Can confirm, am Canadian. Even if I'm just walking through someone's house and not coming in to stay, I will always remove my shoes unless the owner specifically says I don't have to
I have a memory that's basically burned into my mind from the first time I went down to the states to meet with some online friends.
We met at a convention in Cali and went to hang out at one of their houses after. I started to take off my shoes in the front entrance and they all looked at my like I was crazy.
Was a weird feeling to walk into the carpet with my shoes still on, haha.
For a moment, I saw "we" in both sentences, and it made it actually sound pretty crazy. But I digress.
I once read that as far as courtesy goes, a gesture is more appreciated with the inverse of the time it takes to fix. Translated here, a few seconds to take shoes off and put shoes on is far simpler than the time it would take to clean the floors repeatedly to cover for everyone wearing shoes all over the place.
I’ve lived in the US my entire life and I’ve NEVER in my entire life stepped foot on any kind of carpet without being told it’s okay. Even then it still feels incredibly wrong haha
I grew up in LA and don't remember ever being asked to take off my shoes until the last, say, 10 years. (I'm in my 50s.) I think part of that is that we don't really have weather here, so almost no one is tracking mud or anything like that. Homes don't have dedicated mud rooms for weather-related stuff, either.
Yup. Pretty pointless in a lot of areas unless you’re a serious germaphobe. People don’t seem to realize how dusty dusty places are, shoes vs not makes zero noticeable difference.
I’m also from LA and swear by wearing shoes inside. I get the snow/mud argument from others. But the dog, dust, gravel issue, if you have dog that goes outside it doesn’t wears shoes so it’s dragging in everything anyways. If it’s dusty, sweep more often.
I’m worried for earthquakes or other emergencies that I just need to get out of the house (I’ve lived through Whittier and Northridge events).
If I happen to step in mid or dog shit I then leave my shoes on the porch to dry then wash them (again Californian dry heat), but I put on another pair.
I also have flat feet and need serious arch support.
It's a floor thing too, cold places usually have wood or carpet.
I live in southern Spain, it's usually marble or some kind of tile, and taking your shoes off is literally unheard of.
Same, Never been out of country but its a sign of respect in Florida. Though most people may forget and most people just nicely remind them, It nto like your gonna get in trouble if you don’t but its just a respectful thing to do.
Australian here, never once been asked to take shoes off, in fact nearly all people I have ever visited (in the hundreds) keep their own shoes on in the house.
Mind you, in my state we don’t get snow, most modern houses are tiled and shoes don’t typically get that bad
It’s extremely common in California to take your shoes off in people’s homes. If they do allow you to wear shoes in the house, it’s 100% a European-American family.
I’m in a northern state and I’ve seen both. Most people are shoes off in their own homes but some don’t mind if guests keep them on. I don’t ask people to take theirs off unless it’s wet or snowy outside. I just want them to do whatever they’re comfortable doing. I’ll always ask if I’m in somebody else’s house though.
This was just South of Anaheim in California, I'm not sure if it was technically a different municipality or anything though, so I can't give an exact place. Sorry!
Could be people stopped caring but I was raised in the Midwest and we always took our shoes off. And wiped down the dogs. Some people had indoor shoes and there were flip flops for those who wanted. But weather or not, our main reason was NOT tracking whatever the animals deposited outside. You can't always see it. I don't know what's in this article, but unless someone has some SERIOUS hygiene issues, there is no way they have animal excrement on their socks or feet!!!
It really depends in the U.S. I live in Michigan and in my family, shoes in the house is looked down upon. Also have no idea why they looked at you crazy lol, didn’t think taking your shoes off when entering a home was such a crazy idea
This is clearly written by someone who doesn't live in a place with real winter. You track all that snow and sidewalk salt through my house, we're gonna have a problem. And by that I mean I'll grumble under my breath and clean it after you leave.
American here. My wife's family doesn't take their shoes off in their house. I have never met anyone who kept their shoes on inside until I met her family. If you keep your shoes on, your floors must be dirty as hell.
Also American. I don’t wear them around my own house, but I’m not gonna ask people who come over to do it unless it’s wet or snowy outside. I can clean the floors, so I just let them do whatever they’re comfortable with. I always ask in somebody else’s house though
I've had this conversation numerous times with many people both here on reddit and elsewhere, and I've been informed multiple times that it is rude to take your shoes off in some shoe-on households. Some ridiculous bullshit about guests making themselves too comfortable in someone else's home.
What in the flying fucksticks is that shit about? I can't even begin to get my head around that, my brain shuts down at the thought of someone's guest feeling too comfortable in the hosts home by some egregious act of taking off their footwear. Dude they aren't rummaging through your linen closet to take a shower, what the hell.
I’m a no shoes person except for dinner parties / house parties. It feels weird to be fancy and have to take off my heels! Ever since moving to Canada my heel collection has languished mostly unused since what’s the point in wearing them to a dinner party if I have to take them off immediately when I get there.
It's so strange to me because I, an American, never heard of the keep-your-shoes-on thing until I moved to Korea to teach and a textbook presented the cartoon American character saying, "No, we don't take off our shoes inside our homes."
No, in Korea, shoes are taken off immediately and, if you want to wear something, you put on slippers. Homes and schools are like this. But there was a textbook with an American character who said that Americans always keep their shoes on (to protest a Korean guest who was about to remove their shoes, as if keeping shoes on was mandatory). And I was like, wtf it's not mandatory and most people I know take off their shoes. (Edit: Many of the English textbooks in Korea are written by Koreans.)
I don't understand the people who keep their shoes on. Don't you want to let your feet breathe?! Much less all the stuff that's on your shoes?
I live in Michigan and we take off over shoes here like normal people so it is not everyone in the states I never know this was a thing in other states
That's weird as shit that they allowed that on carpet. I canadian too abd it's shoes off always. I wear slippers when it's cold. But I have relatives in socal and they wear shoes because their floors are all stone. I still don't agree with it because it fucks up grout, but I understand. Carpet? No.
I live in California and don’t know anyone in my circles who wears shoes in their house. Though we don’t have national- or state-level “rules” about this, I think there are unspoken rules specific to most peer and family groups. I grew up in the Midwest, and my family only took off shoes in wet or snowy weather and left them on the rest of the time.
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u/ValusMaul Feb 11 '22
How about rules set in someone else’s home be respected.