to think delivery drivers should take their shoes off?

[sleepycoffeemonster]

We had bedroom furniture delivered today, delivery drivers turned up at the door step with part of the furniture ready to bring in asking where to put it, directed that it would be going upstairs. Up they went, no stopping to take off shoes or cover. Once up stairs one realises he's walked mud up the stairs and in a nice pattern on our light carpet.

How do people who keep shows on indoors not mind this? The house must get so dirty with several people coming and going with shoes on!

We're a shoes off by the door house because if this. Its not even wet out and we have a path from drive to door so not sure how he managed to get so muddy!

I don't think I've ever had a tradie or delivery person take their shoes off, or offer to. Wouldn't even occur to me, to be honest!

Having said that, the last 4 houses I've lived in all had wood/laminate/tiled floor, most of them had wooden stairs too. So I don't think it'd occur to me... if I had light carpets (and I hate carpet, especially light ones!) then maybe it would.

Definitely unreasonable to expect them to take shoes off, shoe covers I can understand but as someone else said, they're really slippery so dangerous if carrying heavy furniture... in that case I think you'd have to just deal with it as a slightly annoying condition of getting something delivered.

Surely for people who think its rude to ask guests to take off shoes, it would be more awkward for both of you to watch your guest walking mud around your house? It would if our guests did that. But most people don't have mud on their shoes, and if they do, they take them off, even in a shoes-on household.

It'd be a lot easier to have shoes-off households if most houses had front halls large enough to take a chair or two and an easily washable mat. It's quite amusing to have two guests arriving simultaneously trying to take their shoes off while both occupying the same tiny patch of doormat in order not to sully the cream carpet.

Some midwives are often encouraged to break the rules if they or another medical professional think the child is at risk (eg postnatal depression, baby born very close after the last one, ways the parents might have behaved previously). It isn’t always as clear cut as this. I’m guessing she was insisting to go in because the poster was concerning in some way.

Yes, that crossed my mind. If she had parents acting oddly and refusing access to view the baby it may well have set off red flags. Not sure that physically barrelling in though is correct, procedure would be to alert relevant authorities and for an escort to be arranged (although I do understand the time taken for request to be processed is unpalatable if you think a child is at risk but it is what it is unfortunately). Not sure people would be the same demanding police remove their shoes if it came to having to have an escort for a welfare check!

They have to keep their safety shoes on for H&S reasons or any injuries they sustain aren't covered by their companies insurance. YABU.

You need to provide shoe covers then, especially if they’re carrying heavy items like this. I understand your frustration but I bought some from Amazon for when we were selling our house in case any viewers wanted to keep their shoes on. They were about £6 for 50 pairs.

We have had plenty of health professionals Here who happily removed their shoes no issues she was the only person to aggressively refuse

They are breaking EHS rules, and while that may be the risk they take, you can’t force someone to break the rules they must work under. You were not right and should not be proud of yourself.

I still think she was wrong in forcefully entering. You and your DH displayed batshit behaviour and while that would have certainly been a flag in regards to welfare of the baby she should have gone away and dealt with it in a proper manner.

I once had viewings for my house, the weather was awful.

When I got back every room with carpet (CREAM carpet) had muddy shoe prints all over it. I was incredibly pissed off!!!!

We always remove our shoes at the door.

I’m a shoes-off person, but no, I wouldn’t expect a workman to take his shoes off, that’s kind of nutty.
If my carpet got muddy, I’d just clean it.

Putting shoe covers on at the door when carrying multiple heavy pieces of furniture from the van to the bedroom is close to impossible. It would involve putting the furniture down each time to put the covers on, then removing the covers again to go and get the next piece, putting the next piece down to put covers on...and repeat.

That's an absolutely unreasonable ask, and the extra lifting (from the floor, which is more difficult than from the van) puts the delivery men at risk.

I'd be a bit concerned about shoe covers TBH - slippy bits of plastic to cover the tread on their shoes when manoeuvring heavy furniture up a set of stairs?
YABU - just provide an efficient doormat and ask them to wipe their boots thouroughly. Or carry it all up yourself.

If you insist on having impractical carpeting throughout your house, you should be properly equipped with the tools to keep them so, precisely in case of incidents like this.

That includes a vacuum cleaner, carpet cleaner/shampooer, stiff brushes and a range of cleaning fluids.

