people who ask you to take your shoes off before coming into their house, C or D?

http://neurophilosophy.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/uchikoshi_narrowweb__300x3810.jpg

was that the first GIS result for "japanese guy"?

People Who Make You Take Your Shoes Off Before Entering Their House: Anal-retentive, dictatorial jerkoff neat-freaks or not.

also, all of hawaii/ asisn culture

I should have known people would have brought this up before. in fact I probably posted on that thread.

Enh. I have to do a lot of service calls to the houses of upper-middle class and nouveau riche folk. It doesn't bother me to do so, just part of the customer service bit, i guess.

http://www.globalpresence.com.au/milroys/images/p_foot_leftf.jpg

your wife is right, gershy's gross

"Hey,you! That sign includes ugg boots!" (xpost)

Height of rudeness.

If you have such a ridiculous precondition for me entering your house, warm me in advance. Don't waht for me to be ON YOUR DOORSTEP before you announce 'oh, before you come in you have to lick my anus'

Your wife is crazy!

I know someone who not only demands that you take off your shoes, she has a SLIPPER RACK set up at the front door and issues you a pair.

After her wedding she invited us all back to her house for aperitifs and everyone left their shoes on. She actually wanted me to ask EVERYONE IN THE HOUSE this is like about SIXTY PEOPLE to take off their shoes. I hardly KNOW the crazy bitch.

so dud.

Taking shoes off inside is common practice in Finland, nobody keeps the on. I never understood why Americans (and apparently Britons too?) keep their shoes on indoors. Your feet will get sweaty and feel uncomfortable, and the floor will get dirty - it's a lose-lose situation. Taking your shoes off takes about 30 seconds, so I don't see why it's that big a hassle.

"the" = "them"

The floor gets dirty whether or not shoes are removed. I've stepped in enough breadcrumbs and water in socks in 'clean' houses not to pull a Howard Hughes on my friends. Certain friends of mine with very long hair who insist on shoes off often moult and I've pulled twenty-inch hairs off the bottom of my socks (or worse) removed them from feet of tights when they've stabbed their way in somehow. NOTE: I do not have a neurosis about plughole hair.

I would hope my friends who have such a policy in their homes would be aware enough to relax it during parties where people have to dress up.

..but yeah, WRT Tuomas and Canadians, polarish winter weather and salty/slushy boots are a fact of life, which is why people from places like this are hardwired to remove shoes at the door.

The floor gets dirty whether or not shoes are removed. I've stepped in enough breadcrumbs and water in socks in 'clean' houses not to pull a Howard Hughes on my friends.

Of course the floor gets dirty anyway, but shoes are bound to just add extra dirt. Like I said, people here always take their shoes off inside, and rarely if ever have I been in a flat where the floor would be so dirty I wouldn't feel comfortable walking there. (Maybe people in the US/Britain vacuum their floors less often?) To me, complaining about a couple of breadcrumbs or hair sounds more anal than asking your guests to take their shoes off. Anyway, for me the main reason for taking shoes off is that it feels much nicer. When I'm wearing shoes inside my feet get sweaty and feel uncomfortable, so I really wouldn't want to keep them on unless is absolutely necessary.

I see it as being the choice of the person whose house it is; they're the ones who have to clean it and live in it, so if they'd rather I take my shoes of then fair enough, it's hardly a big problem to do so.

Yeah, that sounds sensible to me.

Really I agree with krakow. In my house, I prefer shoes on people's feet.

I think it's better to take them off after entering the house, than before.

^:-D :-D^

I don't like it, mainly because my feet are a bit smellier than average and I find it slightly embarrassing to be forced let the odours out in company. It does strike me as over-fussy as well, unless you've obviously got shit on your shoe or something.

when i was a kid and i used to go round to friends' houses i used to always check to see if there were shoes inside the door. if there were then i would do likewise. my friends' parents (even the neat freaks) tended to be too polite to demand that shoes be removed.

i wouldn't really be bothered if i was asked to do it now but I would silently judge them: "oh, you're like *that* are you?"

My mates have already fucked the place up to the point where I've probably lost my deposit anyway, so fuck it.

