For asking the heating engineer to wear shoe covers in my house

[purplehearts21]

Guy came round this morning to the service the boiler, I greeted him in and asked if he’d wear the shoe covers as I’ve just had new floor fitted and new rugs. You have to walk through my whole house to get to the boiler and I get they they can’t take their shoes off for health and safety so I’ve came up with a solution. The guy looked at me like I’m a bit mad but I wouldn’t dream of walking through someone’s house with my shoes on. We’re a shoes off at the door family and you won’t believe the amount of people that will just walk on through unless you say something. ( including dh father and stepmother who are exactly the same and will stand and wait til you take them off in their home but will walk through ours with shoes on no bother) I find it so rude and would never do it unless I was asked to keep them on. This man looked at me like I was an alien though but at least he agreed.

was I being unreasonable to ask?

I disagree.

How can a home be nice & clean if people walk through it with outdoor shoes that have collected everything from mud, dog poo, grit, germs to leaves? You’d have to constantly hoover and/or wipe the floors?

People had nice clean homes before the shoes off fad began. My parents’ house was immaculate and my mum would have thought you were insane.

Very rude to ask anyone to remove their shoes, unless they are muddy.

I don't know anyone who would ask us to remove our shoes when we visit. If our shoes or boots are obviously dirty then we would clean them and put them back on.

I don't get "shoes off at the door!" So very rude and unwelcoming.

Also Indians - I've had a number of Indian clients and they always ask you to remove shoes before going into their homes. They're not "bizarre" or "unhinged" either. I've been in hundreds of clients' homes over the years and always ask if they want me to take my shoes off at the door. There's usually the "hint" anyway as most have a pile of various outdoor shoes in the front porch or in a rack by the door. Very few have told me to leave shoes on - many have looked visibly relieved when I've suggested it as they were clearly embarrassed to ask!

I find it amazing that some tradesmen seem so surprised and put out that their client/customer wants them to cover their boots. There's no way on Earth it's the first time they've been asked. They're just being awkward sods.

When we had a couple of new sofas delivered, the delivery men actually brought huge cover cloths to put over the hallway carpets and lounge carpets so they could leave their boots on and rightly so as lugging huge sofas really is a H&S risk without steel capped boots on and you can't be faffing around putting boot covers on when you're carrying a heavy sofa through the front door.

Any decent person would at least ask before coming into someone's house and decent tradesmen/delivery drivers will be happy to either bring their own covers/cloths or put on your shoe covers, or remove their shoes depending on what they're doing.

Also Indians - I've had a number of Indian clients and they always ask you to remove shoes before going into their homes. They're not "bizarre" or "unhinged" either.

I think it’s a custom that can really vary with location. Those that practice it (taking shoes off) certainly aren’t bizarre or unhinged.

Neither are those who don’t.

It’s not okay for OP to imply that those who do things differently to her don’t like to take care of their homes or aren’t interested in having a nice home.

My plumber started to take his shoes off when he called for a quote, I told him no need as I'm not a shoes off house. To be honest on leaving his socks would have been dirtier than his shoes on the way in 😂😂

Of course not. As you say it’s a cultural thing in those places and I would suppose that everyone would do it.

Unreasonable, insulting and downright ridiculous.

If it's any consolation, I'm sure you'll have given them a good laugh when they get together. Totally crazy 😂😂

At least this goes some way to explaining why some peoples carpets are full of filth and other associated rot.

Although to be fair even if you do take your shoes off carpets still get full of dust skin mud pet dander bits of food and all the tiny beasts that live off that.

Seriously? You make sure that there’s a good entrance mat in the porch to wipe your feet. Life is for living and welcoming people to my home.

I had my boiler serviced and the chap brought his own shoe covers.

Having walked many a school run where there are giant piles of dog shit that get worn down with rain or whatever then seeing that shit stain still marking the pavement and people just walking on it we are a shoes off household. It isn't the mud it is the germs they bring in and no wiping your feet on the mat does not remove all of it. We walk on streets that have shit and piss all over them, crushed insects, spit etc, no way is that coming beyond my door mat. I also have a large outdoor mat for shoe wiping.

My parents were a shoes off household and we wore slippers inside. Some of my flooring is hard so can be swept and mopped but my lounge is carpeted as are the stairs, landing and all bedrooms. No one is wearing shoes in this house. I give every guest a heads up about it before they come. For regular visitors they have left their spare slippers here.

I'm not sure that being able to walk round someones house with your shoes on is a life enhancing experience.

It wouldn't be Mumsnet without a shoes off thread: it never, ever gets old, especially when it involves workmen. Will you be allowing him to use the toilet?

And regarding disposable shoe covers, won't someone think of the planet? I thought the nanny state was telling us to avoid single-use plastic. (But then we probably shouldn't have heating either.)

Not unreasonable at all.

But, anyone who automatically takes their shoes off at my door gets firmly told to please dont.

Unless its a friend/family member and they want to get comfy of course.

I never automatically take my shoes off either. You want me to take my shoes off then you need to ask.

Tbf I actually hate anyone coming into my home unless it’s family or friends. I’m not a welcoming person I prefer to be left alone. But I have a lot of kids and a big family

Exactly but according to mn only heavily muddy shoes are worth taking off 🤮

My babysitter doesn’t take her shoes off. I asked her and she said “they’re clean”. It infuriates me. I saw her walking in hen shit and mud with my daughter. Sometimes she rakes them off but only after she’s walked through the carpets, she won’t take tjem
Off at the door! My mother in law rolled her eyes at my husband when he asked her to take them off, again she was on carpets that were just cleaned. It’s bizarre. I hate asking people to take their shoes off, but I don’t expect that response when I do. She’s left a huge pool of mud before In the house and either doesn’t notice or doesn’t t care.

It's all relative.

If your carpets are continuously shat on by dogs, scratched and pissed on by cats, food and drink spilt all over them on a regular basis a pair of slightly dusty work boots probably doesn't even touch the sides.

Shoes also bring toxins into the home. Was listening to a podcast by a toxins expert and it’s much healthier to take them off.

At that point I wouldn’t ask her I would tell her to take them off. Over my 41 years of living I’ve realised sometimes you have got to be blunt and straight with certain people because they’re a bit ignorant.

You hope they wipe their feet on the doormat a few times but I would never insist on shoes off/covers on. Not even my sister Violet (the one with a sauna, swimming pool and room for a pony) would ask that..

People who happily let others wander through their house in paint / mud / rain / pavement dirt / cement / dog poo / building dust covered shoes are so unhygienic that I can’t wrap my head around it. It’s truly disgusting hygiene to wear outdoor shoes indoors, especially on carpet. Do you people stand on your sofa and bed in your outdoor shoes too? Are your carpets just constantly grubby looking? I bet the mop water is filthy.

I don’t think there’s a correlation between pet ownership and taking shoes off or not. Or clumsiness for that matter.
It’s mainly cultural.

But you just seem to want to insult people for some reason.
As does OP it seems.

This did actually make me laugh. Yes, I suppose some pavement filth is nothing if your dog shits on your carpets.

It's fine for a service, but I recently had a boiler fitted which took a few days and there is no way that the engineers could have put shoe covers on and off every time they went in and out of the house.

They went in and out probably 10 or 20 times a day often carrying heavy things.