Reply to Taking shoes off inside your home

Forum Index » Off-Topic

Reply to "Taking shoes off inside your home - are you offended?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
The thing is, in America, shoes are a sign of formality. My parents (my mother especially) would be very unhappy if we weren't wearing shoes when company came over. To her, wearing shoes is a sign of deference. Yes, guests may track dirt into the house. But to her, it's a host's job to clean -- she wouldn't ask guest to take their plates out to the kitchen or to wipe down the bathroom sink. [/quote]
YES! Where I grew up (in America), when we went to a friend's house for a playdate, we'd ask the mom, is it ok if I take off my shoes? Of course, the answer was always yes, but it would be extremely rude and presumptuous to remove your shoes and toss them beside the door.[/quote]
ITTTA, with both PPs. I understand that for some people, this currently isn't the case, that one always takes shoes off in an American house, but for me, growing up, it would be exceedingly rude to take off any clothing in someone else's house, and that included shoes. Someone's bare foot on the floor would be almost as if someone sat their naked bum on the floor. Socks would have been....moderately better, as if someone sat down in their underwear.

There was no need to take off your shoes to keep things "clean" because when we sat down, we sat down on furniture. If babies were on the floor, they were on blankets. I know that's not the case now, people don't use blankets when a kid is on the floor, but one can't keep a house "sterile" by not wearing shoes. That's....coo coo.

I was raised to always and forever make any guest feel comfortable, so if they want to wear shoes, they may do so without reproach (and if I were in Japan, the custom would be to always take shoes off so that's what I would always do). If it meant I had to steam clean after the guests left (which I would never do because that would be ridiculous) then that's what it would mean, but that guest would [i]always[/i] feel at home and always want to return for a visit. If they wanted to take off their shoes they could do so (and some that come to my house take off their shoes automatically, and that's absolutely fine, too). It's so weird to me, this whole "shoe taking off/not taking off is trashy" thing. Where were you people raised? To me, doing anything to make a guest feel uncomfortable is what is "trashy". You're lucky to even have guests, their preferences should always be deferred to.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics