shoes, no shoes, or overshoes - what's the 'etiquette'?

[Addlight]

I saw a sparks ad that said "we always take our shoes off when coming into your house".

Last house I went into had a wooden floors and a neat pile of shoes near the door. Owner looks at me meaningfully, with quick glance at my safety trainers. These are clean - nice clear soles - so I ignore the look and go straight in. I don't want to tread an a 2 inch no 8 again - it hurts - and if I need to go out to van a lot, that's a pain too.

I onece went to meet new bookkeeper. He has nice light colour carpets, so without thinking I offered to take my (clean) trainers off, and he said yes. Then sitting chatting with him I glanced down and saw he had his shoes on! Bet they would expect a visiting doc to take off shoes!

What's everyone's view - take em off, leave em on?

 

[Sparky Ninja]

Saw a carpenter on a domestic job in flip flops.

My old man and I were walking around a site carrying out prep for a contractors consultation. Full enforced PPE attire, except someone seemed to miss out on the crocs he was wearing.

 

[Adam W]

I don't do a lot of domestic but what i wear on my feet depends what I'm doing - if I was chasing big chunks of masonary out of walls I'd definately wear steels, but just changing a light fitting, simple maintenance, emergency light testing in offices etc I'd wear trainers. In either case I'd give my feet a good wipe on the mat before going into someone's house.

If I did more domestic work I'd probably get some overshoes (hadn't even thought about taking off shoes for religious reasons tbh) but I think it's possible to go OTT with cleaning up, almost to Mr Electric levels.

I certainly wouldn't go into a property with no footwear on at all; firstly because it would be easier to vacuum up a bit of dust than get the smell of my feet out of the house and secondly because for some reason it doesn't seem professional to me.

What do other services do in the circumstances? Would the police take their shoes off after kicking the door in? If a Muslim's house was on fire would the fire brigade put on overshoes before putting the fire out? I expect both have lengthy process manuals on the subject.

 

[alarm man]

What do other services do in the circumstances? Would the police take their shoes off after kicking the door in? If a Muslim's house was on fire would the fire brigade put on overshoes before putting the fire out? I expect both have lengthy process manuals on the subject.

i kid you not..welcome to pc world!!!

Police raiding Muslim homes told: Take your shoes off, no dogs and then put suspects in a cell with a prayer mat. - Free Online Library

 

[Phil]

i kid you not..welcome to pc world!!!

Police raiding Muslim homes told: Take your shoes off, no dogs and then put suspects in a cell with a prayer mat. - Free Online Library

quote "no dogs were used because they are considered un-clean" what a load of rubbish. this is pc gone mad. i don`t care what people think about dogs etc when they are searching for things religion should not come into question. isn`t obama muslim? he has a dog , my mate who is muslim has a dog. this pc stuff really has gone too far now. if you are in the wrong you should get the same treatment as your counterparts. my partner was ill over christmas and when the paramedic and two ambulance women turned up covered in snow the last thing i would have expected was shoes off before they came in. it would have annoyed me though if they had taken off for someone else's house though

 

[Phil]

Reminds me of the burgler that broke into someones house and hurt themselves on something while they were there. The sucessfully sued the house owners. Think it was supposed to be in America. Not sure if it's an urban myth but it wouldn't surprise me if it's true.

there was one in the uk that did sue for a stair carpet he tripped on for it not being fitted properley and it being loose. we used to have a yard years ago and had a rottie in it, 12 foot solid brick wall all the way roung and a steel gate to match. some one broke in and let the dog out. the police brought proceedings against us for not securing the dog? they said the same would apply if you got burgled at home and they let the dog out. the world is truly crazy.

 

[Jay Sparks]

well ive tought my dog (akita) self defense so if a burgular breaks in and my dog say, eats his arm, he would tell the cops he was attacked first and it was self defense. Bloody pc, what a load of dogs b*#^ocks!!!!!

 

[Phil]

nice one.

 

[rocker]

Saw a carpenter on a domestic job in flip flops.

It's OK, chippies are invuerable and can withstand any impact. The sun also shines out of their various orifices.

Changing the subject slightly, was on a domestic with a spread (suprise suprise) who had shorts on with a massive rip in the backside with his hairy arse and pants hanging out. We're talking the whole cheek here, a massive, gross hole (in he trousers!). I naturally assumed he's caught it on a nail or whatever whilst working that day, but he turned up the next day with the same shorts. Who the hell thinks that's acceptable on a domestic in some woman's house? Bloody plasterers.

 

[Adam W]

IMO your house should be safe enough for a firefighter to put out a fire or paramedic to come and revive you, but burglars take their chances the second they break in, so should accept the consequences. Since when was 'burglary' a legitimate profession?

[rant]I was actually joking when I suggested the police taking their shoes off while doing a raid, but if that article is genuine we have definately gone way too far with 'political correctness' and it needs to be reversed.

What is to stop someone hiding drugs in a carved out koran written in arabic and not letting the police touch it or let sniffer dogs near it, claiming it's "against their religion"?[/rant]

 

[Gerry24]

Shoes are easy to deal with, I use the disposable plastic bags if necessary, it's the feet of my step-ladder that I keep forgetting about, especially after I've used it outside on the previous job! If i remember i pop it down on a dust sheet but I don't always think about it.

 

[Mark_Burgess]

I want a pair of these but cant find a UK supplier, not really worth paying a fortune delivery for a couple of pairs.

 

[Rubber Matt]

I use deck shoes if there good enough for a boat wheres ths complaint