“Please take your shoes off?”

redcuppatea

I recently visited a friend and they asked us to take off my shoes when I went into their house. The house is nice like but nothing too fancy.

I didn’t mind at all, but it got me thinking? Is this a thing now? I know it’s common in other cultures.

But should I default to shoes off going into houses without having to be asked?

Thoughts?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058278548/please-take-your-shoes-off

No, I think it's weird asking people to remove their shoes. But if they want to that's completely fine.

elperello

If you go into a house on a mucky wet day, your shoes are filthy and you see that they have light coloured carpets it might be nice to offer to take off your shoes.

Other than that I wouldn't bother but I would take them off if asked.

As you say it's common in some other countries.

Perks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120076266#Comment_120076266

Weird. 😂 Hygenic. Yes.

Dial Hard

Do it if asked but I wouldn't be offering unless you know they're from a culture where it's the done thing.

The hygiene thing is fairly moot. The Irish Times (I think) did a fact-check kind of piece about this a few years back and the outcome is that shoes on in the house have a virtually non-measurable effect on health and hygiene and that removing them is really only beneficial for ultra, ultra immuno-compromised people.

wildwillow

i always remove my shoes in my own home but wouldn’t expect others to do it. When I had a severely immunocompromised child I just didn’t have any visitors in the house. Shoes weren’t the only source of infection.

I would be considerate of removing shoes in a house where babies and toddlers were crawling on the floor.

But some feet and socks are better in the shoes!!!!

Strumms

A friend’s mother used to be at this in the 1990’s… a seriously nice woman but an absolute oddball with an obsession for cleaning and washing… my abiding memory of her is wearing an apron about 12 hours a day and always with the marigolds….always cleaning or polishing everything from the silver door handles and post flap on the front door ( you’d have sworn the postman had something contagious )… also she must have gone through a couple of vacuum cleaners a year… washing floors always….

she insisted no shoes in the house…. Which always annoyed me as in their kitchen they had slippy lino floors which in just socks enabled no grip.

mcburns07

Always insist on it, unless you have manky smelly feet why would it even bother you? Shoes are for outside use, why would you need to wear them inside the house?

Porridge21

from the day my floors were first laid in my new home I never wore shoes in my house. I am Irish and this was not the norm in my childhood home. Although, I was influenced after visiting many other countries where this was the shoe etiquette. The difference in, level of intensity and frequency of needing scrub and deep clean, that is needed is very noticeable and makes my life that little bit easier. I recognise some people may feel uncomfortable doing this so I have bought a variety of stretch slipper for my guests to wear while keeping their socks on. I began this at a time when my daughter was 1 year old and was going to be spending the next while been up and down with her hands on the floor. The thoughts of dogs urinating outside my garden gate and then I unintentionally walking that back into my home, turned my stomach ! Now it is second nature to me to remove my shoes and I don’t feel comfortable walking around the house in my outdoor shoes it gives me a real ick. Obviously my daughter has been nurtured in this way from the beginning so she would definitely be more insistent on a guest removing their shows in exchange for slippers.

RainInSummer

Their house, their rules.

It's standard practice in other parts of the world.

I never bother or never asked anyone. However, our foreign friends and their kids do it from habit when they arrive.

That's multiple European nationalities, we're not Asia or anything.

Might be strange here in Ireland but we're in the minority I think.

mulbot

I don't understand why you would want to wear shoes in a house.

blackbox

When we moved house we decided on a no shoes policy.

It hugely reduces the amount of cleaning needed.

We don't ask guests to remove shoes, but many volunteer when they see we don't wear them.

There's nothing worse than dog shite smeared into the hall carpet.

The Continental Op

As I've said when this subject has come up before (there have been a lot of other threads) I wouldn't visit anyone that asked me to remove my shoes at least not a second time.

We remove shoes in our own house but we lived abroad for years where it was the norm.

We don't expect visitors to do it but most of our visitors are not Irish so tend to wipe their feet before entering.

tphase

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120646681#Comment_120646681

not really weird

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121387171#Comment_121387171

really weird

suvigirl

I always take my shoes off in every house I go to. It's super weird to wear shoes inside.

My sister in law hates it, keeps telling me my socks will get dirty🙄 maybe if ye didn't wear outside shoes inside, your floors wouldn't be so dirty???

ottolwinner

There’s too much dog sh1t on the streets these days.

I take off my own shoes and expect others to do the same. I offer shoe covers to anyone doing a job in the house.

don’t fancy unnecessarily cleaning floors.

Had guests up today. First thing they asked was about their shoes. I was wearing mine

Zirconia

Very weird I think. As others say, it's their house and their rules but they should let you know before you go over. That would give me the opportunity to say no thanks I'll give visiting your house a miss in that case!

RacoonQueen

I never wear shoes in my own home. Some people take theirs off automatically when they walk in the door because they see me take them off / mine are off. Others are completely oblivious. Would prefer if people took them off tbh but have never asked anyone. Sometimes people ask if I want them to take them off and I say no but really I mean yes. 😂

Dunno how people wear shoes indoors it's way more comfortable to have them off and you definitely notice the difference in the floors and carpets after someone has been in with shoes on especially if they're staying with you with shoes on for a few days.

Dunno why people get so butthurt about people not liking shoes on in their house or asking you to take them off. So what? Why is it such a big deal? Find it so strange that some people are so bothered by it.

spakman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120717873#Comment_120717873

I don't wear shoes in my house but don't ask visitors to remove theirs, I want them to feel comfortable so leave it up to them.

But if someone asked me to put on a pair of their slippers when I walked into their house, i definitely would find it very odd and I doubt I'd be visiting again in a hurry!

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120646895#Comment_120646895

Well as a TV apprentice and later "engineer" when I started work, you would not want to step in some of the things on the floor of peoples houses without shoes.

I recall one house in Crewe where a council house was home to a family who lived there with dogs, a youngish couple too. This was one of the many houses that a cigarette under the nose was a standard means of masking the worst of the aromas. A hole in the fence by the gate was blocked with a plywood sheet that someone had painted "please wipe your feet" on, on the side facing the house. A useful reminder to those leaving.

It was apt, the sidewalk was pristine in comparison.

Padre_Pio

I usually don't wear shoes in my house and definitely not upstairs, unless I need to be running in and out to the shed for something.

We all bought nice slippers and wear those around instead.

I wouldn't ask someone to take off their shoes. I have mats outside and inside the front door for that.

I was in China for a while and no shoes indoors is the norm. Everyone has guest slippers inside the front door for visitors.