The dirty truth about taking your shoes off at the door

Sound the alarm.

“Studies have shown that in urban areas where there are older homes, lead in dust can be tracked into the home on the surface of shoes,” she said. “Other studies have shown that you can bring in pesticide residues from gardens via shoes.”

You look ridiculous without shoes in someone else's home.

Expect a lot of triggered responses from White Americans about this sensitive topic

Only Americans leave their shoes on in the house.

The article veers off topic near the end, with the scared talk of various "toxins" being swept up into the air with a broom.

No shoes or clothes allowed inside my home

This is why I always take my shoes off when i visit people, especially when I've been tramping through puddles of E-col infected filth beforehand, which I just love doing.

White people are filthy!

In a 2003 “Sex and the City” episode, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is asked to leave her $485 Manolo Blahnik shoes at the door during a New York City baby shower hosted by her friend Kyra (Tatum O’Neal) and soon finds they have been stolen.

“I hadn’t even done a full lap around the party,” Carrie lamented later at a lunch with her friends. The iconic TV character had been forced to walk home in her party dress and old gray sneakers lent by her host.

“Why in the h*ll did you take off your shoes to begin with?” asked Carrie’s friend Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall).

“We had to!” Carrie explained. “For their kids — apparently we drag things in on our heels that make children sick.”

I sleep ina bed with two large dogs that spend hours a day outside.

I definitely don’t give a fuck about shoes in the house.

r4 I've never seen that in European movies.

Stay away from r10

If people are nude inside my home, I make them put down a towel before they sit down anywhere.

If a hoe whom we are not close friends asked me to take off shoes I will never return to they stankin ass home again.

It's never a great idea to read scientists explaining the micro situations in a household. Be careful with raw meat. Sanitize your kitchen and bathrooms. Vacuum well and frequently. Limit the carpeting. Otherwise, ignorance is bliss.

I wonder if the no shoes people tell their repair people to remove theirs. I doubt it.

R16 No they don’t. That’s why they’re cunts.

It may not be just germs, look at the research about pesticide residue because that’s also a significant heath issue

Nobody ever took their shoes off when visiting someone's home back when I was growing up. They would have thought you were rude as hell to even suggest such a thing. It would have been like asking a woman to remove her girdle at the front door.

Life was so much simpler and carefree back then. There are too many rules today.

I'm simply much more comfortable indoors barefoot, I've always taken my shoes off as soon as I get in my apartment -- the germs and filth arguments are valid, but not my motivation at all.

Most of my NYC friends take off shoes automatically in each other's apartments unless it's a big party (more than 8 people) -- nobody is weirded out by socks, but we're all Gen X creative types so everyone is quite casual.

R19 is a hog

What kind of awful people walk around indoors with their shoes on, after they've been walking on sidewalks outside where dogs and birds and squirrels have been pooping --- and the dog's owners probably haven't cleaned up the poop properly? Truly disgusting. The solution to Carrie's problem is to be choosy about the parties you go to. Try to choose a party that isn't attended by thieves. Another possibility is not to be a cunty show off and not wear $500 designer shoes. Carrie walks around the ultra grimy sidewalks and streets of Manhattan and then she wants to wear her shoes indoors. That's nuts.

R19, by home you mean rundown farmhouse or tenement, right?

I would never expect a guest to take off their shoes to enter my house but people who wear shoes in their own house are gross.

Shoes also erode flooring.

[quote]I would never expect a guest to take off their shoes to enter my house....

Why not, R23?

If you live in a dump with concrete floors, then do what you like.

R20, I agree. It's the norm among all my friends in Brooklyn, even those in their 50s and older. People usually do it automatically. I offer slippers if they want them.

However, I never ask anyone to remove shoes. It seems like a rude thing to do to guests. And some may have orthopedic issues or be ashamed of their feet or socks. I want my guests to be comfortable. I can always mop or vacuum later if there's any need, but there virtually never is.

Moderation in everything, including paranoia about germs and contaminants.

R25 I suspect some floors in some DLers homes are much nastier than city sidewalks. Probably years of no housework and piles of dried dog shit everywhere.