And get some of these for visitors www.amazon.co.uk/Overshoes-Reusable-Household-Workplace-Laboratory/dp/B089M5VGVG/ref=sr_1_53?keywords=non%2Bslip%2Bshoe%2Bcovers&th=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1636618942&sr=8-53

[quote Shodan]If you insist on having impractical carpeting throughout your house, you should be properly equipped with the tools to keep them so, precisely in case of incidents like this.

That includes a vacuum cleaner, carpet cleaner/shampooer, stiff brushes and a range of cleaning fluids.

And get some of these for visitors www.amazon.co.uk/Overshoes-Reusable-Household-Workplace-Laboratory/dp/B089M5VGVG/ref=sr_1_53?keywords=non%2Bslip%2Bshoe%2Bcovers&th=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1636618942&sr=8-53[/quote]
Well I dont insist, the carpets were here when we moved in and we will definitely be having darker carpets when we change them.

Also, as I said before we do not have 'impractical' carpets throughout, we have carpets upstairs, where we sleep and don't tend to have shoes on!

What else could they have done OP? They have to keep their boots on for their own safety. Anyone suggesting overshoes has probably never worn them. They are slippery, ill fitting and a trip hazard. Especially when carrying heavy items upstairs.

we have carpets upstairs, where we sleep and don't tend to have shoes on!

But equally you want furniture delivered up there and you can't expect people to compromise their safety for your carpets.

They need to keep work shoes on to satisfy risk assessments and health and safety agreements. They are moving heavy items and need PPE. However, they should carry shoe covers. They are very cheap so you could just keep a box under the sink, though of course you shouldn't have to.

However, they should carry shoe covers

But they could be a slip risk on a carpeted floor

I wouldn't be bothered tbh, easily cleaned up.

I have a friend who lives in a very rural area (so, lots of mud, especially in autumn/winter/spring/early summer) and is a keen gardener. They insists on having white carpet throughout. They insist on wiping up the tiniest spot of mud you might inadvertently tread into the (laminate floored) cubicle sized entrance bit almost before you've even taken your shoes off. (Yes, that's personal experience. And it was after wiping our shoes three times on the three sets of doormats as you approach the house, including the final one that bore the legend, "Welcome to my house. Now take your shoes off"). They are now talking about installing some kind of shower head in their garage (which backs on to the kitchen), presumably so they can hose any visitors down before allowing them inside.

I don't mind taking my shoes off if I'm visiting friends, but not if I was carrying or helping to carry a whacking great piece of furniture, especially up stairs. It would potentially be extremely dangerous, as would overshoes or sticking old sheets down, depending on the steepness of the stairs/flooring in use. And as others have said, it's likely their insurance wouldn't cover an accident under those circumstances.

I'm personally a fan of flooring that can be washed, including carpet - in a previous work location, we had a cleaner who was amazing at getting stains out, she literally used to get a cloth, apply cleaner to the cloth, and then work the stain out of the carpet until it disappeared. And this was in very high foot traffic areas. (She went on to start her own company.)

My absolute favourite response on this thread is from the terribly posh mother-in-law whose take on it was that insisting on delivery/tradespeople taking their shoes off suggested you couldn't afford to have the carpets cleaned. I have stored away the anecdote for our own personal Hyacinth-acquaintance (though we certainly wouldn't be darkening her hallway ever again; should we ever find ourselves in that vicinity in future, we'll meet at a coffee shop or restaurant).

@frogsbreath

They need to keep work shoes on to satisfy risk assessments and health and safety agreements. They are moving heavy items and need PPE. However, they should carry shoe covers. They are very cheap so you could just keep a box under the sink, though of course you shouldn't have to.

Have you ever worn overshoes? They are slippy and absolutely not suitable to wear on a carpeted stairs whist carrying heavy furniture. They can also be baggy and it's all too easy to tread on one overshoe with the other foot.

@Voord

I wouldn’t expect them to take them off for safety reasons. My mother in law, who is significantly posher than me, told me that expecting a guest to remove their shoes isn’t good etiquette because it shows you can’t afford to have the carpet cleaned. A bit like leaving the plastic covers on the sofa.

My family would agree with this and would be horrified if anyone was asked to remove their shoes on entry.

@NadiaVulvokov

I get your point generally.

Also see a health and safety issue with taking shoes off I.e. drop heavy item on foot, hurt foot

So maybe shoe covers?

Shoe covers make it slippery underfoot. Not what you want when carrying heavy items up stairs etc.

When I worked at Sharps bedrooms they had rolls of carpet they would use to make a walkway through the house and this worked well.