Do you ask people to take off their shoes in your house?

[avocadoincident]

I almost always take my shoes off in other people's houses.

I'd like people to take their shoes off in my house but I don't want to sound like a precious knobhead.

How ( if you do) do you ask people nicely to take their shoes off?

Or should I just not be a precious knobhead?

We have a few pairs of slippers in different sizes in the show rack by the front door. I wouldn't want or expect workmen to take their shoes off, but everyone else does.

We live in Spain so all floors are tiled and easy enough to clean, but in the UK you have carpet don't you?

Carpet seems quite dirty to me anyway tbh, but if we were in the UK and had it I would definitely not allow shoes in my house.

No carpet here, all wood. Except one bedroom.

People know to take them off at ours - if they didn't I would say something. I don't want god knows what on my carpet.

Do you ask people to take off their shoes in your house?

No. And I get a bit fed up being asked to remove footwear in other people's houses, too (not that I often go into other people's houses), especially if I'm wearing lace-up boots that take ages to get on & off.

I'm curious. How often do people with carpets have them cleaned? Properly cleaned I mean.

We hoover/sweep and I mop the floors a couple of times a week in the busy areas of the house.

We have a no shoes upstairs rule, but most people just take them off when they arrive as they see we are in slippers and there is a pile of shoes. I don’t mind if people leave them on as it’s wooden floors downstairs.
I always ask when I go to someone’s house if it’s shoes on or off.

@KamikazeIdiot but dogs pee on the streets/path, so you're treading dog pee and whatever else on peoples carpets.

Never in my entire life IRL have I encountered this but there is a thread on it most weeks...

It's not for me. We have wood floors throughout and it's easy to sweep or mop. I can't imagine asking someone to take off their shoes-feels bizarre to me but I based on previous threads I know lots of ppl feel otherwise

No, I hate being asked to remove my shoes and would never dream of asking anyone to either.

We don't wear shoes upstairs in our house which has light carpets. Upstairs is where our living room and the bedrooms are, over two floors.

Downstairs has wooden floors so I am not overly concerned about that, though wouldn't be happy about someone trailing in mud, etc obviously.

IME very few people don't just take their shoes off when they come in anyway.

Absolutely no shoes in my house, none. Its super unhygienic, outdoor shoes are for outdoors not indoors. I live in a city so I definatley so not want street dirt nside of a fantastic mix of spit, dirt and dogs muck where my daughters choose to sit on the floor to draw and play.

All of our friends and family also do not wear shoes in the house thankfully so it's not something I have had to reiterate often. I chose our most recent kitchen fitter on the fact he chose to take his shoes off when he came to meet us without our prompt. That showed to me he cared and proved right.

I have never asked anyone to take their shoes off. Some people do - but I assume cos they know what they have been walking through.

People ask me to do it in their homes - doesn't really bother me

The thought of shoes covered in outside debris being spread around my house 🤮 it's just so dirty

I don’t but I cringe when they don’t as we don’t wear shoes inside. Don’t mind massively atm but when we move and have new carpets im buying those disposable things that go over shoes for people To wear if they don’t want to take off their shoes.

Even if people don’t have visible dirt on their shoes, chances are they may have walked in dogshit or dogshit residue and I don’t want youngest playing on the floor where peo0e have potentially walked around with that on their shoes.

I’d prefer it if people didn’t automatically take them off. Children I can handle.

Unless they're caked in mud, I won't take my shoes off. And if that means I don't come in, so be it.
You don't get asked to remove your shoes at Buckingham Palace, the Vatican or the White House. Who do these people think they are?

I live in Germany and everybody takes off their “street shoes” and changes them for “house shoes” (ie slippers) when entering the house. Even tradesmen ask if they should take their shoes off at the front door.

At nursery and kindergarten the kids all have a pair of slippers that get kept there and changed into on arrival. If you have small children crawling round or playing on the floor, I find it really dirty to keep shoes on. Urgh. And carpeted floors are non existent here yet everybody takes their shoes off.

It’s also a charming German peculiarity to take your slippers with you when going to visit friends. On playdates kids often bring their slippers with them. Bring foreign and terribly uncouth I send my children on play dates without slippers and let them slide around in their socks.

There are even some offices where people wear slippers at work which I find going a little too far!

No, I only ask the children to take their shoes off - as they will go upstairs to play with mine and very likely will climb, jump into beds etc

People who don't take shoes off in their houses annoy me, probably irrationally hugely. I was brought up wearing shoes indoors but we lived in the countryside and a very wet area of the UK. Looking back it was utterly grim but I didn't know any better. My mum still pulls a face when she comes to visit and "forgets", thinking she'll somehow get away with tramping muck over my house. Her floors are foul.

I wouldn't hesitate OP, a bright and loud "Shoes off please!" delivered with a big shiny smile works wonders.

We do but I don’t mind if guests don’t, providing they haven’t got obvious mud on their shoes.

I dont ask but I would if I felt I could 😂
We don't wear shoes in the house so sometimes people pick up on it.

Who do these people think they are?

People that don't want dogshit/dogshit residue/dog pee/spit/drink residue/general muck in their carpets where they probably sit/children play.
Carpets are so dirty, I don't know why the UK likes them.

Tiles aren’t popular in the U.K. outside kitchen and bathroom but wood flooring is.

No and I don’t like to take mine off unless they give me slippers if I’m being honest. I hate walking about with just socks on for some reason 🤷‍♀️

Yes, we do. Our house backs onto fields and in winter there is always mud everywhere. I dont think its rude to ask someone not to traipse mud through my house.

Also, my H is from a culture where this is very normal so its a bit rude to tell people who do this they are being a "knob head". Just because a culture does something differently to your doesnt mean they are automatically "wrong". If anything, that kind of arrogance is the attitude of a "knob head".