this wtf. People think it's okay to go trucking through someones house with their shoes on? Yeah come on in and rub dog **** into my carpet or get some gum everywhere or better yet you just took a piss in urinal come and spread other people's urine on my floors where my kids crawl around!

if im spending hundreds of thousands on my house, i would do anything in my power to take care of it. nothing wrong with asking people to take their shoes off.

if you are uncomfortable asking, keep a pile of shoes by the entrance and that will mind **** people into taking their shoes off.

Oh and all the euro tards, ive lived in greece and living in england now, not one person has asked me to take my shoes off. My parents house in australia was 8 figures, not once did anyone take their shoes off. Cleaner did come once a week but still. Only would get in trouble for putting shoes on the lounge.

Currently sitting at a mates in london, feet just off the lounge shoes on. Mentioned this thread and asked should i take them off. He lol'd and was like wtf. I honestly feel like im being trolled with all this shoes off and even slippers for guests! Wtf?

so you're one of those guys who thinks once its gets a whiff of dirt, it's spoiled till the end of time A welcome mat is generally enough to remove a majority of road dirt, and then a carpet runner of only 6' is plenty to remove almost all debris.

I went to Pakistani home once, and was told that expensive hand woven carpets could be more damaged by the oils exuded from a persons feet than a mere temporary layer of dirt.

Obviously it's house rules that overide a guests position.

obv do what the host asks you to do but the responses itt are kinda weird. this is something that is virtually never requested in the U.S., at least not in virginia or the surrounding states, not in nice houses or cheap ones. it is almost exclusively if it is a cultural thing ie koreans, or if you're filthy for some reason.

I do this. I'm from NJ. In my parents' house growing up, we always took shoes off, as did all guests (and since this was how I was trained, it's how I treat my place now). But that definitely wasn't standard. So now I just copy the host, which means sometimes taking my shoes off and sometimes keeping them on. I would have thought it was standard to do this.

My parents do have friends now that are a married couple, and they are neat-freaks/germophobes. They make you take you shoes off and then wear a pair of slippers (they have a basket of cleaned slippers at the front door for themselves and guests).

I always found it interesting that young kids are usually the first to take their sneakers off when being inside without anyone asking. At the most basic level it's really simple. It's comfortable to have no shoes on. Why wouldn't you want to be comfortable in a house?

a true germophobe can never be so sure the cooties of a previous wearer have been excised.

Although I'm not often asked to remove shoes, and don't ask guests to remove them myself, I tend to side with the Euro/Canadatards on this matter. Seems more civilized and hospitable. I mean, if I'm home for an extended amount of time, I certainly remove my shoes, and I would assume the same is true for most of the non-shoe removers itt. So having guests remove them, to me, seems less about nittiness and more about an extension of hospitality.

Also, I'm not a germaphobe, but I think having a basket of fresh slippers for guests sounds pretty boss. May have to initiate this custom.

in the Cariboo / Chilcotin it's fairly standard practice because of the climate. From boots to socks leaves cold feet. slippers/moccasins are like $5 a pr.

I think some of the stuff that's being blamed on culture here has a lot more to do with weather. I know in Anchorage it was standard, moreso because in the winter months you're A- wearing heavy boots B- your **** is covered in snow.

I used to always wear shoes, but my best friend is half korean/full neat freak and always asked that we take them off (but fwiw- doesn't for parties he hosts). I just kinda realized that it's a lot more comfortable and now basically the first thing I do when I get home is take them off.

The only drawback is that his pug probably owes me 4 pairs of socks.

One of the things that's been mentioned a couple times now by U.S. posters is the strangeness of applying this custom in formal/semi-formal occasions. For those that adhere to this practice, what do you do during upscale dinner parties, or if you go to a private residence after a formal event (wedding, funeral, graduation, etc.)? It just seems so incredibly strange that men in suits or tuxes, or women in formal dresses, would be walking around in their socks and bare feet.

And by the way, I don't ask that in a negative fashion. In fact, I definitely see the appeal of this custom; I'm just curious how it works in different situations.

I can understand this custom, I don't follow it myself, but if you don't want to take off your shoes don't go to their house. It's like visiting someone and complaining about the food they serve you.

Couple of notes:

-I don't think it's a coincidence that the OP has the word "country" in his/her name and the only person to agree has the word "cotton" in his name.

-I tried to think of examples where having your shoes on in someone's home would be OK... like, what about a party where you go from indoors to outdoors or something? So I went back to look at photos from some parties where I posted reports. Here is how it appears to work:

If you are outside, you wear shoes unless you are oil wrestling:



If you are inside, you take your shoes off and place them with everyone else's shoes. If you are female, it is also considered polite to take off your top.



If you have nice shoes, and they are an integral part of your outfit, it is acceptable to keep them on:

This is not Nam. There are rules.

I would never ever care if someone wore shoes in my house and I do think its strange that others care, but its one of those things that is never worth arguing over. In fact, I think you have to be a total dick to even make an issue out of it if someone asks you to take your shoes off in their house.