All My Children Discussion Group -- Shoes Or No Shoes... A Rant, A Poll and Possibly A Debate?

All My Children Discussion Group

Topic: Shoes Or No Shoes... A Rant, A Poll and Possibly A Debate?

Topic Posted by: Isis
Date Posted: Wed Jun 18 12:03:43 2008
Additional Comments: For many years, I have always been that dreaded host, you know the one, the one that makes you ....take off your shoes. I know it may make some people feel uncomfortable, although, I don't understand why. If I go to someone's house and they ask me, I just do it, so what, but I know or I should say I have heard that some people feel weird about this. Please let me clarify, I don't ask complete strangers to take off their shoes or someone who is coming to my home for the first time. For instance, last year we had an 80th birthday party for my mom here and there were about 50 people. My cousins and aunts and uncles were all here, for most of them it was their first visit to my home. I did not ask them to all take off their shoes. However, family and close friends know the drill at my home.

My husband hates this idea and after knowing me for the past 7 years, still b!tches about having to take off his filthy work shoes when he gets home from his job. I always tell him I don't understand why anyone would want soooo badly to have to walk around on their carpets in shoes that it would bother him so much. When I get home from work, I can't wait to take my shoes off.

His mother is a rather peculiar offender of breaking this rule. She knows how I feel about it and yet, insists on not doing it. Usually I just don't say anything. What can I do, it's my MIL. So I do nothing. She came over here last week and I had literally just finished mopping the kitchen floor. I asked her in the sweetest manner possible if she "could pretty please slip off your shoes if you don't mind too terribly much" and she yelled at me "Well I DO mind." So I just turned around and walked away. What can I do? I can't argue with an impossible person. Just as a side note here, she was wearing slip on shoes that did not require tying and she had socks on, so it was not as though she would be walking around barefoot in my house.

Anyway, I just heard this thing on the news yesterday about the filth on people's shoes. Call it my little obsession, but taking off your shoes and washing hands is a big thing to me. I always take off my shoes when I go into someone else's house (if I have socks on) whether they ask me to or not. So when I heard this on the news I had to know more. I found this online:

By Elisabeth Leamy and Vanessa Weber, ABC News June 17, 2008 -- How dirty are your shoes? The dirty truth about shoes inside your home Do you wear your shoes in the house or leave them at the door? It's an especially important choice for people with small children who play on the floor. In some countries and cultures, it's scandalous to walk into a home with shoes on. But in the U.S., most people do. "I don't really think that much about it," said New Jersey mom Michelle Ciocon. "Good Morning America" tested the bottoms of eight different people's shoes, as well as two dogs' paws, for bacteria. Ciocon's shoes contained the most bacteria of all 66 million organisms. It's no reflection on her; she probably just stepped directly in something. In a recent study, researchers at the University of Arizona found nine different species of bacteria on people's shoes. These types of bacteria can cause infections in our stomachs, eyes and lungs. The study also found bacteria live longer on our shoes than in other places. As we walk, we constantly pick up new debris that feeds the growth of more bacteria. The researchers tested to see if bacteria on shoes would transfer to the tile floors in a house. More than 90 percent of the time it did. Carpeting harbors bacteria even more. "GMA's" test results were "dirtier than a toilet seat," said Jonathan Sexton, a research assistant at the University of Arizona's College of Public Health. "Toilet seats generally have 1,000 bacteria or less, and these are in the millions so there's a lot more bacteria here." The results troubled Ciocon. "I'm concerned," she said. "I'm going to make sure everyone takes their shoes off from now on. As soon as they get to that door, their shoes are going to be off." Children under age 2 are the most vulnerable to the germs we track into the house, because they play on the floor and put their hands in their mouths an average of 80 times an hour. "That means that your child can possibly be exposed to every single bacteria that you picked up on your shoe [...] all the bacteria from the park, the store, everywhere you went that day," Sexton said. Out of "GMA's" 10 tests, nine contained coliform, a type of bacteria that comes mostly from human and animal waste. Scientists blame the floors of public restrooms and bird and dog droppings. The dogs in "GMA's" test came in fifth and ninth place for dirtiest soles. But that doesn't mean dogs are cleaner than people. One of the dogs in the test had just been for a walk in the rain, which probably cleaned his paws. Also, paws are much smaller than our shoes, so they carry fewer germs. The easiest way to ensure that you don't track the germs on your shoe soles into your home is to leave your shoes at the door or carry them to the closet. Then you should wash your hands.

