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Original poster

Asking people to take their shoes off

102 replies

miche8 · 27/08/2012 12:26

So then is it considered rude to ask people to slip their shoes off when they enter your house? we have cream carpets and young children that play on the floor. I always take my shoes off if visiting someone else or i ask if they want me to.

OP posts:
lolalotta · 27/08/2012 19:44

Agree with Shiny.

mummysmellsofsick · 27/08/2012 19:47

I love these shoe threads. I'm a staunch shoe off-er. I dearly wish we were not such a confused and divided nation over this matter. I can't believe it when people come in with wet/ dirty shoes and walk on my cream carpets (not my choice of carpet but I like them and can't afford new ones) it is so rude, especially when it's obvious we take ours off. I never ask though.

lolalotta · 27/08/2012 19:49

Dogs poo and wee on pavements FGS, I wouldn't want that tramped round my house regardless of whether I had hard flooring or carpet. Just seems like common sense to me.

mummysmellsofsick · 27/08/2012 19:52

Yes and birdshit lola

Of course its a class thing, if you can afford new carpets every couple of years and have staff to clean up why would you care?

lolalotta · 27/08/2012 19:52

PLUS I have better things to do than get the mop out after each visitor. Crazy.

susitwoshoes · 27/08/2012 19:52

if you have laminate flooring then, unless you also have underfloor heating, your floors will be cold. Would you rather your guests had cold feet than you having to do a quick mop if there was any sign that their shoes had been dirty? You're not much of a host if so. Personally I think it's very rude if you have hard floors, less so if carpets, but you can still have cold feet in the winter in a carpeted house. Also, other people's minging feet? Yeuch.

And also - inviting people round for dinner and making them take their shoes of? Fuck that for a game of soldiers.

MrsCampbellBlack · 27/08/2012 20:09

Yes because mopping floors takes so long doesn't it Wink

And do you have visitors 10 times a day? Because really its just not much effort surely.

Of course if I had dog shit all over my shoes - I'd take them off - presumably most people would?

Babyrabbits · 27/08/2012 20:15

We are shoe free, it so difficult, i would like people to remove shoes but i don't like asking. We tend to tell people who visit regularly.

I grew up in a shoe free house yet my parents don't sem to get it?! We have to tell them, or they walk through the house and then remove them! ( v annoying)

I have trained my pre schooler to insist that people remove shoes. She will ask you why you have not removed your dirty shoes. She will tell you that the floors will need cleaning, that mummy is busy...she has shamed a few guests.

I will take slippers to shoe free houses in winter, i respect my friends wishes.

I'd like to put up a sign, it's rude though i know.. But i don't want filthy floors.

Irate · 27/08/2012 20:18

we are a shoe free house, though you would never guess even though I clean and wash frequently it doesnt look like it, but when we have guests we dont say anything, nine times out of ten they remove them because its obvious we do, if they dont thats fine (maybe they have stinky or cold feet).

MrsCampbellBlack · 27/08/2012 20:22

I hoover and mop pretty much every day so my floors just don't get that dirty.

I'd hate it if some pre-schooler said that to me - I wouldn't be shamed but I would think it incredibly bad mannered.

Babyrabbits · 27/08/2012 20:29

Its not though, thats our custom :-) all through se asia people remove shoes. Its dirty not to.

I think its funny, she's not rude, far from it. She's stating the obvious. She's shocked that people are bringing dirty shoes into our lovely home.

Children always tell the truth, they are not embarassed to point out the obvious. She knows to remove her shoes when she visits others, i explained why she should do this. ( your shoes are dirty, remove them)

She's a very well mannered little girl, you would think that she is rude for pointing out that you have brought dirty shoes into our home... Really?

expatinscotland · 27/08/2012 20:33

'She's a very well mannered little girl, you would think that she is rude for pointing out that you have brought dirty shoes into our home... Really? '

That is INCREDIBLY rude! You invite someone into your home and then use your child to tell them they are filthy because you don't have the backbone to do it yourself?

If your floors are that precious and that you're that bothered and too lazy to clean up even more because of your ridiculous fixation that peoples' shoes are all filty, why bother inviting anyone over at all?

MrsCampbellBlack · 27/08/2012 20:34

I think its generally rude when children say things like that. For example, we don't smoke, my children think smoking is a bad thing but if they say this in the hearing of smokers I tell them not to - as I consider it rude.

But cultural reasons are different. But still if I came to a dinner party and was told to remove my shoes I would think it odd. I'd do it because I am not rude but I would think it strange.

MrsCampbellBlack · 27/08/2012 20:35

Or you know what expat said Grin

expatinscotland · 27/08/2012 20:35

Imagine finding it funny to cause your guests shame, over their footwear.

Appalling.

Caerlaverock · 27/08/2012 20:42

I like taking my shoes off but can in longer go bare foot due to injury. Taking my shoes off in other peoples houses is agony

NoComet · 27/08/2012 20:44

Having cream carpets is mad.

Wanting people to remove their shoes if you have very little DCs is understandable.

Personally I would rather not because my feet are always cold, but I'll do what ever your house does.
(I've learnt to wear two pairs of socks to certain freezing shoes off houses.)

JoInScotland · 27/08/2012 20:54

I'm not sure about the "class" issue.... is it meant to be middle class to take off your shoes in your house or working class? I'm confused on that one. We grew up very poor, and we took our shoes off because my (single) Mum was raising 6 of us and already mopped our lino-lined house once a day - I think that was enough, rather than twice?

We have a small child and (finally!) hard wood and lino on the ground floor, but we take our shoes off to minimise the dirt, leaves, etc that gets tracked in. I suppose most of the people I know also take their shoes off in the house (but my partner was raised in a shoes-on household). I take a thick pair of sox or a pair of slippers to the "no shoe" households in the winter.

PIL always keep their shoes on, which is their choice. The only room we do insist on the "shoes off" rule is in the Playroom which the small child plays on hands and knees for many hours a day.

We had guests over the other day - no one thought to ask them to take their shoes off and I can't remember if they did or not! My 31-month-old did not chide them for whatever their decision was.

AdoraBell · 27/08/2012 22:15

So if it's a class thing, which way round? Is it WC to insist on shoe removal or MC or what?

Just asking out of devilish curiosity, because I'm like thatGrin

exoticfruits · 27/08/2012 22:21

Working class or lower middle class to take them off.

NellyJob · 27/08/2012 22:23

what if they have smelly feet?

hairyqueenofscots · 27/08/2012 22:23

i have a verruca and 3 fungal toenails, are you sure you want me to take my shoes off :)

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 27/08/2012 22:26

Well who thinks Mitfords used to take their shoes off in the gun room? Or that there is a Jeeves story where he is told by the affable posh Bertie to ask Angela to take her shoes off at the door?

If it has a class, it's lower middle.

exoticfruits · 27/08/2012 22:29

The upper classes had servants- they didn't have to worry about the floors!

NellyJob · 27/08/2012 22:32

definitely a bit naff