A little addendum to the shoe post: signs of the times
I am gratified to see all the responses to the shoe post of yesterday.
So much so that I thought I’d add that I noticed a listing on airbnb that said under “rules”: “This is a shoe-free house.”
I think the next step (pun intended) will be for some enterprising person to design a “shoe-free zone” poster—you know, with a drawing of a little shoe with a line across it. Actually, I thought that would be the next step—until I Googled it and sure enough, many many have trod that path already.
A little sampler from Amazon can be found here. Many of the signs have a Hawaiian flair, apparently because apparently this custom is quite commonplace in Hawaii (perhaps the Asian influence?).
Some of the signs at Amazon are rather straightforward, such as this one. And quite a few (such as for example this one) contain the following verse: “Since Little Fingers Touch Our Floor… Please Remove Your Shoes at The Door.” I would like to remind those parents who request shoe removal for that particular reason that when their children are out and about, the kids themselves might indeed be touching their little fingers to shoe bottoms, or fingering doorknobs touched by people who have touched a shoe now and then or touched the rugs that shoes have trod on, or even worse.
And let me remind such parents that many people don’t even wash their hands after using the toilet, and the vast majority of people who do wash their hands don’t do it correctly or effectively. Are you going to put signs in your bathroom with instructions? And a video camera to monitor compliance or non-compliance?
I’m all for protecting children from dangers and from disease. But be reasonable. Kids are not getting diseases from people wearing shoes on a floor.
Now, obviously, if people are stepping in dog poop and tracking it into the house, there’s something very wrong with those people that merely taking off their shoes isn’t going to fix. And yes, bacteria from all sources are on our shoes—and they are ubiquitous anyway. Unless we have compromised immune systems, we are made to be able to resist commonplace microbes and to even prosper from being exposed to some of them in moderation.
What doesn’t break us, may make us stronger.
If such people have dogs, do they put dog booties on them when they come in the house? Oh, I know, some people don’t allow dogs in their houses.
My daughter talking to me on the phone and yelling at her youngest daughter at the same time who is a little over a year old, having a 16 year old and 8 year old she does not get too excited about early childhood behavior, then she goes on to explain to me that Marge has almost stopped eating the dog food but she was trying to drink out of the dogs water bowel. I said that’s disgusting and she told me that her little one has developed a lot of immunities and she is trying to teach the kid to keep stuff out of her mouth. After being a nervous mom with the first, being fussy with the second the third toddler with a mom in her 40’s is kind of a free range kid.
Don’t worry about stuff on the floor, that comes in the door, unless it is still moving and it’s not a pet, otherwise just enjoy living.
As a woman who is not by any stretch of the imagination a fussy housekeeper, I take comfort from recent studies showing that, on average, children who grow up with pets and a certain amount of normal dirt around the house end up with fewer allergies.
There are those who believe that such germophobic behavior serves to keep the immune system from becoming a hardy protector of the body that it should be. See:
Furthermore, such people have never learned of the history of composer Alexander Scriabin who was such a germophobe that he died of sepsis developed from a razor cut while shaving. See:
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/a-deadly-ritual-5-men-who-died-from-shaving/
In Canada it is normal for people to visit with an extra pair of shoes. I once went to a business meeting with a client. She wore the winter boots but carried a pair of high heels which she switched into for the meetings. Men of course would wear the rubber soles and one frequently saw signs “Please remove your rubbers and overshoes before entering.” Some places shortened it to “Please remove your rubbers” which puzzled lot of non-Canadians.
I’m a germaphobe-lite, well maybe really lite when I consider the dog factor. Just said “goodbye” to our faithful rescue that we had for almost 11 years. When I drive along and see people spitting on the sidewalk (sadly not an usual site) I have to admit that I have thought, I wish our culture incorporated the “shoe removal area” as a design fundamental. But besides our little San Fernando Valley home not being conducive to shoe-removal policy, I have thought how impractical it would be for visitors and we have a lot of those. Even though I too suffer from feet problems (like Neo), I never thought of that factor as well. But the dog, yes he was a regular germ contributor, even to our bedroom, and always a welcome one, and now a sorely missed one.
Jonathan:
As discussed in yesterday’s post and comments, obviously weather-related removal of shoes, especially boots and overshoes, is commonplace and expected. Removal of shoes in perfectly fine weather is different.
I guess they (dogs) get used to booties. What they put up with from us …..
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=dog+booties+youtube&view=detail&mid=366EE10CDC74F6A478BC366EE10CDC74F6A478BC&FORM=VIRE
Oh well, back to serious stuff.
Wouldn’t be bothered by such signs, as I tend to not wear shoes anyway, indoors or out.
Healthier, better posture, stronger muscles, and no smelly sweaty feet and socks.
