To think workmen should always carry overshoes

[Pissedoff1234]

I know that people keeping their shoes on or taking them off inside is a contentious issue on MN but surely workmen should carry them regardless. That way, if someone wants you to take your shoes off but you can't for health and safety purposes then you can put those on. If they don't care, they keep their shoes on.

I don't care which one individuals prefer but I'm very much a shoes off person and we've just got new carpets upstairs so when the workman came in, I asked if he would take his shoes off. He said that he couldn't. I asked if he had overshoes and he said he didn't.

Disaster averted as I had some that I gave him but surely it should be something all should carry with them.

I'm in assisted living so as yet have not had an issue. They have someone in once a day to clean any hard floors and vacuum carpets so they don't seem to mind. Plus, we have pathways etc that are kept free of mud and ice for the resident's safety but out in the community we're encouraged to refuse to wear them so the carers who won't wear them on safety grounds don't run into any problems with service users insisting because the other carer wears them.

I did notice the Virgin engineers wore them when I moved house. I asked them to take them off because I have two dogs anyway and it was new laminate flooring so it was quite slippery to start with. I had visions of them slipping and crashing head first into my glass coffee table. I'd rather mud on my floor than brain matter. I imagine the former is easier to clean than the latter

If i had laminate it wouldn't bother me whatsoever. Because we have to have carpets they need to be kept clean (small baby on the floor) & sometimes you just can't guarantee what people are bringing in. When we move to a house only the upstairs will be carpeted...the rest will be laminate

@outreach29 thanks but I have 4 kids and they can all take their shoes off at the door.

They are no more dangerous than wearing socks. My last boiler engineer took his shoes off so it's not a general rule.

I've had plenty of people come into my home in the past with muddy shoes and one that came in with dog shit (only on my laminate floor but would have been on carpet had I had it).

I meant disaster tongue in cheek but if you feel the need to jump on every little saying, do go ahead.

Oh FFS. They are at work - for your benefit. Of course they should keep their shoes on. And yes, you can supply overshoes that comply with appropriate standards if you need to be prissy about your floor.

They're not allowed to wear socks either because of HandS, so your socks argument is moot. Also, they are more dangerous as socks are generally tight to your foot with no excess you can trip over. Those blue booties are one size fits all so if you have small feet you're buggered.

Why not put some on and carry a large, heavy object up stairs and see how safe you feel, OP?

I'm sure they didn't refuse to piss you off. It would be company policy, I bet if their boss found out they bowed to your dangerous and ridiculous demands they would be disciplined. I'd have left your wardrobe in your garden if you treated me like that.

Ha for my benefit. Not for them making money then.

I don’t think it is being precious or unreasonable, in my last property the workman they sent round to fix the boiler tracked mud all up the stairs and on the landing.

Try as I might I could not get all this out not even with a carpet washer it stained, so that meant when I left that thst tenancy I lost part of my security deposit for a new carpet even though I provided them with all the evidence of me informing them of the stain immediately and that it had come from the workmen and the receipt for the carpet cleaner, I still lost £320 from my own money when you add this on to the rental for the carpet cleaner it adds up to over £400.

Not really fair when he could of just taken his shoes off or put covers on/down.

please no more disposable plastic! I think the planet is more important then enforcing overshoes for all workers so you don’t get a bit of dirt on your precious carpet.

Also H&S, they are slippery on carpet and provide no protection from sharp objects or heavy items falling.

Pissedoff that last comment makes you come across as a stuck up cow who thinks they are far superior to the lowly workman

Indeed. You could always service your own boiler, no need for 'workmen' at all. Oh wait....

There's another thread running about how someone is horrified at the thought of a supermarket delivery person bringing her shopping inside her house, so it can be put straight in the kitchen out of the crates to avoid the need to use plastic bags.

Boiler servicing, supermarket delivery people, builders, plumbers, etc etc. It's a two way street. We need all these things, can't always do it ourselves and people are gainfully employed in providing such a service. So lets not be snobby about interacting with them, eh?

I had a Virgin Media guy in and he put this big black industrial ones on over his boots which I thought was cool. Not sure how practical it is if you’re a builder in and out of the house/ doing work or painting etc. Most bring sheets to cover floors etc but only so much can be done on a messy job really...

Most seem to carry them or offer to remove shoes these days.

I always insist tradesmen have to pop one of these on when they enter my home.

Am about as far from stuck up as you can get but they aren't doing me a favour as I'm paying them. People aren't doing me a favour by employing me either as they are paying me. Not sure on your logic here.

I also didn't say that I didn't want to interact with them. I'm not a high flying business person who doesn't want to talk to people who come round to my house. I just don't want to have to clean dirt out of my carpets.

I did provide overshoes and they are good quality ones that I can wash and use again so not throwing them away.

My builder has a pair, he stick them on before going through the house to use the loo etc. They're much more robust than the crappy blue plastic ones and he hasn't slipped yet!
Tbh I wouldn't be that bothered if he didn't use them as his boots aren't wet or muddy but he insists.

Not wearing overshoes can't be H&S throughout because many, many businesses do offer to use them 🤔 i've yet to come across reusable ones altho i tend to use the same pair of blues until they're holey.
It's interesting that people feel some of us are precious about our carpets...living in a place where you HAVE to have carpets & watching them systematically get wrecked isn't nice. As above, sometimes you cannot get stains out. I bet if you walked into a house full of stains you'd think we were slovenly!

Yanbu but maybe buy a pack, the blue ones like a surgeon. Many workers need to keep steel cap boots on. I doubt they would offended, if folks don't like shoes on inside it is the perfect solution.
Most carers should probably use them going to different homes to avoid cross contamination from shoes.
It is hardly a bee keeper outfit.

For anyone mentioning slipping over, the over shoes have grip on the bottom. Doctors and nurses wear them in the operating theatre (tiled obviously) so they are perfectly safe in that regard.

Depends which ones you buy. The ones our care company supplied were literally like putting plastic bags over your feet. No added grip

When I go visiting I’ll always ask if the homeowner would like me to take my shoes off. 9 times out of 10 it’s the muckier houses where I’ll be asked to! Obviously if I walk in and someone’s got white carpets I’d take them off anyway.
After having probably hundreds of people through my own house over the many years I only saw one man recently ( a surveyor) have those plastic over shoes. I thought it was an amazing idea