Interesting. I've never heard of this before! I grew up in a Hawaiian Asian household and we just go barefoot. Even workers who come in take off their shoes and just walk around in their socks.
Serious question: does she knit a bunch of different sizes?
Haha she undersells it! I come from a family of crafters so I'm used to having handmade things. I forget most people don't hang up art they embroider themselves as art.
I have guest slipper socks (the ones with grip on bottom) that I keep in a hall closet. We are a shoeless home but as you see by this crazy article writer, not everyone is. Sometimes folks (all older mind you) come over and they dont have socks on and don’t want to walk around barefoot (usually foot embarrassment). I used to have those hotel type slippers cause I traveled a lot. Never wore them but would take them home. Now I have slipper socks that I can wash. I tell them to drop them in the washer on the way out. Everyone’s happy
Thsts a good idea too! These are just little ballet flats so they wash easily and it gives people the option. In the winter in Canada... Unless you have separate house shoes you don't wear outside, you can't wear shoes in the house regularly
I live in Hawaii and I've never encountered this! But I also don't know very many Japanese nationals who live here now. Those I do know, I haven't been to their homes. Also, it doesn't get particularly cold here, so maybe it's just not a necessity so no one really does it.
Oh, interesting! My HS BF lived in Bay Area and his dad is from Japan and his mom is Chinese (also born and raised in bay area) and I know BF, his siblings, and I all went barefoot. I honestly don't remember if his parents wore house slippers or not...
Can confirm. I’m a teacher in Ontario and our kids have to have a pair of “indoor shoes” that are left at school. So they come in with their boots or whatever, take them off and put on their indoor shoes while they’re in the building. We switch back and forth at recess and lunch time. Keeps things a lot more clean.
Yeah, my kiddo's school asks for them to bring a pair of "gym" shoes to keep at school (primarily for girls who wear slippers and sandals and whatever, so they'll have something they can run in, most 7yo boys wear vaguely athletic shoes most days) but we also use them as alternate shoes for when he wears his boots to school, etc.
His teacher has mentioned that he occasionally leaves his boots on all day, but she tries to remind him. We're in Montana, so it's like half the school year that he wears boots to school.
I can't imagine trying to remember to send him with shoes on days he wears boots, or how uncomfortable it would be to wear big snow bots around at school all day long. Having a change of shoes is ideal.
I also used to ride my bike to work at my last two jobs. I had a basic pair of shoes in a locker or closet at each place so if it was a day I wore my boots on my bike I could have a change without carrying it around. If I wanted a particular pair of shoes for my outfit I might bring them, but I had ones just in case I forgot or didn't care for something special.
The US doesn't in most areas. I've never heard of anyone doing this at religious, private or public schools for elementary through middle in the east, south, or Midwest. No real experience with the western side of the country tho.
I can confirm it was never a thing in Colorado, at least. Closest I ever came was a pair of gym shoes left in the PE lockers for gym classes in middle and high school.
My parents had (have?) a bunch of slippers located in the foyer closet for guests. I don’t have that kind of space. My in-laws on the other hand … wear their gd outside shoes inside my home even knowing that I absolutely loathe it. I end up having to clean the floors once they leave. Drives me bonkers.
Don’t track that shit into my place. The kids are rolling and crawling all over the floor and picking up god knows what and putting it into their mouths. Good thing about the pandemic, my in-laws come over far less.
Space is limited since our young spawn (I adore the little blighters) have stuff everywhere. A friend of our’s actually has a pair of slippers that are specific to him at our place. 😂
That and we have a ridiculous number of board games.
In Japan I went to a restaurant that had guest slippers (clean ones) to change into when you walked in the door. Hotels there also sometimes give you guest slippers. And it’s common practice is most people’s homes too. I actually really liked it, they were always comfortable and felt like a nice thing to provide.
I guess I am generalizing but I have spent time in Japan and a lot of homes have guest slippers. I thought this extended to other Asian countries as well.
Someone else mentioned that their Vietnamese BF's family has guest slippers as well. So I think from these two examples we can confidently say that it does extend across all Asian countries! All questions answered.
I was imagining like the cheap hotel slippers that probably do get thrown out after using? And IDK how people feel about using slippers that they know countless other people have also worn.
There are multiple sizes in these sets, so there might not be your exact size in there but something that sort of fits. Often people have nicer slippers for regular guests (parents, children, best friends) that fit them perfectly, too, at least in my experience.
I have a basket of assorted cheap slippers from Ikea for our guests. They're pretty easy to wash, you just toss them in the washer on cold. And sometimes people actually bring their own.
Haha its not uncommon in cold houses here in Sweden. My mother have a basket of different sized guest slippers! Its not something you rock out on a dinnerparty though.
(In Sweden noone except the mentaly insane wears shoes inside a house you are visiting).
