Do You Remove Your Shoes Before Entering Your Home ?

[qwertz]

In Germany it's standard practice, you even get a pair of house slippers to wear.

[dingdongrb]

just wondering if the expats/travellers have adopted the Thai habit of removing their shoes before entering their home or stick with their old habit from farang land.

our old habits from farang land included removing the shoes not before but immediately after entering our house.

Exactly - i mean what's the difference,one yard?

Another crap poll.

The difference could be much more than 'one yard', it depends on where outside you remove them, doesn't it? (Or where inside you take them off to be specific.) I think that anyone with half a brain understands the just of the OP's poll. And if the poll is so crappy why have you posted on this thread so many times? (ignore and move on please)

[sylviex]

I take off just inside door . Outside poses a risk of a shoeful of tokay poop, insect nasties or other unwanted surprises. Also, I recall reading here of the man from Sunbelt Asia having to go to work in suit and sandals after his shoes were stolen from outside. I think his whole street was cleaned out, if I remember correctly.

It's disgusting watching, mainly American, movies where people sit in a sofa or a bed with their dirty shoes on or bring in all sorts of filth that is deposited on the carpeting.

Don't know if mainly American or not, but the same horrifies me in films now, as does putting shoe-clad feet on the COFFEE TABLE ! Have a scone !!

It makes perfect sense to remove shoes inside. Probably more cultures do so than don't. I have always preferred to be barefooted. Shoes feel quite uncomfortable now. I think my feet have broadened from lack of confinement. Many shoes are even very bad for the feet and spine, notably high heels, in which you also risk breaking your ankles.

You should protect your feet properly outdoors, though, to avoid snakes, stinging insects and nasty tropical microbes and other undesirables.

BTW, Aussies don't wear flip flops. We sometimes wear thongs, though .

At one Thai place I sometimes visit , they insist you do not remove your shoes before entering. They wear their shoes, too. I always wonder if there's a "trendy farang practice" idea going on. Hope it doesn't catch on.

Edited July 26, 2008 by sylviex

[Acomes2Siam]

I am from Sandinavia and in Scandinavia everyone removes their shoes before entering. It is not even going to b about being polight or not because people will simply not tolerate shoes on their wall to wall.

So, yeah, I do it, but it has nothing to do with Thailand or not.

[dingdongrb]

BTW, Aussies don't wear flip flops. We sometimes wear thongs, though .

I associate 'flip flops' and 'sandals' to be worn on the feet..... To me a 'thong' is that piece of dental floss women call underwear....

(But to each is his own...)

[sgtpeppers]

unless I have stepped in dog crap or its rainy and muddy outside,

my shoes are clean enough.

Thais have a point but they seem to be a tad obsessed with the so called dirtiness of the feet.

its a rather irrational belief IMO taken to extremes.

perhaps 100 years ago it was a good idea, with all the buffalo crap and lack of roads.

[Marvo]

I suffered from cold feet in the UK for at least 10 months of the year and couldn't bare to walk around shoeless, despite having a nice cosy carpet under my toes. It's a relief to be able to "barefoot" on the cool tiled floor around the house here.

BTW Any stall wort Brits out there in TV-land willing to admit to having CARPET in their Thai house?

[sylviex]

To me a 'thong' is that piece of dental floss women call underwear....

... so what do men call those ?

And wearing those is an equal oportunity sport, I believe.

[garro]

unless I have stepped in dog crap or its rainy and muddy outside,

my shoes are clean enough.

Thais have a point but they seem to be a tad obsessed with the so called dirtiness of the feet.

its a rather irrational belief IMO taken to extremes.

perhaps 100 years ago it was a good idea, with all the buffalo crap and lack of roads.

We all have different levels of personal hygiene - some people very low. If you are in your own home this is fair enough, but hopefully you respect oher people's homes, and when expected, take off your shoes.

Edited July 26, 2008 by garro

[sylviex]

unless I have stepped in dog crap or its rainy and muddy outside,

my shoes are clean enough.

Thais have a point but they seem to be a tad obsessed with the so called dirtiness of the feet.

its a rather irrational belief IMO taken to extremes.

perhaps 100 years ago it was a good idea, with all the buffalo crap and lack of roads.

