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Comment by stevekemp | Hacker News Reader

In Finland it is common for people to remove shoes indoors - I guess walking through slush/ice/snow in winters makes that a good habit - and that often extends to company-offices.

Of course outside there it would seem a little odd to many, I'm sure. Though sliding around polished floor, in your socks? Never gets old. Maybe I'm just a child..

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Interesting observation.

When I lived in a city in the US that had regular snow and ice, floors inside of the buildings were never slushy/dirty, despite everyone wearing the same shoes inside and outside (businesses only, inside my house I always take them off no matter the time of the year).

However, back when I lived in Russia, we had to bring an indoor pair of shoes to get changed into, as everything would be covered in a layer of outside of dirt otherwise.

I honestly have no idea why that was happening, but I wanted to make a point that both you and OP can certainly be correct on that one at the same time.

This is in SF and I assure you no other company does this.

Given SF's reputation for feces-free streets this does seem rather odd.

Our company does it too and I thought it was weird at first but now I love it.

Lithuanian here.Most people would kick you out if you wouldn't take your shoes upon entering their homes. However I'm yet to see an office where people would walk shoeless( to have more comfortable footwear for office use only is acceptable,but no slippers).. Also carpets or carpet flooring isn't something one would normally would see in an office,as opposed to, let's say Britain.Most offices have either tiles,laminate or some other, easy to clean surface. During Autumn or winter,people do clean their shoes well enough before entering premises,so no snow or water is brought to the office,as not doing so is a big no no and is frown upon in most cases.

Right, but it's not weird there when everyone does it. This would be analogous to a "Change the world" company in Finland requiring everyone to walk around in the office in their full snow shoes.

One of my colleagues wears only happy socks during Winter, no shoes. It’s great because there always something to talk about whenever people bump into him.

I do have a set of black socks with weekdays written on them. I usually grab a random pair in the morning and go to work.I did have quite a few comments that I'm not wearing the right socks for the day,i.e. Friday socks on Tuesday,etc.:)

Also common in Estonia apparently, although they may have stolen that from you Finns!

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