JTW:
As a child I Virginia I remember health issues about hookworm infection (bare feet).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookworm_infection#Children
Good to live in an area where it isn’t a problem.
…we are made to be able to resist commonplace microbes and to even prosper from being exposed to some of them in moderation. –neo
My grandmother was an utter clean freak. Furthermore, her taste in interior decoration ranged from white to off-white to beige and no further. Which meant her carpets and walls were off-white. I was terrified as a kid to go into her house for fear of ruining the carpet or leaving handprints somewhere.
She was always cleaning and cleaning. Which was her solution to everything.
Years later I read that such obsessive cleaning could result in impairing children’s immune systems. So perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence my mother and aunt were asthmatic.
Anyway, I swear I read this from a doctor somewhere on the internet: “You just picked that food up off the floor. Aren’t you going to eat it?”
I’m sure the doctor wasn’t crazy and there were limits bracketing that advice. Still, I take the point our immune systems aren’t meant to be coddled and challenge is good.
I might extend that thought to include being exposed to ideas one might not like.
I draw the line at ear worms, as far as exposure goes. bump ba bump
Unfortunately, I have at least 10 friends who have slipped, fallen and were seriously injured, some more than once. None of them elderly. And more if I count people I don’t know well.
Sadly, two friends died from head injury in their homes, another was hospitalized for a brain bleed. Another two were gravely injured from falls on vacation abroad, one is currently in hospital, another still requires extensive facial reconstruction from a fall in Europe last year— buy travel health insurance.
I fell at home, wearing slippery slippers, but luckily, only dislocated a finger. So, I have been thinking a lot about avoiding the risk of falling, especially regarding footwear and insurance.
I have a strong immune system as a result of having all the common childhood diseases of he late 1940s and early 1950s. I also grew up on a farm where there are animals that become ill and lots of contact to the germs that live the soil. After childhood I rarely came down with cold.
But just before my 60th birthday I came down with respiratory flu and my immune system struggled to shake it off. On top of that I was hit with bacterial pneumonia. Spent. 5 days in the hospital being pumped full of 3 different antibiotics. When myy doctor discharged me he told me I was fortunate to have survived.
I have not been sick since that experience beyond sniffles. But you never know when your immune system might fail you.
That is so sad Esther. One of my daughter-in-law’s mother operates a 501C for brain-injured adults. She has written a book with a neurologist. In it she states that a brain injury occurs every 20 seconds in the U.S. It is very sobering. One case not so long ago, a 20 year old male walking along the beach and he tripped over some driftwood. Apart from a miracle, he will never be the same.
Esther,
That’s a lot of acquaintances suffering falls! However, I agree we oldsters should think about steps we can take to avoid falls.
JTW:
In the winter? In the city? Are you allowed in restaurants (other than Japanese ones)?
Even Gandhi wore sandals.
Given all the reports of the ubiquity of human waste on the San Francisco streets I will give those folks some leeway on requiring the removal of shoes when entering their homes.
My wife and I are in our mid-70s and for years we have had a rule that each time we get up in the night to got to the bathroom we either turn on a reading lamp or use a flashlight. We have a dog that sleeps on the floor in our bedroom and ten years ago we had an older friend fall over her dog in the night and it messed her up, like forever. A little off topic but when it comes to us old people falling, we just don’t want to do that, shoes or no shoes.
I knew that I’d seen slippers somewhat similar to those which Andy of Scotland recommended, somewhere.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/d2VHyMX2rak?start=69&end=79
JTW,
A few years back I had a lot of personal time saved up and I took most of July and all of August off. It was at the beginning of the minimalist sneaker craze (the sneakers with almost no sole and little toes in them).
I decided to try going barefoot as much as possible and only wore shoes in stores and restaurants. I did it all summer. Al I got for my trouble was a ragingly painful case of plantar fasciitis.
Now, I know that there is no definitive link between the two. But it is the only thing I did differently.
i said this in a lower post. This is absolutely the norm in Hawaii. It’s not pretentious of psychotic. It’s just common practice. And my house is definitely not the sanctum of a neat freak! I’ve honestly never given it much thought. We are just barefoot. In fact, growing up I was always barefoot, indoors and out. I didn’t even know how to tie a shoe until high school. Seriously.
Nancy:
Yes, but people here aren’t referring to places where it’s a common custom, such as Hawaii or Japan. They’re referring to places where it’s not.
And I wonder what happens to people with nerve damage in their feet in Hawaii. I can’t imagine that they are comfortable barefoot.
steve walsh on July 12, 2019 at 5:57 pm said:
Given all the reports of the ubiquity of human waste on the San Francisco streets I will give those folks some leeway on requiring the removal of shoes when entering their homes.
* * *
Any bets on how many of them also fight against the common-sense options for dealing with homeless people and their less-than-sanitary lifestyle on the streets?