We all have different levels of personal hygiene - some people very low. If you are in your own home this is fair enough, but hopefully you respect oher people's homes, and when expected, take off your shoes.

His feet may be worse, garro .

[dingdongrb]

To me a 'thong' is that piece of dental floss women call underwear....

... so what do men call those ?

'Dental floss'???

[garro]

unless I have stepped in dog crap or its rainy and muddy outside,

my shoes are clean enough.

Thais have a point but they seem to be a tad obsessed with the so called dirtiness of the feet.

its a rather irrational belief IMO taken to extremes.

perhaps 100 years ago it was a good idea, with all the buffalo crap and lack of roads.

We all have different levels of personal hygiene - some people very low. If you are in your own home this is fair enough, but hopefully you respect oher people's homes, and when expected, take off your shoes.

His feet may be worse, garro

True, maybe this is the problem. Some people don't like taking off their shoes because it might mean washing their minging feet on a regular basis. Next thing you know, people will be asking them to wash their hands after they ching-chong.

Edited July 26, 2008 by garro

[sgtpeppers]

garro and sylivex, both of you can eat my feet

[sgtpeppers]

.

Edited July 26, 2008 by sgtpeppers

[sylviex]

garro and sylivex, both of you can eat my feet

I thought you'd never ask, sgtperppers .

[garro]

garro and sylivex, both of you can eat my feet

Only if you pick off the scabby bits and soak them in Detol for a month

[Jared]

Back in the Uk I always take my shoes off either outside the house or just inside on the matt. They are then picked up and either put into a shoe rack or shoe cupboard. In thailand I used to always take my shoes off outside the house until the bloody neighbours dog starting stealing all of our shoes. So now its the same, enter the house take your shoes off on the matt, pick them up and put them on the shoe rack.

[sgtpeppers]

unless I have stepped in dog crap or its rainy and muddy outside,

my shoes are clean enough.

Thais have a point but they seem to be a tad obsessed with the so called dirtiness of the feet.

its a rather irrational belief IMO taken to extremes.

perhaps 100 years ago it was a good idea, with all the buffalo crap and lack of roads.

We all have different levels of personal hygiene - some people very low. If you are in your own home this is fair enough, but hopefully you respect oher people's homes, and when expected, take off your shoes.

I walk around everywhere with my shoes, I sleep in my shoes , I casually stroll around in them in other peoples home. No problem.

If they ask me to take them off I shove them away and tell them to get lost.

Seriously though, I have developed the Thai habit of taking off my shoes in line with the Thai style. I just think the Thais exaggerate the dirtiness of the foot.

btw my hygiene is impeccable

Edited July 26, 2008 by sgtpeppers

[marshbags]

snipped

His feet may be worse, garro .

I have always thought along these lines and often comment on this to my wife.

Just take a look at some of the feet and the filthy state they are in

There is no excuse for having feet that haven,t seen water for god knows how long.

I also find it amazing when i sit in an eating place and see people kick their shoes off and sit cross legged with their filthy feet on the chair, not far from the food itself.

Unhygienic or what.

Then some unsuspecting sole ( no Pun intended ) goes and sits down after them using their hands to position the chair and then handling food ect. with them.

Rich or poor there is no excuse for this and people need re educating on this one.

I have always taken my shoes off in my own home long before i ever came to Thailand.

If i visit someone elses place, i tend to follow their actions, as it can make them feel uncomfortable.

Now smelly cheesy feet that,s another story.

By the way i also wash my feet in Thailand after taking my shoes / sandals off, before entering the house.

marshbags

Edited July 26, 2008 by marshbags

[MonkeyHouse]

I do not wear shoes so therefore never need to remove them.

However what ever i have on my feet i do remove whilst entering places where they have to be removed.

Its about courtesy snt it?

[TheDon]

Anyone enter my house with shoes on would be carried out in a stretcher. Its rude to wear shoes in the house, I mean wearing shoes inside is discusting. Unless you want a kickboxing lesson.

[chivo]

i assume this poll is asking whether of not you keep your shoes on whilst inside your house.

i think of it this way:

people that piss on the street

people that spit pleghm on the street

public toilet floors

gas and oil drippings

street food vendor discards on ground

stray dog secretions

etc

etc

etc

[garro]

Anyone enter my house with shoes on would be carried out in a stretcher. Its rude to wear shoes in the house, I mean wearing shoes inside is discusting. Unless you want a kickboxing lesson.

