Walking around the office barefoot

Illona88

People who are complaining about bacteria: I grew up in a tiny village where people would just walk around the village barefoot all the time. No one died because of it.

But in the office, yeah keep your shoes on. It's really unprofessional to just treat your office like your home.

SailorKnightWing

Hey, I have a rep to maintain here! I'm originally from West Virginia!

High 5 West Virginia!

I don't wear shoes most of the day, but I work from my house and often from on top of my bed (like right now!). I don't like getting my shoes on the furniture so I just don't wear them most of the day. Or out to my mailbox, even though I stepped on a bee once and I'm mildly allergic and my foot swelled up huge. You think I'd learn...

But public areas, especially bathrooms, ALWAYS shoes. Not even flip flops: if I'm wearing sandals they have to push me a good inch off the floor with thick soles.

Are you like me and get all giddy every time I see someone from WV? I live and work in Utah and miss it terribly!
Those are my kinds of shoes! Mainly because I'm 4'11" and every cm counts.

I usually do, the first time I see someone in a forum from here. Especially when it's somewhere I don't expect a lot of my fellow Mountaineers to be based on our demographics, like a fitness or gaming forum. Utah's almost as pretty a place as WV, so it can't be that bad.

I'm 5'8", so height isn't my issue; I just have really high and strong arches in my feet and need all the support I can get. Even my flat sandals have platforms just to compensate for my sheer arch-iness.

cadaverousbones

I am walking around the office barefoot right now. Except I do not leave the call floor without shoes (call center) That would be gross walking into the bathroom/break room.

k8blujay2

In the bathroom... yuck you are not over reacting. In the general offica area? Lighten up.... it's summer, it's a new world now that the traditionalists have passed the torch to the boomers. Just wait until us Gen Xer's are in charge... casual everyday and NO MORE DANG MEETINGS TO DISCUSS EVERYTHING!!!!

(Said the HR Employee)

I seriously can't wait for this day... I have worked in federally controlled areas that were way more relaxed than a lot of places. I miss it!!

sillygoosie

That is disgusting! I don't care if you work in an office with 2 people, keep your shoes on. No one wants to see your crusty gross feet!

How unprofessional.

I love how so many people keep assuming others have "crusty gross" feet. Some of us take proper care of them and they are always well manicured...or pedicured, if you prefer.

littlelaura

I have kicked my shoes off while under my own desk, but never walked around barefoot at my office and
would never go to a bathroom without anything on my feet, that's just gross!

ketchupqueen

They're feet... 99.99% of humans are born with two of them.

Get over it.

THIS

BTW Female feet are BEAUTIFUL

+1

Why do you care so much about other people's feet??? Germs are EVERYWHERE.

retirehappy

Does the company have an escalation path, since your super seems to be an offender.
It is against OSHA and it can be taken to HR if no other route is available to you.

To go to the restrooms is so unprofessional and just GROSS.

I do sit at my desk and slip off my shoes, I have a foot roller thing to help relieve the stress, but I put my shoes back on to move outside my workspace. So I am not anti-take off your shoes, just think it is civilized to put them back on when moving beyond personal space.

retirehappy

I like to present wierd solutions for wierd problems. Next time she comes out of the bathroom without shoes on just pee on her feet, same thing right?

Now that is thinking outside the box. I like it.

Dragonwolf

Does the company have an escalation path, since your super seems to be an offender.
It is against OSHA and it can be taken to HR if no other route is available to you.

Um...no. It's not. Unless you work somewhere with exposed electrical wires or that requires steel-toed shoes, or other such hazardous environment. An office is not such an environment. (Source: http://www.barefooters.org/osha.html )

MelissaH0910

I'm the facilities manager of a building of 200 +/- staff, and we have a dress code that prohibits going barefoot in the office, but people still do. Unfortunately, most of the managers/supervisors here are either afraid of their staff or they just don't want to deal with it, so they dump it on me to deal with. I've actually been physically threatened by someone who was po'd that I had the nerve to ask her to put her shoes on.

Personally, I hate shoes, and I'd go barefoot everywhere if I could. I'll kick them off under my desk, but they go back on if I have to get up, dress code or not.

Tenmidwest

only ok if girl has good feet. if you gots some nasty feet....keep your shoes on. all dudes keep their shoes on, end of discussion

BHKLEIN

Shoes off in your own office or at your desk, shoes ON anywhere else. Esp. in the bathroom!!!!!!

BigDog

It just boggles my mind at all the uneducated, unfounded, untrue statements. With the exception of a personal viewpoint on weather feet are ugly or not... Most of these nasty, safety, gross, dangerous, etc... statements being made are just societal stereotypes that have been pounded into our brains over time.

