WTOP posted an article on the protocols for hosting a party in which you want guests to remove their shoes. In the U.S., there are many ways this could go wrong if you aren't accommodating about such a request. The best thing to do is warn guests ahead of time, so the worst that could happen is that no one comes to your party.
The discussion at Fark ranges from "Of course one removes his/her shoes upon entering a house! It's what civilized people do." to "If you want visitors to remove their shoes in your home, let me know ahead of time. So I can avoid visiting you." Many pointed out that bare feet can be just as nasty as shoe soles.
The custom of shoes in the house varies from culture to culture, and even among states in the U.S. In Alaska and other snow boot areas, people take off their wet boots in the mud room provided. In Hawaii, everyone wears flip-flops, so it's easy to kick them off. In Texas, no one expects cowboy boots to be removed -it's not that easy to do. In the heartland, asking guests to remove their shoes in your home can imply that you spent too much on your carpets if you can't afford to clean them, or else you care more about your clean floors than you care about your guests.
In Japan, it is normal and expected to remove your shoes inside, because people sit and sleep on the floor. Slippers are worn instead. In Australia, removing your shoes opens up the possibility that some deadly creature may crawl inside them.
In the case of families with young children, some request no shoes in the house because they want to keep the floors clean for the kids to play on. Others are resigned to the fact that kids (and pets) will track in plenty of dirt whether they wear shoes or not.
In my house, guests can wear what they want on their feet, just don't expect the floor to be as clean as the tabletops. I certainly don't expect floors to stay clean. But please don't run up and down the wooden stairs in socks. It's not safe.
What do you think -should shoes be worn in the house, or should people remove them before they come in? You can check more than one answer in the poll below.
(Image credit: Flickr user Andrea R)
When I was younger, I noticed that no one ever takes their shoes off in TV shoes and movies. Some people even put their feet up on couches and tables with shoes on. Scandalous! I always thought it was for pacing (who wants to watch someone take their shoes off?).
I didn't learn that not taking your shoes off is the norm in real life in some places until I was an adult. Although the reasons given above make sense, I still find it strange. I'd feel terrible dragging the dirt/wetness/stickiness from my shoes through someone's house.
In places where it's not the norm, asking people to remove shoes can result in embarrassment and/or nastiness.
I have a pair of backyard shoes to deal with mud, grass stains, and potential dog poop. Those don't get worn throughout the house. Otherwise, it's shoes-optional.
Yes, but you should thoroughly scrape the mud and manure off your boots.
We rarely have visitors, but they're welcome to wear their shoes. What I don't allow and have to train my young children to do is to keep shoes off beds, chairs and couches. That's absolutely verboten.
The whole point of not wearing shoes in the house is to reduce cleaning efforts as well as to ensure that some of the more disgusting bacteria isn't tracked into the house (such as that which is picked up by trodding on animal feces). I've heard people complain that taking off their shoes exposes them to people's bare floors or carpet where they may pick up bacteria on their feet, but they don't mind tracking things from outdoors into that person's home? It's very disrespectful, not to mention simply dirty. Someone will be cleaning a carpet much more often if shoes are worn on it.
If it's too inconvenient for someone to take their shoes off when entering my home, then it's too inconvenient for me to host such a selfish person.
The custom makes sense, since most of the year it's either wet, snowy or muddy outside in Finland, and homes are warm and cozy. Personally I also feel much more comfortable when I don't have shoes on, so I think my home would be a shoeless one, even if the culture around me was different.
As an Australian, I can't say that I've ever been overly concerned about something deadly crawling into my shoes. Although it would be a rare Aussie who's never put their feet into a shoe, felt something moving and done a strange one-legged dance as they try to kick the shoe off and simultaneously check for spiders. Mostly, we just bang the shoe on the ground a couple of times if we think there's a chance something has taken residence.
We would prefer people take shoes off in our home, and most do, but we don't enforce it though since our animals have ruined the carpet :P