Why don’t Americans take shoes off inside the house?

[Anonymous]

Why do Asians slurp their soup? It’s so puzzling. Where I grew up, it was considered very rude and disgusting to slurp your food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am Asian American and grew up without shoes inside the house and assumed this was the norm. My husband is American and is used to a no shoes household, but he’s not as fastidious as I am about it - if he needs to pop back into the house to get something he will leave shoes on. I don’t make a big deal about it.

His parents however, wear shoes inside all the time, unless it’s something like rain boots or snow boots. Otherwise they’ll put on sneakers or dress shoes, go about their business outside, and keep them on when they return. This includes wearing outside shoes in their bedroom and bathroom, not taking them off until bedtime.

I find this very puzzling as they are very neat and hygiene minded people. They live in a beautiful, expensive house, they pay for weekly cleaning and specifically ask the cleaners to mop all the floors, and they are generally pretty paranoid about things like germs. So how come they don’t mind all the gunk that’s on the bottom of their shoes? They live in a very urban part of DC so it’s not like they only go out to drive , and use public transportation, too.

Is this common among Americans ? If it’s relevant they are in their early 60s. Every time they visit and wear shoes inside our house I am so uncomfortable but I don’t want to be rude and repeatedly ask/remind them.

Because we do not live in a third world country where cows and other farm animals run free and defecate in the streets. We also have vacuum cleaners for our carpeting and mops and brooms for uncarpeted floors. My family and friends, dog and cat do not walk in feces. We have sidewalks which are free of filth. I would never ask a guest to remove their shoes and I would not accept an invitation from anyone rude enough to request that I remove my shoes
What's next, we remove our clothes because they pick up germs? You germaphobes are idiots.

[Anonymous]

I have a friend who fell on a waxed floor in a "no shoe" house. She broke her rotator cuff and sued the owners of the 'no shoe" house and won.

[Anonymous]

You better warn me if I am to go barefoot or without shoes. I don't do that, so I'll bring an inside pair. Secondly, my left foot really needs to be supported on a floor, I rarely walk around without a shoe. Third, my shoes are part of my clothes. I'm not going to socialize without shoes.

Last- don't need to see your toes, socks,
or walk in the same floor as your athlete's foot. Nope.

Team shoes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am Asian American and grew up without shoes inside the house and assumed this was the norm. My husband is American and is used to a no shoes household, but he’s not as fastidious as I am about it - if he needs to pop back into the house to get something he will leave shoes on. I don’t make a big deal about it.

His parents however, wear shoes inside all the time, unless it’s something like rain boots or snow boots. Otherwise they’ll put on sneakers or dress shoes, go about their business outside, and keep them on when they return. This includes wearing outside shoes in their bedroom and bathroom, not taking them off until bedtime.

I find this very puzzling as they are very neat and hygiene minded people. They live in a beautiful, expensive house, they pay for weekly cleaning and specifically ask the cleaners to mop all the floors, and they are generally pretty paranoid about things like germs. So how come they don’t mind all the gunk that’s on the bottom of their shoes? They live in a very urban part of DC so it’s not like they only go out to drive , and use public transportation, too.

Is this common among Americans ? If it’s relevant they are in their early 60s. Every time they visit and wear shoes inside our house I am so uncomfortable but I don’t want to be rude and repeatedly ask/remind them.

African American family. We take our shoes off at the door. We aren’t walking around inside with shoes on.

[Anonymous]

Also grew up in western Maryland in a small country town. No one took off their shoes except the Dad of a girlfriend who raised dairy cows. He took off his work boots when entering the house and put shoes on in lieu of his work boots in the house.

[Anonymous]

We don't have cows in the streets of cities in the US. We have street sweepers here that clean the streets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a class thing. Would never cross my mind to ask someone to take their shoes off

But the anti-shoe contingent thinks it's the slobs and the rubes who wear shoes indoors

People have opinions, and opinions vary. Some people are rigid about them and can get flagrantly rude about them. It happens.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think it’s necessarily an “American” thing to wear shoes indoors.

We’re an Interracial family (Black and White Hispanic) and we don’t wear shoes indoors and ask guests and service people to take off shoes or wear booties.

This was especially important for us when our now toddler was crawling. Most people take no issue with it, remove their shoes without request, and comment that they do the same at their house.

I had no idea this was perceived by some to be a “class” thing. Interesting.

[Anonymous]

I live in SoCal & in my personal experience, the majority of people I visit inside their homes request a “no-shoes” household.

I think that if someone requests this - it would only be proper to provide guests w/disposable paper booties so they do not have to have their feet 🦶🏽 actually come into close contact w/floors as that can feel gross on their end.

[Anonymous]

We wear shoes in our house because we have dogs. My dogs run in and out of the house all day long so our floors get dirty. I wouldn’t dream of having people take their shoes off in our house. I sweep and vacuum every day sometimes two times a day, but I’m not mopping every day. Maybe three times a week. It’s not visible dirt, but it’s dirt because realistically my dogs track in dirt.

When we go to our friend’s homes, they are shoes off and so we respectfully take our shoes off even though, they also have dogs and their floors are dirty. I just don’t get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in SoCal & in my personal experience, the majority of people I visit inside their homes request a “no-shoes” household.

I think that if someone requests this - it would only be proper to provide guests w/disposable paper booties so they do not have to have their feet 🦶🏽 actually come into close contact w/floors as that can feel gross on their end.

That's weird as sh!t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in SoCal & in my personal experience, the majority of people I visit inside their homes request a “no-shoes” household.

I think that if someone requests this - it would only be proper to provide guests w/disposable paper booties so they do not have to have their feet 🦶🏽 actually come into close contact w/floors as that can feel gross on their end.

That's weird as sh!t.

Really? Feet are not clean, buddy. Fungus, warts, you name it. I never use a hotel shower, or anyone else's shower, without flip flops,either. Learned that the hard way. Also, most people's feet are super gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who fell on a waxed floor in a "no shoe" house. She broke her rotator cuff and sued the owners of the 'no shoe" house and won.

Sounds like a great friend

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shoes track lead, so pediatricians recommend removing shoes if there’s a crawler in the house.

Our family is Swedish and Korean, and we’ve always been shoes off regardless.

Your kid will be on a lot of floors, besides your own. Libraries, day care, school, stores ( yeah), other houses. Do you really think you are protecting your kid from lead? Or anything?