Imagine what Trump tracks around.

R24 because I don't expect people to strip just because I invited them over. Maybe they matched their shoes to their outfit or maybe they are shy about having exposed feet around others, etc.

I certainly wouldn't ask a woman who is wearing heels to take them off as many women are insecure about looking short.

R29, those are the vapid reasons you would expect a character on "Sex and the City" to say. First you walk around the grimy streets of Manhattan with piles of garbage on the sidewalk waiting to be picked up and mystery liquids leaking out of them and rats running around and then you walk around someone's apartment with your shoes on for fashion reasons.

Taking off your shoes is stripping. Oh my sides. You're right. Seeing someone's feet is the same thing as seeing their bare butt or groin. Women being insecure about looking short 😂.

I assume you don't have expensive carpeting or hardwood floors, R29.

I spend almost as much time at work as I do at home, and I don’t take my shoes off there.

Sounds like city folk problems. I don’t wear shoes inside or outside except for the rare occasions I go out in public. The rest of my family wears shoes all the time. Then there’s the cat and the dog tracking in god knows what. So the floor is dirty regardless. Most of it’s coming from pet hair and food crumbs, there ain’t that much dirt outside.

R30 are you okay? You're unnaturally angry about this which indicates you have other mental issues clouding the discussion. I stated I do not wear shoes in my own house because it erodes the floors and it's dirty. Since I spend way more time in my house than my guests it only makes sense.

I do not expect guests to do the same. We aren't all persnickety old maids like you who demand guests walk around in their socks and bare feet to preserve the floor for a grand total of maybe a day or a weekend. Get a life and unclench once in awhile and you'll find that guests walking on your floors in their shoes isn't such a ghastly event.

[quote]However, I never ask anyone to remove shoes. It seems like a rude thing to do to guests.

It's rude to track germs and dirt around someone else's place.

Where I live, the temperature has been just above freezing for weeks and the streets and sidewalks are wet. I wipe my shoes on the mats just inside the doors of my apartment building. Then when I bring groceries into my apartment, I take my shoes off close to the door but I still notice I've tracked in grit (wintry, icy climate; people scatter grit on icy sidewalks). I would love to have ten people over tracking grit all over the apartment.

I don't care if people;e wear shoes in my house, but I always take mine off in other's homes. It just seems like the right thing to do.

It has nothing to do with being a persnickety old maid, R33. It has to do with guests being vapid, self-centered people who weren't brought up right and don't know you should take your shoes off or refuse to take them off for incredibly important fashion reasons.

Your undressing comment is truly hilarious. Thanks for the laugh.

[quote]Only Americans leave their shoes on in the house.

Nope. That is a good way to be unceremoniously murdered in my family. Especially if you walk in my mother's house with your shoes on. That carpet has been freshly beige since it was installed 20+ years ago. She will, legit, turn homicidal. And the offending bums will deserve it.

I bought some bootie things that people can just slip over their shoes if they don't want to remove them. You can get them on Amazon for cheap. They're the same ones used in hospitals.

For a number of summers when I was young and dated well, an older friend had a house in Ibiza (Cala Llonga) that had floor and mopboards in terrazzo. There was a little dip in level running along one wall in each room and a drain. The furnishing was mostly Gio Ponti - hard legs, often covered in metal at the bottom, with rubber pads. Some rustic benches. Washing involved a quick wet mopping then squeegeeing the water into the trough and down the drain. All dirt, sand, and sordidness wiped clean in minutes. We'd come in from the heat and lie on that pristine, cool marble slab. It sounds morgue-adjacent, it was in fact fabulous. An inside that functioned like a terraza. I've always dreamed of having such an apartment or home in the city.

When I visit someone else, I always ask if they want me to remove my shoes.

When I'm with someone and we come into my home, I always remove my shoes and put on slippers, as I always wear slippers in my house. However, I do not expect them to. If they're staying for a while, I do offer slippers if they want to remove their shoes.

If someone just stops by, I do not as them to remove their shoes.

There's an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm about this subject.

