Office etiquette: hairy toes on the loose?

[lenalove]

Please tell me if I'm BU, or if this is legitimately a bit grim: a male colleague of mine, relatively senior, has taken to just wandering about the office in his bare feet. He sheds his loafers the minute he gets in and then that's it for the day. I can't put my finger on what exactly about this makes me a bit grossed out, but for some reason I just don't like it ha! He wanders past my desk and all I can see are his hairy toes

For context, we work in financial services so it's not as though the office environment is super chilled and casual.

Yuk! Can you raise it as a health & safety issue? Then accidentally on purpose drop a pot plant/ hot coffee / load of files on his feet to prove your point

Bare feet at work is grim and shouldn’t be allowed for many reasons (hygiene and safety being just one).

But given that the concept of body hair and hair removal is a cultural construct, i’d drop the idea that the hairiness is in any way relevant to this. It’d be just as bad if they weren’t hairy. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with body hair.

Yuck. We have a contractor who occasionally pops in and he never wears shoes inside or outside. Even in bloody winter! YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK. Makes me want to heave.

not envy ....that's pretty grim. Drop something on his toes or spill something gross over them.

Boak! I'm a bit funny about feet anyway & I don't like women wearing flip-flops or very strappy sandals to work, but a bare-footed bloke. Ewww!!

Heheh the idea of dropping food onto his feet has made me chuckle, thanks

I often walk about the office in bare feet, I don't see it being much different to wearing flip flops. If someone dropped a hot drink on me it would still hurt the same bit of I stood one something sharp then it's my own fault.

That's gross.

Yuck!!! When I worked in that industry we had a few traders that took to walking around in their socks and I thought that was bad. I always assumed they were spending too much time at work and they’ve forgotten they didn’t actually live there.

no. Shoes of some sort are essential in an office. Even flip flops or sandals. Anyone with a teeny-weeny brain can bring in a change of footwear if needed.

we'll ignore the body shaming.

Clearly a stationery disaster is called for , a terrible collision between a huge pot of drawing pins and a pot of staples and other small sharp things. What a calamity. You know what it's like with things like that, you can never manage to pick them all up.

I was thinking that you need to place something squishy and revolting in his path so he treads on it . But I do like the idea of scattered drawing pins (does anyone in an office actually use those anymore?!!!)

Oops didn't mean to offend with "hairy" (especially as a rather hirsute individual myself!) - used that more for illustrative purposes than anything else but do take your point! Hairless toes just as grim!

I go barefoot at work when I'm off the shop floor. Our stockroom gets uncomfortably hot - we have no windows and only one pathetic fan, and then I end up with blisters due to sweaty feet if I wear shoes!

But I don't get the angst about seeing other people's feet. We all have them. As long as he's not putting his feet on the desk or where people make food, what's the issue?

Hate seeing feet in a business environment. Closed in shoes all round even if it’s hot. I’m rather retrograde in this respect though, I accept that.

That’s disgusting. Maybe raise it with HR, it's not just hygiene reasons but he could stand on anything like a staple etc

Grim grim grim. I would 'accidentally' tread on his minging, hairy foot with my stiletto given a half chance!

I can understand some people may have "issues" about seeing feet. But that's no reason why everyone around them should keep their feet covered at all times.

Whether it's OK to go barefoot in an office I have no real opinion about. It wouldn't worry me personally.

I can understand wanting protection on the bottom of the feet in case people tread on pins/nails/broken glass or whatever, but surely heels don't really offer much top-of-foot protection, and neither do sandals.

I'm not allowed to wear shoes that don't cover my toes - fine - so I wear ballet shoes, which don't offer any protection whatsoever but are "allowed" according to the dress code so I can get away with it. Madness!

Why is it "disgusting"? Do you eat off the floor or something? One of my colleagues has seriously ugly hands. Should I object if she touches things or require that she wears gloves?

Hot coffee or a stiletto on the foot will hurt in most shoes. Maybe they should be banned fom the workplace?

People's hands are more dirty than their feet...

Huh? Disgusting?
This is a whole new level of pearl clutching that the could never have predicted.

Is he the office lifeguard?

His feet are probably cleaner than the bottom of your shoes. Unless you are also barefoot, I can't see why on earth this bothers you, as presumably no other part of you is touching the floor? If he treads on a pin, that's his problem.