Bare feet used to be socially acceptable and nobody would bat an eye to see it.

1. Stinky feet... Are a byproduct of bacteria which grow and thrive in dark moist places. (Shoes!) Anyone who is barefoot much of the time can attest to the fact that bare feet do not stink unless encased in sweaty socks and shoes.

2. Unprofessional... This one is merely an environment, and dress code issue. (which were probably created because of uptight individuals and their unfounded fears) If I work in a place that does not deal with the public then who cares?

3. Dangerous, safety issue... Oh please! This is the most non issue one. If you work in an environment where protection is needed then ok, (think factory floor) but I can guarantee most people (especially office people) are in no more danger of injuring their bare feet as they are of injuring their bare hands. I mean you people make it sound like you're walking through mine fields of broken glass and rusty nails. (What the hell kind of offices are you working in?)

4. Health code... Only if you are serving food, but then there are rules for your hair, face, hands (hygiene in general) in that situation too. As for most other places of work... There is no health code referencing bare feet. In fact there are practically no laws on the books restricting bare feet in general. Not one state in the U.S. has a driving barefoot restriction law. (Hell it's far more dangerous to drive with flip flops than bare foot!) Most rules concerning bare feet are implemented at the company / business level, not the government level. (personal / company rules... Not laws!)

5. Gross, nasty, etc... (especially in regards to bathrooms.) Unless you have an open cut on your foot, you are no more likely to contract anything from walking on a bathroom floor than anywhere else. We have this really cool thing around our bodies called skin and it keeps out a lot of stuff. You are far more likely to contract something from exposed hands in a bathroom than from your feet. Plus... My feet don't have tread and grooves and cavities for all that nasty bacteria you are so scared of to cling to and catch a ride on like your shoes do. You people with shoes are tracking things far greater distances than us bare foot people. I also shower and clean myself (including my feet) daily. How often to you clean the bottom of your shoes?

6. Feet are ugly... That's your opinion, and what's more feet that are squeezed into sweaty, pinching, confining, bacteria ridden little coffins every day tend to be much uglier than the ones that are out getting tanned and beautiful in the fresh air.

And finally let me say that so many people are missing out. Going barefoot is one of the best feeling in the world. Go for a barefoot hike some day the textures and sensations are incredible. Think about walking around every day all day with gloves on. All the tactile sensations you would be missing out on. I don't think too many people would enjoy doing that and would take those gloves off the first chance they got. Well that's how I feel about shoes. Put them on when you need to or have to, but as soon as it's possible... Kick them off and feel the world around you!

Thank you for your time. :-)

bennysammysofie

leave some tacks right inside the door when you enter the bathroom. See if they start putting on their shoes then.

mank32

statements being made are just societal stereotypes that have been pounded into our brains over time. ...And finally let me say that so many people are missing out.

:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:


you germophobes would really hate me.

i (most days, most of the year) bring my longboard into the office and lay it sideways on the floor under my desk (it only sticks out about 4-5" from my cubicle, which is still in the 'personal space' bubble created by my chair). i will change out of my sk8 shoes and socks and leave them on the floor under my desk and put on my 'office' shoes. i usually sk8 on my lunchbreak, and sometimes on my short breaks, so perhaps 1-3 times i may change my shoes/socks right at my desk.

for the past 2 weeks i have been enjoying the official sanction to violate dresscode and wear flip flops. this has been a godsend for me because i have a huge blister on my heel. (guess what it's from.) aside from the aforementioned blister, my feet are pretty and and very, very strong, and they have no discernable smell. i love to show them off.

you foot fetish guys would LOVE me. but idngaf what anyone thinks, either way. haters gon' hate, sk8rs gon' sk8.

GTAFrank

They're feet... 99.99% of humans are born with two of them.

Get over it.

THIS

BTW Female feet are BEAUTIFUL

+1

Why do you care so much about other people's feet??? Germs are EVERYWHERE.

Well since you quoted me, please elaborate on how you arrived at that conclusion. I merely agreed with a statement posted by someone else. The women I know look after their feet and they look great. At no point did I endorse splashing around in a stranger's urine.

Clearly many of you have severe footphobia

Trueray

You can't teach class, it's either you have it or you don't. Some people are retarded. I would step on there feet with my shoes to teach them a lesson.

bearkisses

I take my shoes off, but just behind my desk. I also don't tell others. It seems kind of unprofessional...but maybe because I don't want to see other people's feet either, which makes it our issue and not theirs.

sire137

I'd say unprofessional at an office. but not gross. that would be the wrong approach since that would offend those who don't consider feet gross. if you seriously have an issue against feet, then you can bring that up in a courteous manner.