Dud, if their house isn't heated properly and your feet get freezing.

to me the people who make you do this correlates 100% with people who/had parents who put plastic covering over their couches.

I mean, c'mon--they're couches!

douches, surely

The couch thing makes me laugh because plastic as a barrier on furniture can and does make upholstery fabric turn brittle and crack.

some people aren't cut out for having visitors.

seriously. how do these people even have friends?

they have friends who presumably piss on furniture.

I do have one friend who has three kids and a new house with nice wooden floors. They are trying to be 'shoes off' because of the floors and that's how things are there with small gatherings and normal visits. However I can't honestly see my friend entertaining fancy-style and insisting on the shoeless thing. I can also see them becoming bored by the policy and slacking off.

Or cats, they might have cats. A sure road to ruin.

oh xp darn it

friends who piss on their cats? even i wouldn't tolerate that.

Friend has been mulling over getting a family dog when her youngest is old enough. She has never owned a dog and therefore does not know about the special revenge games dogs can play using dirty looks and piss.

some people aren't cut out for having visitors.

-- estela, Tuesday, March 18, 2008 1:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

seriously. how do these people even have friends?

-- darraghmac, Tuesday, March 18, 2008 1:07 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

Its the same people who collect ridiculously fragile trinkets that are ONLY to be viewed in their special little cabinet in the corner of a room that has pure white carpet and who have a dog, but he is litterbox trained so that he doesn't go outside and track in outside stuff.....

There were several of these in my neighborhood growing up. Needless to say, but I didn't hang out there very much at all.

The people who think this is rude obviously don't have WINTER. I mean, fuck.

Please, the state of my apartment floor, I put shoes ON when I come home. Right now there's a note on the board that says "I BROKE LIGHT BULBS IN THE KITCHEN. WEAR SHOES". No idea why that person didn't just sweep, but hey, to each his own.

i think having crappy weather or messy shoes is a different issue here- obviously anyone with manners leaves their snowboots outside.

insisting that clean shoes be taken off isn't really the same thing at all. i wouldn't be comfortable in my socks in someone else's house, unless it were a very close friend. and in that case, i'd just tell them to get fukt if they asked me.

I do have one friend who has three kids and a new house with nice wooden floors. They are trying to be 'shoes off' because of the floors and that's how things are there with small gatherings and normal visits. However I can't honestly see my friend entertaining fancy-style and insisting on the shoeless thing. I can also see them becoming bored by the policy and slacking off.

Wooden floors is aewsome for slidy slidy though. Even if it wasn't required I'm pretty sure I would end up in my skidding around in my socks anyway. And then i would not get invited back.

and your parents would only smack you when they got you home, no doubt.

Seriously, reading this thread from my point of view, living in a culture where everyone takes their shoes off inside, where no one complains having to be in your socks inside (maybe it's because the floors tend to be clean, since no one wears shoes inside) - quite the opposite, taking your tight shoes off to let your feet relax is considered a nice thing - and where the 30 seconds it takes to take your shoes off isn't considered a big deal at all, reading this thread is almost surreal.

Dud on the wall-to-wall carpeting that 99% of the shoes-off people seem to have.

I mean, I know it's because of cultural differences, but I didn't realize this was such a big issue.

(x-post)

What, you skipped right over it the last three times we did this thread?

in scandinavia they take off more than their shoes to relax amirite?

or have i watched too much porn?

yeah like i have a separate pair of shoes i wear only when i'm at a friend's house--i would never wear them at home.

I have a separate pair of boxers I wear only when I'm at a friend's house--I would never wear them at home.

Slippers are urgent and key in indoor situations.

But then again, I spent a good deal of my youth in a land of snowboots.

Wearing shoes inside just feels wrong. The few times that I've done it, I've always felt very uncomfortable. When I lived in Japan, they were often surprised that it's standard practice in Canada as they thought that all westerners just trod around the house in their shoes.

In places where people do wear them inside, don't the carpets get dirty?

Are there any other slipper wearers on ILX, or am I really just a holdover from the Victorian age?

It never fails to amaze me that ILX can still get its collective knickers in such a twist over the idea that different cultures have different cultural norms on things they think to be unchanging.

I am very against wearing shoes in my house, I even made my old roommate's drug dealer take his shoes off if he wanted to come in.