In case you were wondering, I do wipe off my doggies paws when she comes into the house, but only if it is wet.

You see the thing for me is this, when I invite people over, I always sweep, mop and vacuum before they get here. Our driveway is made of gravel and they track that in on their shoes. If it is wet outside it is totally gross. In one part of my house we have cream colored carpets (from the previous owner) I hate people walking in there with dirty shoes! I have a mudroom where people can take off their shoes, so to me it's a no-brainer. Once that baby starts crawling, I'm gonna be a freak about it.

So, what are you? A shoe person (in the house) or a no-shoe person? Do you get offended when people ask you take off your shoes? Do you just not care? Do you wake up in the morning and put on your shoes when you get dressed and wear them around your house all day? I have a friend who does that. He doesn't care about taking his shoes off when he comes over here. If you didn't want to take off your shoes at someone's house would it make you feel any better if they had a pretty pair of slippers that you could put on? If you are a shoe person does the GMA article make you think twice about taking off your shoes?

Ok, that is my little rant. There are your questions. Tell me how rude I am if you must, but just remember, if any of you are planning a trip to my house get those tootsies pedicured first, cause you are taking your shoes off!

Posted by: Miss Pamb
Date posted: Tue Jun 24 2:17:17 2008
Message:
Hi Isis I think this is an interesting subject. I joined the Flylady website a few years ago and one of her first assignments it to "dress to the shoes" and she says it makes it easier to jump up and run out to the mailbox or to do something outside quickly, like take out the garbage. Also it's great to be dressed and ready to go if you have to rush off to school to pick up your kids if there is an emergency, etc. Another reason she wants us to wear our shoes is to protect our feet. Her readers have told stories of rushing around and breaking a toe or having some other injury that would have been prevented if they had been wearing their shoes. It took me quite a while to get used to wearing my shoes but I don't like taking them off at all until I'm ready for bed now.
Another think I'd like to share if I might is that when I was a kid one of my aunts was a germaphobe and she had a cow when I handed her baby a pacifier that she had dropped on the floor. My aunt yelled that a million germs had jumped on that pacifier when it hit the floor. I was a little kid and that image scared me to death. Years later my dear aunt died of cancer. I always wondered if her fear of germs had manifested in the form of cancer because of her obsession.
Whether you choose to ask people to take off their shoes or not is your choice but I figure if you make your close friends and family take off their shoes you should make EVERYBODY take off their shoe. Personally I don't think it's a good idea. I have athletes foot sometimes and that would be just as icky as dirty shoe bottoms.

Posted by: SqueezeMe
Date posted: Fri Jun 20 12:22:48 2008
Message:

Hi, Isis. I'm late weighing in, but anyway...

I would abide by the house rules, whatever they may be. But I will admit that being asked to de-shoe leaves me with the vague feeling that my hostess cares more about her floors than my company.

Posted by: Kelly Oh!!
Date posted: Thu Jun 19 8:47:39 2008
Message:

I never ever ask guests to remove their shoes, but I would hope that if their shoes are dirty or whatever, that they'd have the SENSE to do so. A friend of my husband's is a mechanic, and he takes his shoes off automatically, which is fine by me.

I'd never walk in someone's home with filthy shoes regardless of their 'rules', and if they are a 'take your shoes off, please' household, I do so, no bitching, no moaning. It's not my house - duh.