Houses with 'No Shoe' Rules - Page 5

Hmmm...

I'm Canadian and it has always been a custom to take one's shoes off when entering the house. I've actually had several experiences where someone wearing shoes in the house ruined the carpet.

The first instance was when I was still living with my parents. Our house was burgled and the police contsable who came to file the police report wore his shoes throughout our house. The officer had oil or grease on the soles of his shoes and soiled the carpet on the stairs so badly that his footprints were visible even after repeated cleanings. Apparently, police officers are not allowed to remove their shoes as it is part of their uniform (at least in Canada, this was an RCMP officer). So if you don't want a cop in your house tell them they have to remove their shoes to come in. Either that or get a warrrant.

The second instance was a friend of mine who came over the day after I had my carpets cleaned. He walked into my apartment with his shoes on and I had dark shoeprints on the carpet as a result. Money well wasted. He's never been invited over since.

Shoes are dirty. That is a fact. If someone wants to wear shoes on my carpet then that person should be willing to let me wear my shoes as I walk on his suit jacket. Fair is fair.

Wearing shoes int he house is only slightly worse than people (especially the British) who have carpet in their bathroom...

Only my dog is required to have his snow boots removed upon entering my house. Guests are welcome to keep theirs own.

It is lot easier for me to toss my socks than for my host to clean their carpet.

That being said, if the house is a pig's sty then I will just not enter. No point ruining shoes as well as socks.

I generally hate people who are so afraid of ruining things that they can't bear to use them. People who make you afraid to walk around in a house qualify as assholes, IMO. It's supposed to be a place to live in. If you can't relax there, what's the fucking point?

I'll remove shoes if you ask me to, but unless you're from an asian culture, I consider it a bit of a rude request. The way I was raised, you make an effort for guests- which means cleaning up, even if not to an absurd degree, and understanding that the house will need to be cleaned after any party. Expecting your home to stay pristine all of the time is moronic, and enforcing that on others is rude.

Cleaning is a fact of life. Germs aren't as horrible as you think they are. Come to terms with those, and your life will be much less stressful, and your guests will like you more.

My house has wall to wall carpeting in almost all of it except in the kitchens (marble), bathrooms (tile), mud room (hardwood), atrium (marble) dining room (hardwood with oriental rug), living room (hardwood with oriental rug) and the study (hardwood). I do not want people on my carpets with shoes. The only exception is when I am throwing a party / entertaining guests then they are free to wear their shoes as they please. Otherwise my wife or I will ask our guests to remove their shoes. I grew up with this rule and have no problems with it now when it's my house.

The thought of what people step in everyday especially in NYC then for them to walk all over my carpets freaks me out.

It's a bloody good thing they aren't nudists, I suppose.

Even worse, they brush against your walls, too.

Never been to a house where you didn't remove your shoes. Seems rude not to; you'd dirty their carpets. I don't want people walking about in my home with the same shoes they went into a public washrom with.

My wife doesn't even like me storing my shoes in the bedroom closet because they've been worn outside. So all my shoes are stored in the hall closet by the front door. The more I think about it the more sense it makes.

During parties I roll up the silk rug in the living room and put it in the spare bedroom.

Normally I'm worried about people spilling things on the carpet. Especially red wine or anything with oil in it. But if I thought people were going to wear shoes in my home I'd remove the rug as well.

When traveling in Asia, one thing I liked about Buddhist temples I visited was that there was a ledge or step that a visitor had to step over in order to enter the temple. This act of stepping over the ledge forced the visitor to bow. This was the way the monks ensured that the proper respect was given even if the visitor was a heathen. Visitors should respect the host's wishes.

I agree.

I had a similar experience when I was going to school in the States (from Canada). I was usually able to talk new roommates into taking their shoes off in the apartment. But with my last roommate, his version of taking his shoes off was wiping his feet at the door, then walking with his shoes on into the living room before taking his shoes off and placing them next to the couch. Eventually, even though I would clean every week, there was this dark track that gradually built up on the carpet from the door to the couch.

I would also add that, at least in my circle of friends, it's also customary to take shoes off at parties, no asking is needed. To be honest, I find it hard to believe that someone could be offended at doing such a thing at someone elses house. That, to me, seems the more prescious attitude.

I hate this. I tell people I will pay for any cleaning and just walk in. Obviously, I have few friends.

My mother used to make my brother and I take our dirty clothes off outside after we'd been doing yardwork because she didn't want the house covered in grass clippings and dirt. We'd have to wash our hands with the garden hose if we were particularly filthy after pulling weeds. I used to find it demeaning. But I wasn't the one doing the vacuuming. Now, I'm thinking she was on to something and I'm going to do the same to my kids when they're old enough to do some manual labour.

I think it is more rude to come over and soil a person's home than it is to ask someone to take their shoes off. At least I don't tell them to strip to their underwear and hose them down with the garden hose. At least not yet...

This....

...or if your guests refuse to remove their dirty outside shoes, throw down some newspaper for them to walk on.

BTW I don't have this rule myself, my place has a ceramic tiled floor so it's dead easy to keep clean, NO carpet.
Edited by MikeDT - 8/25/11 at 4:28pm

So the host is now more important than the guest? Good to know. Here I was thinking that hospitality demanded that the guest take precedence.

But maybe you're onto something. My clothes have touched walls in buildings that are never cleaned. My ass touches chairs that are sweated in, puked on, or what have you on a regular basis. My elbows go against things covered in all sorts of crazy microbes. Clearly, I should remove my pants and shirt before I sit on your furniture. And since my underwear have been sitting against my ass all day, I should remove those so you only get the current contamination rather than an entire day's worth.

Really, I guess the most important influence from how I was raised is that I'm not afraid of a little dirt or germs. I grew up camping a lot. Still do. Dirt isn't evil, it's something we've evolved to not be affected by too much. Same with germs. The more you're exposed to them, the better your body resists them. Allergens are similar- if you don't build up exposure early in your life, you're much more likely to have an allergy to that thing. The super sterile and clean houses around these days are causing more problems then they're solving.

Y'all need to get over yourselves. Homes get soiled. Like it or not. Somebody coming into your house and putting a normal amount of wear on your furniture is not rude in the slightest. You being an ass about your carpet is.

I keep 30 pairs of slippers in all sizes and colors so that when I entertain at my place and ask people to remove their shoes, I am prepared to offer all of them slippers.

Ask if you can take your socks off too. OMG!