Barefoot at work

I am not living at home, I am out on my own with my own bills, so lifeguard positions around here only pay minimum wage
The car washes around here seem to hinge on the OSHA requirements since you are working around moving equipment and machines
I have owned my own home business for a few years now. Things were good at the start but seem to be in the toilet lately, that is why I am looking for other work.

 

Actually round here are a couple of handwash car washes. 2 guys do the soaping and quick rinse with hoses, then the car goes through another water wash and dryer then at the end some guys towel off the car....no machines and no osha. I have never been hassled about being a barefoot customer. Just a thought... I guess what I am saying is you can come up with all sorts of excuses or you can try and look into it. I was just trying to be helpful (though I admit with some humor).

 

Work as an independent contractor is probably the best chance you have of being able to barefoot at work. I do a delivery route, and that has enabled me to not own shoes for 2 weeks!

That, or start your own business like some people here have done.

 

I wish I could do that. I have to wear a collared shirt to work. But, at least, I cans till wear jeans!

 

At one point, I thought about becoming a truck driver. I bet trucking is barefoot friendly. As a matter of fact, I remember seeing one trucker a few summers back get out of the truck in a very long traffic jam and they were barefoot. Plus, you'd get to see so many different places. I called a few trucking schools, but they cost a lot of money.

 

This past week, a couple of opportunities came my way to be an independent contractor, working from home using my computer. I haven't looked into these very closely yet, but they look good so far. I'm hoping that in time, I'll be able to do this on a full-time basis and be barefoot working from home.

 

John Terpack, formerly an SBL member, used to be an independent contractor driving a delivery truck. However, the company gave him no more business because he was barefoot, and one of their customers complained about it. He left the SBL because a lot of people there don't like the idea of fighting things like this, and he wanted to fight it, last I heard.

 

Found a possible new one on craigslist i applied for. Renting remote control sailboats and instructing their operation to people in Central Park. I imagine I can do that barefoot and getting to hang in the park wud be cool. Seasonal, but so what?

 

most conventional employers wouldn't touch me with a bargepole but I've had no problems finding barefoot-friendly jobs. Right now I work in an independent bookstore/record shop which also has an internet cafe, and I've had my own market stall selling ethnic crafts and clothing doing the festival circuit, happy days
I'm now at college doing teacher training,barefooting there isn't an issue there either and nor can I see it being a problem when I'm qualified, even if I may have to meet them half-way and wear flip-flops, I'll just do what my English teacher did and just kick 'em off at the earliest oppotunity. Mind you she sometimes went completely barefoot in the warmer months and never got any shit for it.

 

Please state if you are speaking from United States or Europe. Things you can get away with in Europe, you could never get away with in the States. Otherwise that's really encoraging. I guess the hardest part is getting past the interview stage. I don't even own a pair of shoes right now, so it's not like I could wear 'em to the interview.

 

I sorta came up with two new possibilities. They are both seasonal unfortunately. One is powerwashing house sidings or decks (very barefoot friendly and if you can line people up you could do it yourself using a rental place for the washer) or perhaps working at a garden center selling or maybe being an installation person. Ok for the latter in order to use a shovel it might require a few seconds of flip flop use but hey that isn't too bad....

And I do remember one summer where 2 kids worked pumping gas in the eve shift barefoot. Their boss didn't seem to care.

 

where do they pump gas? I haven't seen that done in decades, everything here is self serve. (except if you're handicap)

how about house painter?

 

They don't have self serve in New Jersey...all the stations have attendants. But I guess you're right in that I haven't seen that in neighboring states. And house painter works well. When I paint mine I do it barefoot.

 

Had another job idea. I see they are putting up a carnival at the mall. You could probably run a counter barefoot. They probably wouldn't care if you applied and interviewed barefoot, I would imagine.

 

Im an EMT I do 811 ems for East Brunswick Nj 1 town over from where i live. Since we do not have an office or place to hangout at work all day between calls Im in the truck all day. But can go into any place in town to eat, shop etc.. I take my shoes off alot in the truck while riding around town. I sleep with no shoes on in the morning. And i just started driving the ambulance with no shoes on. It feels soo good!! And is a releief since we have to wear boots. One girl who works there also rides around in her socks alot in between calls. So i feel comfy working with her and not wearing shoes.

 

I now work with children excluded from mainstream schools and although I rarely go in barefoot (did couple of times in the summer on the rare occasions we had good weather) I wear flip-flops and kick em off at the earliest opportunity, just like my English teacher did. Bearing in mind some of these kids have serious behavioural issues and can come from quite fucked-up dysfunctional families I think my walking round the classroom barefoot has a calming influence. What's not to like if it goes some way to helping them turn their lives around?
Mind you some jobsworth recently put an email saying that flip-flops shouldn't be worn for health and safety reasons! I stood my ground and give some bullshit about having to wear them for medical reasons and my union successfully fought my corner so I got my dispensation, happy days

 

Good for you my dear. How can flip-flops be a health & safety issue while teaching? I had conducted many Training courses over the years in flip-flops and it never once hindered me and nor any comments from my delegates.

As you said it does make them more relaxed and in between I would take them off and train barefoot. This sometimes encourage some to take their shoes off and go barefoot too.

:coolgleamA:

 

I was hoping someone could offer a suggestion as to what jobs are barefoot friendly. My current job is not and I want to make a transition to a close to 100% barefoot lifestyle.

 

Some barefoot friendly jobs that come to mind are lifeguard, yoga teacher or martial arts instructor.