To be fair, I don't really think that you can call a room in a hospital 'your house' can you?

[calibanjr.]

I'm fine with the shoes off, it's a lot more comfy, etc. The guys wigging out about shoes on in "American movies" and bringing "filth" etc. into other's houses are a bit over the top to me. The VAST majority of American homes I've been in, people don't expect guests to take their shoes off. There are some people that do, and it is expected that they tell you their preference for it, if you don't notice them taking them off themselves when you enter. Feet up on the coffee table or other furniture, shod or not, is always a no-no. I'm from a winter wonderland area, and if you come over with snowy/wet shoes, you're expected to wipe them off or take them off as the situation dictates, but that's usually it. Most of those homes, like my whole very large extended family's, seem as clean as anything I've seen anywhere else. Seems like some hyper-anal-retentive types in the vicinity.

Edited July 26, 2008 by calibanjr.

[IvanLaw]

Out of curiosity ?,

Would you be happy with someone walking bare foot in your home IF

They had verucas, athletes foot or other contagious fungal infections

How would you know?

In our home we provide slippers for visitors.

Just wondered how many other people do?

Regards

Ivan

PS

Slippers are regularly cleaned , disinfected

Yes I always remove my shoes as it is far more hygienic. I don't want my baby crawling over a floor covered in all the things that I picked up outside or during visits to the toilet. Of course,to many posters on TV that might see this as trying to be Thai but in my opinion they are just ignorant and so screw them.

Blimey,that's a bit aggressive isn't it??

You should see the post I started to write

Edited July 26, 2008 by IvanLaw

[ZZZ]

Maybe I should not have mentioned "American movies" when I made my comment but most of the movies comes from over there, did not mean to pick on any particular nationality.

Anyway, next time you watch something like Seinfeld or Friends, there is always a sofa around in these series, you will always see someone pull up one or both shod feet in the sofa. The sofa may still "seem clean" but after walking around outside stepping in garbage juice, dog piss and various globs of phlegm it's not as clean as it seems

You will invariably touch the sofa with your hands and to then, like in Friends, sit there and eat doughnuts is not very nice

Edited July 26, 2008 by ZZZ

[garro]

I'm fine with the shoes off, it's a lot more comfy, etc. The guys wigging out about shoes on in "American movies" and bringing "filth" etc. into other's houses are a bit over the top to me. The VAST majority of American homes I've been in, people don't expect guests to take their shoes off. There are some people that do, and it is expected that they tell you their preference for it, if you don't notice them taking them off themselves when you enter. Feet up on the coffee table or other furniture, shod or not, is always a no-no. I'm from a winter wonderland area, and if you come over with snowy/wet shoes, you're expected to wipe them off or take them off as the situation dictates, but that's usually it. Most of those homes, like my whole very large extended family's, seem as clean as anything I've seen anywhere else. Seems like some hyper-anal-retentive types in the vicinity.

Anal retentive?

You said.

Would you be happy with someone walking bare foot in your home IF

They had verucas, athletes foot or other contagious fungal infections

These conditions are associated with poor feet hygiene and wearing shoes too much.

Edited July 26, 2008 by garro

[dingdongrb]

Maybe I should not have mentioned "American movies" when I made my comment but most of the movies comes from over there, did not mean to pick on any particular nationality.

Anyway, next time you watch something like Seinfeld or Friends, there is always a sofa around in these series, you will always see someone pull up one or both shod feet in the sofa. The sofa may still "seem clean" but after walking around outside stepping in garbage juice, dog piss and various globs of phlegm it's not as clean as it seems

You will invariably touch the sofa with your hands and to then, like in Friends, sit there and eat doughnuts is not very nice

Come'on for Pete's sake, it's television and the movies.... You see them jumping cars, jumping from trains and flaming buildings, even flying in the movies as well as taking 15 bullets in the chest and surviving. Does this mean everything you see in the movies and on television happens all the time in real life?

[ZZZ]

Pulling up your feet in the sofa is probably not some kind of stunt Hollywood came up with.

[ilyushin]

Yes, I do.I took my shoes off before entering the house when I lived in the States for 20 years and continue the same habit in Thailand and almost all places I visit unless it is Lithuania.