To think there's never an excuse for not offering to take your shoes off in someone's home?

[CheerUpFFS]

If you're a guest ( not working, I.e in a profession where you go into someone's house ) aibu to think there is never, ever an excuse to not at least offer to take your shoes off in someone's home? My mind is always blown when someone comes to mine and leaves them on,

Yabu - I keep my shoes on
Yanbu - I take them off

Unless your cats wear pants they will add more than that to your floors!

I would tidy and vacuum before they visited, generally not after unless it was a party or little kids dropping food crumbs everywhere. I wouldn't really expect to have to tidy up after adults visiting. I don't see the reason to make more work for yourself by wearing shoes indoors, I don't want to be tied to my vacuum cleaner.

I never visit again to people who put their soft furnishing before their guest's comfort.

We're in ireland and no on does it here. So it wouldn't even occur to me unless you asked me. I'd have no problem if you asked though .

Exactly this. A home is to be lived in it’s not an art gallery. You can still be house proud and make it a space that people feel welcomed and comfortable in

It takes 30 seconds to vacuum when someone leaves if you are just going over where they sat

People do walk in the woods, on the common, and on footpaths through fields around here. Shoes and boots don't appear muddy if mud is only in the tread. I live in a country town not a concrete city. I've had the dried mud everywhere happen a few times, not just where the person has sat as it dislodges as they walk around.

If you are the kind of person who doesn't respect someone else's home then you may not be missed. Exceptions are obviously made for people who need to wear shoes inside such as the elderly.

Tread? Tractor Tom has treads, 😂😂

Trolley handles are grim, people sneeze, cough into their hands and then stick their mitts back on trolleys. I wear washable gloves through the winter when shopping, then in the washing machine they go.

These threads are weirdly fascinating.

Firstly, of course, there’s the confrontational ‘I’m cleaner than you’ contingent, throwing around insults about how people who wear shoes in the house have dirty houses. Very childish.

Then there are the people (on both sides of the debate) who cannot believe that anyone ever entertains the idea of doing things differently from them, and we have minds blowing all over the shop. Equally childish!

Meanwhile, I suspect that most of us, in fact, operate with a degree of common sense on this issue. So, for example, I have hard wood floor downstairs and am not too precious about shoes, but if it’s been raining and visitors are likely to be muddy, I’d prefer shoes off. And I’d definitely prefer shoes off to go upstairs as we have carpet there.

Although cultural norms differ, most people in the UK can’t have failed to realise that the tendency to expect shoe removal is relatively recent. My elderly aunt still looks at you funny if you take shoes off on arrival. This is because she grew up with cold floors more than anything!

There also is a class element to some extent. In traditional large well-to-do homes, people a) used to be fairly formal in dress so didn’t slip around in slippers b) had someone else to clean the floors so weren’t too worried.

But, seriously, a bit of common sense goes a long way here.

OP covered that in her post. I'm shocked that others don't deem this as basic manners. I would take my shoes off because it was how I was raised and I don't walk around my home with my outside shoes! So I wouldn't do it at other people's houses.

@BernardBlacksBreakfastWine dont come on this talking sense. You are not wanted. 🤣🤣🤣

*thread

Yeah @BernardBlacksBreakfastWine

How dare you come in here, with your sense ... RUINING a Mumsnet signature thread for us all.

😡

😭

What do you call all the deep grooves in the bottom of the sole then?

I never offer to take my shoes off, nor do any visitors who come to my house.
The only person who has asked me to do this expected me to take them off and wear some manky mule things that goodness knows who else had worn. It made me wonder what she thought was so special about her flooring compared to everyone else.

I don't have any deep grooves in my shoes. However, when, feeding the animals, shooting, I would wear wellies. But my crowd don't usually turn up in our wellies. Heaven forfend. We've been known to arrive clad in Jimmy Choo, LaBoutin though, which thankfully don't have Hunter treads. 😂😂

I don't know what a Jimmy Choo is or what is funny. I'm just talking about normal boots like doc marten style or walking boots or shoes.

We don’t all wear those. There’s no tread on the shoes I’m wearing right now.

I didn't say we all wore them. Just that a shoe may not appear muddy but still make a mess of someone's house. It's easy not to realise.

If you insist that people take off their shoes in your house then you should provide slippers for them. I think it'smore gross to have people walking around in bare feet or manky socks.

I’m wondering if @justasking111 doesn’t know what the ‘tread’ of a shoe is? Struggling to understand where this little exchange came from 🤷‍♀️

It would be rare for my visitors to have bare feet and I've never had anyone not have clean socks on. It's very normal in my circle to respect others homes. The only person who would keep shoes on is my grandmother as she needs them to safely walk.

Is the pattern of grooves on a sole of a shoe not called a tread? Is there another word?