@RazorSharp wrote:
@Moonchilde wrote:
@Noel7 wrote:
We have very close friends who are Thai. It's cultural and weaves in with religion to remove your shoes when entering their house.
They provide disposable clean and fresh slippers at the door and a basket in which to toss them on the way out.
The family are wonderful hosts and give a lot of parties, the dad and daughter are great Thai cooks.
They invite a lot of people and we are all free to bring along anyone we like, including parents. I've only known one person to refuse to take off her shoes, she's an incredibly rude person anyway, and acts all nasty at what she sees as a presumption. Last time I asked why she continued to attend. I wanted to ask if it was for the free food but I didn't.
@Noel7
I have asked this before, in multiple other threads, but no one has ever responded with an actual answer, only a sneer of disbelief.
I cannot go barefoot not because I mind taking off my shoes (if I am informed beforehand) but because I have severe plantar fasciitis. Orthopedists and podiatrists (not just the Vionic guy) recommend that those with PF NEVER go barefoot.
I can, after years of never, EVER going barefoot, manage to go to the loo in the wee (pun haha) hours and back to bed barefoot without pain most of the time, but am very aware (because it happens to me periodically) that going barefoot (i.e. without some sort of arch support) for 10 minutes on a "bad day" (completely randonly) can cause me disabling pain for literally *months* and leave me essentially housebound because it hurts so bad to walk.
I could simply not attend somewhere that I had to be shoeless, period. There have been people on the forums who have categorically stated that they could foresee NO exceptions/reason not to comply, and implied that anyone who said anything to the contrary was lying just to get out of having to remove their shoes.
I'm sure this comes up in those cultures where shoeless households are the norm, and I wonder how they handle it. I can't believe they would be so crass as to think that someone would lie just to not have to take off their shoes. Perhaps it's only Americans who would believe that.
Additionally, being "the" person the spotlight would be on as having to be an exception and deal with the suppositions of others would most likely cause me to decline - which would probably upset a thoughtful, kind host. So...what to do...?
I have wanted to visit the Sikh temple in San Jose for months, but hesitate to go because one must be shoeless in the sanctuary and I don't want anyone to believe I'm "just saying it." So I don't go.
@Moonchilde I'm sorry that you have to live with that condition. It sounds very painful and inconvenient. I was wondering if when you know you are going to be visiting a new home you contact the homeowner and ask them if they have a no shoes policy? I was thinking that if I were in your situation, I would contact people ahead of time, if possible, to avoid any awkwardness at the front door.
@RazorSharp, thank you, but it wouldn't likely happen to me. I'm very certain that no one I know now would have such a requirement, or if it was possible they might, that they wouldn't spring it on people unaware but would mention it ahead of time - at which point we might discuss, yes :-)
To hear some people in past threads on the subject, not this thread, everyone should expect this to be a situation that might be encountered routinely. Not in my world - even when I lived in a very large, multicultural city it would have been rare enough so as not to expect it or not be surprised at the edict.
And it's a very common condition so I would think many would have similar issues. Vionic and 1-2 other companies sell hundreds of thousands of pairs of shoes/slippers each year to people just like me. So you'd think more people might be aware it's a distinct possibility.
Life without Mexican food is no life at all
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