i am shocked and appalled by the americans’ habit of wearing shoes in their house like??? okay maybe you spend a lot of time aggressively scrubbing your streets clean but like? your feet haven’t seen sunlight for eleven years Matthew, your toes look like pickled onions
This, omg, i’ve spent like 100 hours thinking about this.
We had an American guest stay at our place and at first he took his shoes off but then I guess he forgot to. I didn’t know how to tell him to take them off and always when I saw he was wearing them I just started laughing because it was so absurd.
But people do it everywhere, German, Spain, UK. It’s so weird I’ve literally spent sleepless nights thinking about it.
I have some questions for people who wear shoes indoors:
-doesn’t the noise bother you? (it’s very noisy to walk with shoes on compared to socks/bare feet)
-do you wear shoes in houses that have carpets?
-isn’t it inconvenient to spread dirt all over your home???
-do you put your shoes on when you wake up or later?
-do you put your shoes on after taking a shower/bath or do you walk bare feet on the same floors that have dirt on them?
-don’t your feet need air/aren’t they sweaty all the time
-why
I would really like to get some answers so I don’t have to think about this anymore.
At least where I live (Texas), it’s considered rude to just take off your shoes without the host saying that you can, or without asking permission to take your shoes off. So it’s like, more of a ‘when you’re visiting’ sort of thing.
And now that I think about it, I don’t even know why we do it? I think because in America, in general, people tend to think feet and toes and toe nails are ugly and maybe would rather not see them??? I don’t know. Honestly.
I’m just use to, entering into someone’s home and asking, “Is it alright if I take off my shoes?” And then I’d hear the response, “Oh yeah, of course! Feel free to!”
But in the same breath, in my own home, when I come in from outside, I usually walk a little bit to get to the place I make a habit of taking my shoes off in, whether it’s right next to the front door, or somewhere in the living room.
It’s just a different culture thing, I guess. And vacuuming is a thing we do. ..Some of us at least. It’s just a- going out and coming back in sort of thing, which is especially prevelent when you’re visiting someone’s home.
At least, this is the case for my white person self. I have friends who are of different ethnicities, who are first or second generation, who take their shoes off immediately at doors.
I didn’t really know this was a big deal that we Americans do? But it makes sense.
OMG i got into a fight with a flatmate from america over this and her mother called me unsanitary because I NEVER wear shoes inside and she told me I would get sick. And I am like BITCH PLEASE the only person I know who has foot related problems is my brother who for some reason did not pick up the family habit of bare feet and got fungle infections and you know what the doctor prescribed as a cure; DONT WEAR SHOES INSIDE, because them being bare allows them to air. So there.
so i was very angry because my feet are clean and i leave my fucking dirty outside shoes by the door and here she is insulting my culture telling me I’m dirty. Which given context I had just complained about the state her daughter left the kitchen in, including leaving rotting meat on the bench which im sure is no a culture thing but is far more unsanitary than me showing off my toes. Sorry I am very salty about the shoe issue because fucking hell man respect other peoples cultures.
I only wear my shoes inside because my feet get cold otherwise and I don’t have money for house shoes.
I’m German and I assure you it is not usual to wear shoes inside of the house, we have slippers for that.
American here, I have questions too!
I like the idea of no shoes in the house, and I try to implement it, but I don’t think the typical house design here makes it easy. A previous owner of my house did put in a tiled area by the front door, but it’s not very big, so any one else trying to come in has to wait for you to take off your shoes and get out of the way before they can even come inside. Is that normal?
And what about garages? Guests use the front door but family usually comes in through the garage into the kitchen, which has even less room for a place to store shoes. Plus, that means you left your shoes in the kitchen, so if you want to go out the front door to take a walk or get the mail, you either have to go carry your shoes across the house first, or keep a second pair by the front door for convenience. And then there’s another door for the backyard, which means more carrying shoes or keeping a third pair by that door. Is that how it’s supposed to go?
Do you tend to wear slip-on shoes more often than shoes with laces, to make it easier and quicker to change to and from your slippers? Do you provide a seat or a bench to sit on, or do you just crouch down or balance on one foot?
What about pets? Surely you don’t put shoes on your pets when they go outside, so what do you do when they come back in? Wash their paws? Never let them outside in the first place??
“Isn’t it inconvenient to spread dirt all over your home?” Well, yeah? But then you sweep and mop and vacuum regularly, in theory anyway? Even if you didn’t track in dirt, you’re still shedding skin and hair all the time anway, and so are your pets…
I haven’t enforced a no shoe policy on my guests, so shoes in the house still tends to be normal. There’s only carpeting in the bedrooms, where guests rarely go, so that’s not much of a problem. Honestly, the only time it’s visibly obvious that they’re tracking in dirt is when it’s wet outside. That’s also the only time when guests (who would never otherwise think to do so) actually ask if they should take off their shoes when they enter.
My family has a door to the garden and we actually keep a pair of garden shoes close to that door. For when you go gardening or for a quick walk through it. Otherwise you stand on the doormat and take off your shoes there, then carry them to the hall where the shoes are stored.
We also have doormats inside of the house for that, too.
Concerning pets: When our dog was in the garden and had muddy little feet, we dried them off before he would make everything dirty and when it was just a bit rainy, he would simply walk over the three doormats we had and his paws were dry.
In houses that have many flats in it, people sometimes store their shoes outside the door to their flat but since that makes our schizophrenic neighbour angry, we don’t do that and put them in the small hall on a shoe rack instead.
When we have visitors, they usually ask whether they should take off their shoes and I am okay with both options (except for when you ran through a muddy field and bring a lot of dirt in) when its just a short visit but when the persons are staying longer or I just cleaned then I prefer them to take their shoes off :>
Some people even keep slippers for guests! That is extremely handy when you have cold floors in your flat
Concerning questions about when Americans put on or take off shoes…
I usually take mine off at home as soon as I can sit down, or for slip on ones just kick them off in the general direction of the corner. Some days I dont take them off for a while though, either out of laziness or because I expect to go back out soon. I try not to step in dirt or gross stuff, and I have a mat in front of my door to wipe my shoes on, so I dont really care about walking on my carpet at home. My cat makes more of a mess on it than I ever had with my shoes. At friends houses, only take them off if I am staying a while or notice others taking theirs off. I overheat easily, and I am very self-conscious, so I always get scared that my socks are sweaty and stinky and sometimes Im too scared to take my shoes off when others are around…
Putting them on, I only put shoes back on if I intend to go outside in the next 20 minutes. I dont think any Americans put their shoes on after a shower, they probably just take them off or put them on as needed for the situation or when convenient.
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