In most parts of the world it is the custom to remove your shoes when entering a home. I do not believe it is based on fear of germs but as a sign of respect for your home – akin to removing your hat when entering a church.
Neo, maybe the best way to counteract this shoe removal is to make it appear as cultural appropriation of Asian and Hawaiian culture. Thus invoking Alinksy’s rule #4: Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.
DNW, the other place you will see those dinner slippers from the URL I posted, in the Tulip Motif in velvet and black colour, is formal dinner at the House of Lords in London. As I recommended, I went with black cashmere option.
Dunno. I’m running into the “No Shoes” rule more than I like. I don’t have nerve damage and I’m what Jordan Peterson calls an “agreeable person” (when I’m not commenting online anyway), so when in Rome….
But I do find it annoying. I do wonder if it’s not another species of virtue signaling.
OK. Am I the only person here with horses in the “back yard”? We got into that nearly 20 years ago as a means of keeping that pesky cash from retirement savings from building up… We were never shoe-removers when living in the city (not The City) but it became common sense that shoes/boots that trod in barns should not come past the mud room (which might look like a garage to most of you). It became habit. The overalls also remain outside with the shoes.
When friends come to visit they will find us in sock feet, rather than bare. Some quickly beginning to unshoe, but we stop them… its our habit, not a requirement. Some still de-shoe. I have to take special care to wear socks that have no holes in them when we are having company, or going to no-shoe house of friends.
“Any bets on how many of them also fight against the common-sense options for dealing with homeless people and their less-than-sanitary lifestyle on the streets?”
All of them.
Culture.
In some American areas, where “cowboy” boots, work boots, etc, are common , the no shoes thing just isn’t going to fly.
I suspect “Polite Society” had no time for it in an era when ladies and gentlemen wore high button boots, and spats, and “horse powered” everything” was the norm, even among the hoity toity.
Scrapers, and MAYBE brushes, firmly installed just outside the entryway, are the call of the day.
Of course, when one has employees such as footmen, and municipal street sweepers, there’s someone sweeping/shoveling up manure and other “ick” all the time.
Now, in such cultures where wooden cleated shoes are the norm by necessity, NO one has livestock powered transportation, and animals are simply NOT part of the established “common way” for humans, and rugs (certainly not “wall-to- wall”) too cumbersome for a mere dainty “girl” to take outside for cleaning…….
Which brings me to….segments of (assorted) societies that simply don’t HAVE to
suffer the indignity of exposure to dirt, and move from servant cleaned room, down servant cleaned steps, through servant cleaned porte cochere, to servant operated coach, to servant cleaned destination, ….
well, some variation of mere “slipper”, for men and women, will do.
Of course, there’s no NEED to remove those.
There are more Asian people than Caucasian and black and most others all put together… want to guess that they have the signage you want?
and you can even see western style, like take off your shoes fu*kers, etc
tiny.cc/wnzn9y
Given i live in one of the most diverse places on the planet
“People from nearly 100 countries live there, according to census data.”
and have a very mixed family…
i have to even be up on signage that tells you not to climb up on the toilet and squat
[there are hybrid toilets for both actually]
There’s a particular reason my parents have a no-shoe sign at their house. The floors were redone last year, very expensive, and the driveway is gravel (most driveways in this town are). The idea is to not have people tracking in gravel that could scratch the floor (dogs, too). It’s not really about “dirt” – Swiffers and vacuums exist.
You can wear shoes that haven’t been on gravelly, pebbly surfaces though – recently I hurt my foot and wore shoes around the house. So I empathize with not wanting to take your shoes off and I think people should reasonably accommodate anyone for whom taking shoes off is a hardship.
Perhaps you can ask people with those signs if you can keep your shoes on if you brush them off and make sure there are no rocks on the bottom before going inside. If they don’t accommodate you then I agree they’re being rude.
Andrew of Scotland says,
Somehow I just cannot picture dressing up in black cashmere slippers embroidered with tulips; either in public or in private, whether drunk as a lord, or not. In fact I was not sure the House of Lords still existed in any constitutionally significant sense.
Nonetheless your remarkable comments do remind me yet once again of a -and this time hilarious – scene from a movie I saw as a kid. Not precisely the same, but close enough for government work.
https://youtube.com/embed/CrlfWnsS7ac?start=2895&end=2916
If we take a vote on “most entertaining and enlightening post of the year,” this one is a shoe-in.
Just got back from staying at an Airbnb in Idaho with a group. The first day and a half were hectic, so later several of us were sitting around and one picked up the Airbnb guest guide.
1) “Oh! It says here that shoes should be removed at the entryway.
2) “What the hell??”
3) “Pfffft!”
End of conversation on shoe removal.