled/wooden floors in downstairs room why would you ask guests to, anyway?

And another thing, it's often not nice to be barefoot in someone else's home (at least in your own place you have your own slippers) and I'm aware that some people may feel conscious about smelly feet/odd unsightly feet/verrucas. Even if hosts provide slippers, would you want to wear something that's been worn by someone else?

Lweji ok, I was being snotty!

Wasn't!!! Ffs. This phone!

I'm in the Middle East and the men usually wear slip on sandals, or slip on shoes. The women generally wear high heels or trainers.

I always offer to take my shoes off in other people's houses, but if their floors are very cold or dirty I'm glad if allowed to keep them on. At home only prefer shoes off if going upstairs on pale carpets, not fussy about germs etc. - it's a house, not a hospital! As for not wanting to put on random slippers, why not if you have socks on?

Do cultures where shoes off is absolutely the norm always wear slip on shoes?

No, we wear all sorts of shoes. It only takes me 10 seconds to undo laces and slip shoes off. We have a bench in the hall with shoe shelves. Unless you've got laces up to your knees I don't get why taking shoes off is such a palavar. I also wear boots with a zip, velcro strap trainers and sandals. All come on and off in seconds. How is it different to saying 'I can't be bothered to take my coat off because it takes forever to undo all the fiddly buttons'

We sometimes sit on the floor but never eat off it. I like to feel it's as clean as the sofa as toddler plays on it. Babies and toddlers play on the floor all the time. Just seems sensible to keep it as clean as you can.

Greenleave it's lovely that your neighbours respected your culture and made the effort to change into slippers without being asked.

'expect the shoes-on culture will eventually be superseded'

Won't be any time soon seeing as I and many others on the thread have yet to encounter one single shoes off household.

Will the apparently disgusting to some habit of baths also die out? Will we just use the arse hose to wash ourselves inside and out?

We can learn a lot from other cultures.

littlefrog - you are becoming obnoxious. There are evidently some cultures where removing shoes is de rigueur. Maori people certainly do not consider themselves living up steps. I despair of the filthy habits of the British, who wallow in dirty bath water, have carpet around their lavatory, and step in to a living room from the street, shoes laden with who knows what excreta. But hey, if that's what floats your boat.

Wow, just wow! I have rarely seen such hysteria. Are you actually serious? Wallowing in filthy bathwater? Bringing excreta in off the streets? Carpet around the lavvy? You sound obsessed pollyglot my dear. Why does it bother you so, how other people live? I am interested to know if you live in the UK. If not, why do you care? If you DO live here, then how do you get through a day with such vile filthy disgusting people around you? You poor love.

"In Japan it's shoes off for everyone"

Who CARES? We are not talking about Japan ARE WE?

People need to stop dragging up random so-called facts about OTHER CULTURES in other countries to try and bolster their argument!

If all people can do is keep blathering on about what people do on other continents, they are clearly losing the argument.

PMSL @ Squoosh's post ^ re hosing ourselves down.

I'm just off to pick the filth out of my toenails with a fork (which I shall of course be eating my pot noodle with later.)

squoosh It never ceases to amaze me how many practices are considered 'disgusting' on MumsNet - wearing shoes inside (aka spreading excreta through your house), bathing (soaking in dirt and dead skin), toilet brushes etc. I remember several posters who were brought to the point of almost vomiting by the sight of someone eating in the street.

I agree with Ms Hoolie ^ If people have their own views, that's up to them, but to try and call other people wrong - or ever worse, filthy and dirty and disgusting; that's obnoxious and nasty.

I have a shower every morning (and night too sometimes,) but I don't think people are filthy if they only shower 3-4 times a week, Maybe they don't feel like they need it. I feel like I do.

MsHoolies do not mention the toilet brush again, you filthy bugger! 😂

Surely an 'arse hose' is for enemas?

I had to have the arse hose before a bowel screening and then I had the alien probe up me. I'd like to say it was enjoyable but it really wasn't.

LOL Elinor! ^

Be careful what you say, the fragile snowflakes (who insist they are right about everything!) will accuse you of being nasty and obnoxious.

I despair of the filthy habits of the British, who wallow in dirty bath water, have carpet around their lavatory, and step in to a living room from the street, shoes laden with who knows what excreta.

It must be incredibly challenging to get through daily life with this level of irrational anxiety about germs.

Slip on shoes aren't worn here in Finland most of the year (in the summer they're quite common) as of course in winter people are wearing snow boots but it doesn't take long to take them off and put them on again, my boots have a zip down the side so takes me literally seconds.

At the earlier giggle about bleach baths for our shoes at the front door - well actually I'm planning on installing a tap in my porch with a hose on it so I can hose down DD in the muddy months before she even gets into the porch! Far too many times I've had to use a watering can on her outside the front door

Tell you what bugs me about all this; the implication from certain people (who insist people take their shoes off before entering their house,) that their way is correct. And they try and boost their argument by saying 'other cultures do it, they do it in Japan, the rest of south east Asia, on the fucking moon etc!'

Well so what? They say this as if other cultures doing it proves them right. Why does what they, and the other cultures do, trump me and other posters who prefer to keep our shoes on and feel slighted at being asked to remove them? Why do they speak as if THEY are correct?

It's subjective, and there is no right or wrong. Yet the 'shoes-off' and 'slippers-on' brigade seem insistent that they are right and everyone else is wrong, and call us all filthy pigs!. And they call ME obnoxious and rude. PMSL!

I would never dare post on the 'how often do you wash your sheets/bedding?' threads

Oh its subjective now is it? That's not what some shoes on people were saying earlier - they were saying its bad manners and rude and vulgar and classless and shit like that. Quite a few of us have already pointed out its a cultural thing, and a good part of the UK does not have that culture (not not all of the UK as I've experienced shoes off houses in many parts of the UK)

It depends upon the floor covering.

I have Karndean/tiles/wood in all the down stairs areas except the living room which is carpeted. If I invited someone unexpected inside from the front door they could keep their shoes on, no damage can be done that a mop and bucket won't resolve.

If they were friends that had come for the evening (and therefore not retained in the hall or kitchen) they would take their shoes off, they just do.

I wouldn't need to ask, their homes are the same.

^ I said it's bad manners - and rude and vulgar - to attack people for not taking their shoes off, and to call us filthy pigs.

Get your facts straight Natsku!

Gotta love how people just make up stuff as they go along on here to suit their agenda PMSL!

I never SAID it was rude and vulgar to take your shoes off FFS 'natsku!'! I said it was rude and vulgar to expect OTHERS to take them off when they were a guest in your house, and to call them dirty pigs if they didn't. As I said, get your facts straight and stop making stuff up to suit your agenda!

As I said earlier in the thread; I would never expect anyone to take their shoes off before entering my house. It's rude and vulgar

You said nothing about calling people dirty pigs there, you said it was rude and vulgar to expect people to take shoes off in their house. If its their culture to have shoes off in their house then its not rude or vulgar to expect their guests to remove their shoes, however it would be rude or vulgar for a guest to dismiss their culture and keep their shoes on.

And then you started yammering on about class, as did some others, and some about manners.