Poor state of my carpets is more down to friends, shoeless or otherwise, kicking over glasses of red wine.

I do actually have house shoes, I switch them from summer to winter to accommodate heavy wool winter socks. But I occasionally wear them to the deli or the grocery or a friend's house, too, so they're by no means pristine.

don't the carpets get dirty?

http://re3.yt-thm-a04.yimg.com/image/25/f10/349201876

I believe I already said that my apartment floor is at least as dirty as the sidewalk, what with the sawdust, cigarette buts, and broken glass.

-- Laurel, Tuesday, March 18, 2008 3:21 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Laurel, I mean this in the nicest way possible - hire a maid service. It'll cost like $150, and your apartment will be a new level of clean that you never thought possible. Seriously. It is a really nice thing to do for yourself.

Although, I do realize that this may spark a "Maid Services: C/D" argument. But fuck it.

You know, we DID have a cleaning lady a few weeks ago! It was nice while it lasted, but there's only so much you can do to what's basically a warehouse sort of space, and the square footage is IMMENSE so scrubbing properly on hands and knees is kind of out.

Mopping is fine for getting up spills and dust, but for any grainy dirt that won't stay in suspension, it's useless.

a man needs a maid: the thread where you go all bourgie and hire a house cleaner

Try moving to a flat with horrid cold floors, forking out for a nice squishy rug for the living room, then attempt to wash the bastard thing in the bath. THEN complain when people ask you to take their shoes off.

I never wear shoes indoors unless it's a party. If people ask, I ask them to take their shoes off just for hanging out. No-one ever cares. In fact most people just do it because it's more comfortable.
There is one guy who never does it and the time has passed to ask him and I feel myself turning into my mother when I silently cringe at him stomping all over my lovely rug.
It's probably worse because we're on the top floor of the building and the hall and stairs carpet is always covered in crap from the stinky people who live below us. so this gets taken up into our's.

I have ppl take their shirts off before they come in.

i'm just thinking, and i don't know anyone with carpets. strange.

anyway, can't people who wear shoes indoors wipe their feet properly? i haven't tracked dirt into someone's house since i was, i dunno, 7?

oh dudes in the winter time my dentist's office gives you plastic booties to put on! like in hospitals! it weirded me out at first but it makes sense. i guess you can put them over your shoes but i just put them on like slippers and everyone else there seemed to too. great leveler.

I got to wear some panda slippers yesterday when I was round in a schuhenfreihaus yesterday, something of a win-win situation.

Montreal is WEIRD.

it's weird how feet in socks appear more powerless than both feet in shoes and bare feet. but this can be a good thing.

i tend towards slippers and house/party shoes
i almost never take sandals off when wearing sandals
i always take boots off. so ready for it to not be boot season anymore. srsly i feel like it's never gonna end. i've been wearing boots since november. every day.

xpost LOL yes

Ha! Laurel, I was thinking of you while attempting a very thorough mop-n-scrub of the bathroom last week - the multiple bucket method, you would have been proud.

also the stupid zipper broke on my nice/newish winter boots. and now i have to bitch to manufacturer :/ but worse is that i have to wear my old boots, which are not that bad, i mean, they are still stylish-ish, but.

also i am lazy/forgetful and keep never bringing shoes to work so i am always wearing boots all day. which i sometimes take off near end of day and then i have socking feet but no one cares or at least i don't. it is somehow comforting to bend toes against chair platform or floor. and it reminds me of summertime. toe freedom.

I hate being asked to do this. If I am going to be hanging out with good friends for a long period of time then I'll normally do it anyway because it's more comfortable but being forced to take off my shoes because some anal retentive idiot is scared their ridiculous white carpets might get dirty? Unbelievably annoying.

You know what? It just occurred to me that one of my best friends had us all do this at his old apartment. Except, he never really made a thing about it. Never at parties, but just hanging out was done in bare feet or socks. Hm. Its been four years since he's lived there, mind.

I guess the way in which you ask is the entire thing. Also, you really should respect other people's homes and the way they choose to run them.

