Why I’ll Be Keeping My Shoes on in Your Shoeless Home

Wow, this is a very entitled author...

It reads to me like the author theirself is the one who's more afraid of germs, what with a good 1/3 - 1/2 of the article seeming to focus on germs. I've known a good number of people who prefer shoes taken off at the door, and none of them have ever been focused on "shoe germs".

They're also making a huge deal over the request to leave shoes at the door when they'd be a guest at someone's house. If you're making that big of a deal over a simple courtesy, then I wouldn't want you in my house in the first place.

I'll give them lack of sitting furniture for doffing shoes, but that seems like an unlikely scenario for a household that routinely takes off shoes at the door. Aside from cultural reasons, as I have noticed door-side seating being less common in those households, presumably due to them being far more experienced in removing and donning shoes unassisted.

> Once shoeless, feet are utterly vulnerable to myriad household threats: chair legs, bed posts, door jambs, dropped knives, random Lego pieces, and God forbid anyone has been playing jacks.

Does this author wear safety boots at all times? The world must be a scary place to them.

And the overall statement that removing shoes at the door doesn't reduce dirt seems to be purely another individual "raging against science", with their laser focus on that Univ. of Arizona study.

If you don't want to have people remove their shoes at your home, cool then. Good for you. But don't be a whiny asshole about it when you're at someone else's home. That's just common courtesy.

That's really short-sighted. I live in an area where a copper smelter released toxic metals into the air over the region, contaminating the soil. One of the mitigations is to have shoeless homes to protect children and pets from arsenic and lead that is tracked in on shoes.

But sure go ahead and walk in my house with your shoes on. I'm sure you know best.

> Turns out there’s already an effective old-fashioned way to achieve your goal of a clean floor while neither insulting my hygiene habits nor endangering my delicate, vulnerable, long-suffering feet: It’s called a doormat.

A doormat reduces the dirt by maybe 60%. You will still see prints after using one.

The article feels a bit flamebaity. I would think in real life adults could easily navigate shoe wearing preference when visiting each other, and it doesn't require an extreme stance, nor feigned anger about the idea someone might come to your house and leave their shoes on against your wishes.

Personally, I have indoor sandals so my feet stay warm and are supported, and I don't track dirt into the house. If I remember, I bring them when visiting others

Living in San Francisco for 12 years has turned my home to strictly shoeless. My floors are much cleaner than the SF sidewalks.

Why you will be turned away at the entrance to my shoeless home.

It’s sad that WSJ paid this entitled, uncouth jerk to author that opinion piece. Do better, WSJ, do better. And not that it would ever happen, but Kris Frieswick will never be invited to my home… not because I’m particular about my floors, but because she’s an ass.

"Why are you assuming that your guests’ shoes are dirtier than your floors?"

Um... ever get gum on your shoes, mud on your boots, road salt, water, snow, dog poop, etc. The list goes on, and it's not all about germs - it's about the longevity of your floors. Be that increased wear on carpet or scratches on wood. I certainly don't want to deal with gum in my carpets.

The cultural divide on this has always seemed odd to me. Is it an urban/rural divide? I’m from rural Minnesota and everyone I know takes their shoes off in their home.

It’s so ingrained in me that when I’m doing photography in someone’s home and they tell me that I can leave my shoes on I do the opposite of the writer here and insist I take mine off. I don’t know the state of my shoes. They day before I might have been doing a photo shoot at a farm, and the day before that I was probably in the woods. I might’ve stepped in dog, rabbit, or whatever poop on the way to my car.

Our home is mostly-shoeless not because we thought about it or some cultural thing. We don't really care or even think about it. It's just because we live in nature, not a parking lot, and so our boots are naturally covered in at minimum mud, dust, etc. We kick them off at the door and slide around in our cozy comfortable sock-feet indoors. By the way, wouldn't your socks keep your feet safe from all them scary germs? Or for that matter that wonderful organ called your skin? But I digress...

I once answered the door in my sock-feet (because of course, I didn't boot-up just to open the door...). The group of visitors all immediately without a word de-shoed themselves right on the front porch before I could even say hello, which was to me odd. I didn't even figure out completely why until I read this - they must have inferred this was the polite cultural thing to do. Now THAT is the right way to behave when a guest in someone else's house. Awesome.

I hope someday I meet an entitled germaphobic idiot like this in real life and they have a really good reason to need to be in my house (clearly it wouldn't be social). And then I'd declare that fine, if the shoes stay on, then either the shirt or pants must come off. HA!

Her floors are probably full of dirt. I would probably prefer to keep my shoes on in her home.

It reminds me of one of those Yakuza games where you go into houses and walk around on their tatami floors and never take off your shoes.

I figure being a Yakuza means you're such a badass you don't have to take off your shoes.

I imagined a house with no walls, like a gazebo but with all the rooms and other furnishings of a home. That could be an interesting inside is outside. I'm not sure if bugs especially flying ones would be a problem. Other than that I can't imagine wearing my shoes all through a house, like upstairs in the bedrooms, everywhere. The front downstairs bathroom if there's one near the entrance would be about all that seems suitable.

I come from a indoor shoeless culture, to the extent people are generally barefoot at home. Nobody cares if guests keep their socks on.

And I will provide you with some soft slippers just for you that I kept from that spa. Here dear its ok here is a little spritz also - I will get your mint julip in just a touch..

Why I'll Be Kicking You Out Of My Home, Entitled Prick

Dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30292943

"Not-very-well-designed"?