Do you people keep multiple sizes of slippers in your vestibule? Are they good slippers?

I'm jealous R39 - my dream apartment has terrazzo floors and Gio Ponti / Fornasetti furniture.

A lifetime on bare marble floors might not be great for the knees but you're only young and glamorous once.

POO SHOES!!!!

This level of pearl-clutching over shoes on a site where the pros and cons of eating hobo ass are contentiously debated!

[quote]Only Americans leave their shoes on in the house.

Not true. You haven't traveled very much.

I don’t care. Spray some mafuckin Lysol. I’m not taking my shoes off. It’s part of my attire. This was never a problem before. Bougie wack cunts.

Take your shoes off and show me the feets. Or on the second thought, you can put them back on.

I thought people took off their shoes to not fuck up their floors.

I wonder if people who leave their shoes on are pretentious twits who are imitating the very rich and fashionable. Of course, the very rich have teams of maids and butlers to keep everything perfectly clean. If a very rich couple has a party and their guests track in dirt, everything will be spotlessly clean within 24 hours.

One has to be especially obnoxious to leave one's shoes on when the host takes his off. My cousin from the States did that. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to cause any friction. There's people walking their dogs all day long on the sidewalk in front of my apartment building but she must think it's clean enough to eat off of.

Shoes vs. no shoes. Very strong opinions on both sides. This is similar to what divided a country and caused a civil war!

The only reason I remove my shoes is to not track dirt on the carpets. I live in an apartment with crappy carpeting which is hard to keep clean.

[quote] It would have been like asking a woman to remove her girdle at the front door.

Pics please.

[quote]It would have been like asking a woman to remove her girdle at the front door.

Yes, R19. It's EXACTLY like that 🙄.

Try living in Italy or France and having a dinner party and asking guests to take off their shoes and sit eating in their socks and stockings. You'd be ostracized pretty fast.

People dress nicely. They wear nice shoes, women wear heels, people tend to be well groomed, they put effort into their appearance. Being shoeless would be seen as slovenly.

Living nearly 40 years in Italy, I was never asked to remove my shoes. It's just not done.

R39, what does that have to do with wearing or not wearing shoes in the house?

I have somewhat decent-looking feet. I don't mind being barefoot in someone's house. I'm always barefoot in my own house.

the feces particles keep my immune system strong

Is it impolite to ask a Grindr hookup to remove shoes? Maybe depends on the socioeconomic status of each participant and the luxury level of the dwelling??

Do college students in dorms nowadays remove shoes right away when entering their room or friends' rooms? I certainly never was aware of that in college decades ago

When I lived in a dorm in the 80s I think most of us were in socks or barefoot in the evenings as we wandered from room to room - you usually were sitting on someone’s bed.

[quote]I wonder if the no shoes people tell their repair people to remove theirs. I doubt it.

R16 never have to, they always take them off without anything being said. I think they see all the shoes at the door and get the hint. Most people take shoes off out of habit here, and it doesnt seem to be a class divide either, you'll see shoes at the door in exclusive multi million dollar luxury homes and run down public housing in the worst parts of town. I automatically take my shoes off going into anyones home, its an instinctive reaction

Everybody takes shoes off in homes in Japan,its a big social faux pas not to, and Japan is quite fashion conscious society too, you see all the fancy luxury brands, even I noticed that

[quote]Most people take shoes off out of habit here, and it doesnt seem to be a class divide either, you'll see shoes at the door in exclusive multi million dollar luxury homes

R62 You are wrong. It is a decidedly lower class thing.

Go to any dinner party at any home in Manhattan. Any nice gathering with well dressed people. You would never, in a million years, be asked to stand around in your socks. Women would never be asked to remove their $1,500 Valentino Rockstuds to sit around barefoot.

It is gross, trashy.

[quote] $1,500 Valentino Rockstuds

These have been out of style for a little while.

R64 are you new here?

Not as gross as tracking residual dog poop and residual lead from lead paint into someone's home, R63. The people you describe are the very definition of vapid. Enjoy your germs and dirt and toxins. Disgusting.