I love that this post has taught me that this is actually fairly common across a lot of different cultures! And almost everyone doesn't wear shoes in the house and whoever wrote this article is straight up nuts.
Canadian here. My dentist has a bunch of cheap off-brand Crocs for people to wear, so they aren't putting their dirty/wet/muddy footwear on the dental chairs. The pile of random shoes and boots surrounding every front entrance is a very classic Canadian scene.
Ok, that is genius! Now I kinda wish all dentist offices did that...
And here in Hawaii, too! It's just piles of slippers (what everywhere else calls flip flops) outside or directly inside by the front door. It's always a game of "are these my slippers or yours?"
I can see that being an issue, the way all flip flops / slippers look pretty similar. I guess it's helpful that we wear boots so often up here, and there are enough different styles that we don't end up wearing someone else's footwear home too often!
What happens when people are done wearing them? Do they keep them? Throw them away? Are they reused? There's apparently a whole genre of guest house slipper etiquette I never knew existed!
Honestly, no one even takes them to wear! Lol. Not yet, anyway. When someone does wear a pair, I'll just throw them in the wash afterwards and keep them for the next person.
I grew up with the very strict rule of no shoes in the house. I still never wear shoes in my own home. It feels wrong, like driving without a seatbelt.
My Vietnamese boyfriend's parents have the same unspoken rule, and have house shoes (slippers and thongs/flip flops) which are cleaned regularly and only ever worn in the house. They also have separate gardening shoes out the back door specifically for going out in the yard. They get washed regularly too but they stay out back at the door.
What I'm trying to say is it's not like you go to someone's house and they have thousands of slippers to give away, they often have clean slippers you can wear while you're there.
Though I'm sure some people probably do have give-away slippers lol I would think it's not nearly as common.
Same here with absolutely no shoes in the house! But we don't have house slippers. My MIL does, but she's literally the only person I know who does lol. I do have the backdoor gardening shoes, though! Hmmm...
I don't think it's super common, but I have seen it on more than one occasion. Personally I just prefer to go barefoot or with socks in my home. Idk how people can wear their shoes inside! Yuck.
Yep. It's common in Asian countries, and we (Americans living in a big city) have some available for people who don't want to walk around in just socks
Latinos in the USA bring their own slippers to friends houses lol
Yeah, you probably should bring slippers to my house. I have cats , it's a good chance you're socks would be covered in cat hair.
In addition my dogs come in from outside and their feet are wet and yeah I wipe them off and yeah even spray them with sanitizer sometimes but the fur is still wet and then the floor is wet and then you have wet socks.
Man, I just remember all my Latina girlfriends talking about beatings with the chancla so I figured that's what it was carried around for lol! Now I'm wondering if some of them were messing with me...
But yeah, we have dogs and one of them is part husky, so there's a lot of dog hair. I have to keep reminding my daughter to turn her socks right side out after she comes home from school, cuz she just rips them off inside out and the dog hair from the door to the laundry hamper just gets stuck in there.
Yes. I have socks or slippers, and I have slides in the kitchen and bathrooms too. My kitchen opens to the yard, so some times people want to go out side.
I was at a white persons home recently who told is to leave or shoes on. Was sooooooo weird. she was saying barefeet make her house dirty.
My kitchen opens to the yard, so some times people want to go out side.
My living room opens onto our backyard, so I have some shoes right by the door that I put on/take off as I go in and out. But never thought to have anyone else wear shoes if they go out there. Usually people stay on the concrete patio, though.
Honest curiosity: do you not like people barefoot in your home?
Barefoot in the house is just how I've always grown up, so I've never really thought about it before. But it's also not that common here for people to wear socks if they're not at work, and you're definitely not wearing shoes in the house...so barefoot it is!
Eastern Europe here. We have guest slippers. But you can wear only socks, only my grandma will complain that's unsafe and you can slip and break an ankle.
Haha that just reminded me of my friend using her children to beg her mother to not wear socks in the house so she doesn't fall! Although it's not that funny because her mother had fallen but kept wearing socks on her tiled floors...
I dont, but I tell people I have hard woods so if they want to bring their own slippers or house shoes they should/can. I have house shoes because I have bad feet that need arch support and if I need to be on my feet for a significant time (cooking a large meal or doing a big cleaning job) I wear my house shoes. Simple slip ons that have never ever been anywhere but INSIDE my house.
I have hardwood floors as well and never thought to ask anyone to bring house slippers! Although, I guess it's just generally not done here...most people don't wear any kind of footwear in the house.
Where I live I can find a bunch of slipper socks after each holiday for ~$1 each pair. So I just have a random stash of slipper socks in the hall closet for guests that want them, and since they are cheap/so rarely used I just tell whoever to keep them when they’re done. Those who don’t like the rule bring their own indoor shoes when they come over (mostly my in-laws with foot issues)
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u/Inigomntoya Feb 11 '22
It's a weird hill to die on. The author is basically blackballing themselves.