Why do people ask guests to take their shoes off before they enter their homes?

I, whenever possible refuse to visit anyone’s home who insists I take my shoes off before I enter. The idea of being told what to is somewhat contrary to the concept of welcoming a guest to one’s home. In fact, I will go slightly further and say that it’s rude and downright dictatorial. To me, it sets the tone for my brief stay in a person’s home who insisted I take my shoes off. Just because someone has cleaned their house is absurd and a bizarre excuse. Surely cleaning is as required.

How often do they clean their homes? Is it some fixed event where cleaning takes place on set times and dates only and it must be kept clean until the next scheduled clean? If one is maniacal about cleanliness why must they impose their disorder onto people who they have, in most cases invited to their home?

The worst is, of course, is this, ‘this is my home and you must respect my wishes’. Or to that effect. I believe people who exercise this particular controlling trait are a breed apart,

Most people visiting someone else’s home are usually very respectful as a matter of course. Like most who visit my home, I know instinctively by boundaries at another’s home.

In my view, it creates a psychological barrier between me and the invitee. The act of insisting I take my shoes off indicates a kind of closeness in that person. Social interaction is a complex animal to deconstruct. But there are microscopic cue’s we all react and respond to. Given that a person has laid down the law about how I use his or her floor space even before we interact immediately puts me at unease. To me, it says this person has rules of engagement. If he or she has rules, for one thing, they most certainly will have others. The flow of communication will most likely be governed by yet unveiled rules.

The notion of respect for someone’s home or the person is, of course, bogus and is just a cover. Insisting someone that they take their shoes off is equally an infringement in that case. On a personal level, although I have never been told that I suffer from foot odor nor have I experienced my feet to expel odors to any noticeable degree. However, if I had been on my feet for much of that day and wearing shoes for all that period, and depending on the material my shoes are constructed of I could not be certain that my shoes or my feet will not release some sort of fragrance, Unpleasant or otherwise. To insist that I take my shoes off and expose myself, well my feet, is rather awkward.

Many wave up cultural practices such as in Japan. Since I am not in Japan, although I hope to change that someday soon, I function as I do where I am now. As for the germs and bacteria which is brought in on the bottom of shoes. It is a fact that we humans are happy to nuke everything with cleaning products. But in recent years there has been growing consensus amongst the medical profession that we need to expose ourselves to more everyday germs and bacteria, To give our immune system a good and regular work out.

I am not suggesting we mess about in dog feces. The point is this, the comfort of your guest is and should outweigh one’s need to keep their bloody floor clean from invisible bits of dirt, If one is that bothered then just clean once the guest has left, That way the guest is spared the O.C.D control freak.