Mostly, his was based on a good bit of time spent in Hawaii and his appreciation of the relaxed vibe he felt that everyone being shoeless lent to the situation.

the sensation of walking on a nice carpet bare foot is sublime so i say classic

there are these amazing disco parties thrown by some french guys in london and they ask for you to take off your shoes, dancing becomes effortless barefooted and on a succuent furry carpet. i think this practice dates back to the loft parties?

yeah i equate shoe-less-ness with relaxing, not nec with cleanliness of floors - like in a roommate situation where everyone is like 21 and no one know what floor cleaning really means, ya gotta keep shoes on - in a way, taking off shoes is a recognition that your friends keep a house clean enough to take shoes off in.

again tho, yes, shoes ON at parties that aren't just a group of friends hanging out on the couch drinking beer etc

r1o, to what party in london are you referring??

anyone ever go to the beauty and the beat/deep church parties in london? run by these extremely friendly french audiophile dudes (led by cedric woo who i think was "mentored" by david mancuso and is a member of some kind of secret dj clique made up of loft alumni). the deep church parties are held at their house in north london. the music (and sound) is amazing, lots of loft classics, deep house, disco, krautrock, dub, techno, postpunk, anything goes pretty much if you can dance to it. beardo i guess. and the atmosphere is great, really relaxed (and debauched). and i think mancuso himself comes over every so often. some of the best parties i've been to all year if not ever. here are some links:

http://www.houseparty.org.uk/
http://www.voicescollective.com/

-- creme1, Thursday, July 5, 2007 11:03 PM (8 months ago) Bookmark Link

have you been before tracer?

if it's rainy, muddy, snowy or otherwise gross outside, i pretty much automatically take off my shoes when i go into someone's home. otherwise i usually don't think of it unless the person requests. i don't think it's a big deal either way. i take my shoes off in my own house, so it seems reasonable to take them off in someone else's.

never! i would love to!

also i am lazy/forgetful and keep never bringing shoes to work so i am always wearing boots all day

yeah, i just wear my normal shoes all the time which means they get totally fucked up in winter and i have to take them off before i go inside anywhere (not work, but my house or friend's houses or anywhere that i actually care about being polite).

We got a new sofa today! The very first thing I did was tear off the fucking plastic.

has anyone started a thread about people who ask you to take off your clothes before coming into their house?

if you have to wait to be asked....

I can't believe there's actually contention on being asked BY THE OWNER OF THE RESIDENCE YOU ARE VISITING to take off your shoes.

Hang on David, often they are only renters.

well, i am usually the OWNER OF THE SHOES that i'm being asked to doff, so that cancels out the other

I was going to add RENTERS OF APARTMENTS and PEOPLE WITH TIME SHARES and SQUATTERS IN ABANDONED WAREHOUSES, but I figured I made my point.

I think a lot of you are balking @ losing the shoes because you like to wear socks w/ holes in them.

Also, to be fair: if shoes are being taken off near the end of the day, the requester should have some Lysol or foot-odor-killing thing handy.

the odds of me having mismatched socks is another problem, come to think of it.

The odds of me having gotten dressed in a certain way for a reason are my real problem, and my shoes are part of my exterior that the world sees for the day. If it's a good friend and we're going to watch movies on the couch, "no shoes, no problem". If it's a dinner party or drinks/cocktails or a social gathering, no freakin way. If I wanted people to see me dressed down, I'd have worn my pajamas (which I would sometimes quite like to do but is never really appropriate, is it).

Not everyone's idea of social events are college-y cuddle piles where people want to be up close and personal all the time.

I wish we were a bit more like finland and changed into slippers or sandals on getting to work. I went to a school where we had to change into indoor shoes on arrival.

As for home, my floor maybe dirty but my feet are bare.

Not everyone's idea of social events are college-y cuddle piles where people want to be up close and personal all the time.

-- Laurel, Wednesday, March 19, 2008 1:25 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

I hate people who do this

what if they are wearing heels

Its ok if you're like drunk and wearing nice clothes and end cuddling but the worst part of college dorms were all the fucking dumb shits watching fucking jumanji with 8 people in pajama pants, slippers and athletic hoodies in their rooms every night

that image literally just made me shudder

young people are fucking stupid

I lived in the "community service" dorm my first two years.

I'll bet that smelled good