To expect no-outdoor-shoe households to provide slippers?

[pairofrollerskates]

Just that - slides, or foot covers of some kind. Of course, if you know in advance it's different, but when you turn up for the first time at someone's house to be told "please take off outdoor shoes" at the door (which is reasonable, we all get to decide what happens in our own homes), surely something should be provided rather than expect visitors to pad about in bare feet, or socks.

You're starting to remind me of my youngest. She's going through the "what if" stage. What if lava met water? What if it was loads of water and just a teaspoon of lava? What if the lava came from aliens and could never cool down? What if...

It really isn't very complex at all. If you're a normally socialised person, you read the social cues and respect your host environment unless there is some compelling reason not to and then, one hopes, the host can be understanding. If I don't enjoy your company enough to overlook the fact that you ignore social cues and polite requests in my home, without compelling reason, I don't host you again. I didn't like you enough to overlook your...idiosyncrasies. What's the complexity?

If I have to start playing the What If game over it because you were nice but your husband wasn't and drawing up priority lists etc etc etc, I'm probably just going to leave it because honestly, I have enough problems. Not least a dirty carpet.

The original question's a fair one. After that it's reductio ad absurdam.

Perhaps one of the 'I wouldn't let them in' people will respond.

I'd encourage your youngest, by the way. Unrelenting intellectual curiosity is a valuable trait.

I think reductio ad absurdam is what we've got when people start drawing up carpet-based priority lists and complex questions on the sparkle to shoes ratio when I said I wouldn't invite someone back if their company didn't compensate for their poor social skills.

I encourage her, don't worry. But she will need to learn where unrelenting intellectual curiosity ends and social hamfistedness begins. It's shoes we're removing, not grey matter.

@WalkingOnTheCracks is asking the shoes-off people what their response would be to a visitor saying they would rather not remove their shoes.

Would you refuse them entry then and there, or would you grumble a bit but allow them in anyway, or would you allow them in on that occasion but never invite them again?

Seems a perfectly reasonable question to me.

Mine is a shoes-off house and I've had people refuse to remove their shoes before, I just gritted my teeth and made a mental note never to invite them back!

I'm also interested to know how the people who insist nobody would be allowed in their house without shoe removal would supposedly lay down the law!

I suspect they'd just grin and bear it like the rest of us though.

I'm also interested to know how the people who insist nobody would be allowed in their house without shoe removal would supposedly lay down the law!

If there are any, so would I.

But I'm not sure any of the shoes-on people have yet said that they wouldn't allow people in.

This is a big reason why many people from shoes off cultures don’t invite over friends / colleagues from shoes off cultures.

This is a big reason why many people from shoes off cultures don’t invite over friends / colleagues from shoes off cultures.

I must admit I always ask where is best to leave my shoes when I visit and our house is a largely shoes off house.
I don't mind shoes in the areas with hard floors, and we'll often go in and out from the garden into the kitchen, but I don't like shoes near rugs or carpets.

Thankfully most people read social cues and the person who doesn't is a relative who still doesn't get it but they don't visit regularly.

Surely if they are all from shoes off background then no prob?

But a lot of shoes-off people on the thread have said that that's precisely what they'd do.

Well yes because I don't want dirt on my carpets. I can't imagine anyone being rude enough to refuse but I'd be really offended if they argued the point.

And what would you do?

Never had anyone refused. I don't ask, I simply say "here are your slippers. Soft or plastic?" And never had anyone to refuse.
I would do as pp. Probably grit my teeth and never invite them again.
Though I only invite around frienda who would not refuse because we know each other well.
Tradesmen are exceptions because if they come to the house, they make mess anyway so floora need to be clean. They won't loung around and walk only in the are they work in. Tought one was told to wash his shoes before coming in because they were well filthy!
Maybe people don't argue with foreign accent😁

No, no time and effort spent on it at all. The most time we spent was a few minutes on Ebay to buy a box of shoecovers. Literally no one has ever refused to either remove their shoes/boots or put on shoecovers. That's no one in 25 years living in our current house! Why would I spend time and effort thinking about something that is highly unlikely to happen?

If we are having workmen in the house to actually do work, then we put down cover cloths or that plastic carpet protector that comes on a roll (or in extreme messy cases, then we lift the carpet and go back to bare floor boards for them). If they're coming just to have a look or provide a quote, then they're shoes off or plastic shoecovers!

Okay, so you're not one of those who has thought through what they would do in that situation and has said here that they wouldn't let people in.

Which is why addressed the question to - follow me here - those who have thought through what they would do in that situation and have said here that they wouldn't let people in.

Bloody hell, is this still going?

Yawn, unfollowed!