Do you really not see how abhorrent it is to be inconsiderate of other people? It may not be passive-aggressive but it's certainly rude.
In all seriousness, I think having a wank at work is a bit more off-putting than putting your feet up. I definitely can see how you'd think this was nasty, being totally anal about other, similar things, but what can I say? I'm just not thinking too hard about how whether I'm pissing someone off. Don't do it in a meeting with someone you're really trying to impress.
Sure, there are things you like to do that shouldn't be done at work, but the two are not correlated--or at least not as correlated as you suggest. While you've found some very amusing examples, they're tangentially relevant at best and used more for hyperbole, just like most of the article.
True.
> Some people are really obsessed with dirt and germs. Some people aren't. Some people find legs stretched out is quite comfortable. Some people really don't care about your dumb hangups and like to be comfortable.
A poor excuse for bad manners.
Manners are relative, anyway. Some people think it's bad manners to put your elbows on the dining table. Others couldn't care less.
A sizable* chunk of society? We're talking about "social conducts or rules defined by society" here. They may make no sense, you may not like them, but you still have to live in a human and social world.
It may be overly casual, familiar, or informal
And I'm fine with that, just as long as you also understand it's unhygienic and, after being brought up to your attention, selfish (I'm comfortable) and inconsiderate (live with it).
*I do not have exact numbers, but judging from this thread, >15%?
1) 15% is a sizable chunk? Really? 2) Hacker News posters are about as unrepresentative a sample as you can get.
> And I'm fine with that, just as long as you also understand it's unhygienic and, after being brought up to your attention, selfish (I'm comfortable) and inconsiderate (live with it).
How unhygienic is it when compared with the conditions of the rest of the world around you that you interact with (voluntarily or otherwise) day by day? I don't know. I suspect you (and the blog poster) don't either. It may very well be that -- as usual -- humans are just really bad at risk analysis and stuff-from-feet just really isn't a big deal.
Regardless, it's been a week or so since this post, and I've been somewhat-consciously more aware of the situations where I put up my feet. I noticed that I never put my feet up on desks (that's kinda uncomfortable; I tried it [shoeless] out of curiosity), and never on conference tables (ditto?). My favorite kind of place to put up my feet is on one of the lower supports under a table. So it appears in general I avoid putting my feet up on the actual surface of things where people might put food, or put their hands, or rest their heads, etc.
Having said that, I put my feet on top of my coffee table in my living room all the time. But I never have my shoes on in my apartment, so at least that's something.
Still, though, I think the obsession some people have with "public hygiene" is a bit excessive. Being conscious of personal hygiene is great, but the world is a dirty, gross, germ-ridden place. Get used to it, or go around in a giant hamster ball.
On a side note, I noticed that quite a few posts here didn't present hygiene arguments. Many were from people of Indian or Middle-Eastern cultures where showing someone your feet is considered rude (a fact I was not aware of; thanks to HN for teaching me something new). Now, personally, knowing that, I would certainly avoid putting my feet up in front of people who may be culturally sensitive to that sort of thing. But, directed at people of those cultures: you're (presumably) in the US, or a place where your culture is not the dominant one. You have to understand that other cultures are different from yours, and people may not know that things they find innocuous will offend you. The onus is on you to be accommodating toward them, not the other way around. Just as when they are in your country, they should be sensitive of your culture.
We once had a candidate bust an apple out of his cargo pants in the middle of an interview and start chomping away.
While obviously we're not hiring people to be polite, it does show a certain level of social tone-deafness which often portends trouble down the road.
It's considered very, very rude.