The very definition of arriviste is urgently needing to show off your expensive shoes at a party. Tacky.

[quote]R62 You are wrong. It is a decidedly lower class thing.

Riiight. Because people who live in a dumpy house or apartment are worried about people tracking in dirt 🙄.

[quote]These have been out of style for a little while.

You don't know what you are talking about. They are a classic.

But whatever: the point is, no gracious host is going to ask a well dressed woman to take off part of her outfit and hang around barefoot. You people really need to get out a little.

[quote]The people you describe are the very definition of vapid.

And the people that trequire guest to remove their shoes are the definition of tacky.

R66 Has a upholstered furniture with plastic slipcovers too.

[quote]And the people that trequire guest to remove their shoes are the definition of tacky.

I think it's hilarious that the people you admire are vapid, very ignorant and the truly disgusting ones, even though they pretend to be sophisticated. Read the info about lead paint in OP's article, R69. Your superficial argument about being fashionable is so convincing.

No, I don't R70. I just don't need people tracking in dirt and god knows what else into my home.

R71 thinks that people who are well dressed and groomed are "vapid, very ignorant and truly disgusting ". Of course you do. I wouldn't expect anything less.

Boot scrapers and doormats are more than enough.

Let's be clear. Different cultures have different norms for hosting. It would be unusual and a bit tacky for a European host to expect guests to remove their shoes. Also, the majority of hosts here don't have an issue with some guests smoking. But no smoking homes are not unexpected or rude, nowadays.. Furthermore, people still wear fragrances, sometimes heavily, and nobody would think of making a fuss about that.

I have an observation about being host and house guest. It took me the longest time as an American to get used to how coded both roles are in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. It's common in the USA to have a casual approach as both a host to houseguests, and as a guest. I will say that in Europe, house guests want to be actively hosted and coddled. For most guests, you could never say - "I leave early for work in the morning, so feel free to make yourself breakfast". They just wouldn't know how to receive that. "Help yourself to anything in the refrigerator" would be appalling, not friendly generosity. For many guests, you couldn't say - "there's plenty of bath linens in the closet by the bathroom." You'd best present a selection to your guest. This sort of thing.

So in a similar way, especially for an invite to a nice dinner or cocktail, you would just never conceive of asking a guest to remove shoes. Your home is not a traditional Japanese restaurant for crissakes.

When in Rome, do as the Romans. May I show you the way to the vomitorium?

R73, did you bother to read OP's article? What people track indoors on their shoes is truly disgusting.

This is very simple, if you're the type of person who scoffs at having to remove your shoes in a place where I pay the bills, then stay your ass at home. Problem solved.

When in someone else's house, respect their rules or get the hell on somewhere.

Deadly raccoon scat. Don't bring those parasitic eggs in on your shoes. You can't even destroy them with bleach. Enjoy your walk in the woods.

[quote]One has to be especially obnoxious to leave one's shoes on when the host takes his off. My cousin from the States did that. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to cause any friction.

r51 You're a good one. I would've said something. I couldn't care less about "causing friction." Oh well. They'll get over it. Most of my extended family already thinks I'm "mean," anyway. So, it's whatever.

Jesus. Did any of you read the article? It was for homes with children in them. Children who sit on the floor, and play on the floor, and put their hands in their mouths. It’s about protecting the precious CHILDREN.

Do all of you shoes-off people eat off your floors?

Sorry, don't want dirt and assorted crud on my floors and carpets, R80. Obviously you do.

r80 As shocking as this sounds, some adults sit on the floors of their own homes. Many of them don't require a crane to return to a standing position, which would be an understandable reason to avoid the practice. If this is your situation, I condole you. Sincerely.

R82 We use a system of hoists and pulleys at our house. Mary Pat does all of the lifting as part of her upper body workout.

I also haven't seen my feet since 1991, so I don't have much concern about my shoes.

R56, do these French and Italian people get all their furnishings from IKEA? That would explain a lot.

R84 They don't have wall-to-wall shag carpeting as you do.

You worthless bitch you!

Don't be silly, R85. It's 2023. Nobody has wall-to-wall shag carpeting.