Dirtiest Stores

This picture I found of my feet after coming home from shopping at Wal-Mart made me think of this topic. What are some of the dirtiest stores or eateries you have been to while barefoot. We are talking just stores or restaurants.

 

One of the main reasons I don't go out barefoot a lot is because the thought of using a public restroom barefoot disgusts me. There's always piss on the floor so no thanks, I'm not stepping in that.

 

Of course that's up to you. But it really wouldn't hurt you. There's been lots of discussion here about that subject.

 

but you'll step in piss with your shoes on.. then use your hands to take off your dirty shoes.. and you then don't wash either... hmmm... still doesn't make since to me and i know you are not the only person that does this.

all them huge warehouse type stores make my feet filthy. gas stations are usually pretty bad too.

 

Wow, that's a dirty Wal-Mart. Most Wal-Marts I've been in have fairly clean floors. For example, the one near Erwin, Tennessee has a really nice, smooth, clean floor. As someone else mentioned, warehouse floors, such as Lowes or Home Depot, usually have the dirtiest floors - but that's to be expected I think.

 

I actually always wash my hands when I get home from somewhere.

I'm just interested what you barefooters have to say about it because I find the idea of just going barefoot everywhere interesting. I would like to try it, it's just I see so many different problems that would deter me, the restroom thing being one of them. Additionally, I'd feel like I'd have to be constantly looking at the ground while I walk so I don't step on anything sharp.

 

ever hear that old saying.. "god made dirt so it don't hurt" ..? urine is usually sterile.. i don't fear them sorts of things anyways.

 

I would have to agree with you Boogabaah. I think some of the nastiest bathrooms are the ones at fairs and festivals, because they are port-a-potties and 1 million people use them, and also at bars because people are drunk and pissing missing the urinal when they piss. Point being that I have been in the nastiest bathrooms when I am out and stepped on God knows what and I have NEVER gotten sick just because I was barefoot. I don't usually worry about such things unless I would have an open cut or something.

 

Only at first. After a while, watching where you walk becomes entirely subconscious and the naturally acquired barefoot gait prevents most injuries by default.

 

My feet have only been that black after going into McDonald's. And I might be in the minority on this (judging from the previous replies) but I just can't get past my aversion to standing in piss and/or shit in bare feet. Sterile it might be (although I do tend to focus on the small percentage of people whose urine might be contaminated by bacteria) and no cause for alarm, I suppose I've just been conditioned to cringe and avoid our waste products. But then, I also tend to think that people who drink their own urine are victims of "junk thought".

I am a LONG, long way from 2girls1cup.

 

I would'nt worry too much about infection, i've been walking (and sometimes running) about barefooted since 1976 (town and country), and never caught anything, and the UK isn't the cleanest country in the world!

 

i go barefoot all the time outside; depends what store i'm in for inside.
wal-mart is usually ok, except for-so i have found-the food/frozen section or auto section.
this store isn't really known, but Aldi's isn't that clean floor-wise, either.
i've been bare in gas stations before-strangely, it's usually clean inside the little mart part, but the bathrooms. GOD i dont even go near them with shoes ON. lol.

 

Hey Matthew, No offense buddy, but I can tell you're not a real barefooter because your feet are TOO CLEAN. No matter how hard to try to scrub them my feet even look dirty when they are clean. My GF says I have perma-dirt on my soles. LOL

 

No offense taken barefootdude. I've been told that many times over the years, and I'm sure you're not the only one on this forum who might think that. Although you might not have meant anything more than to make a joke, I find that the exclusionary attitude behind it to be fairly common in the barefooting community. I really regard such thinking as a negative, and is one of the chief reasons that I never liked being a member of the Society for Barefoot Living (then the Dirty Sole Society).

I have kind of touched on this in past threads, but in light of this comment as well as other things discussed in this thread and others, I feel it maybe bears repeating.

For me, being a barefooter encompasses so much more than "how dirty", "how tough", "how extreme one's barefooting", or other attempts to prove somehow that you belong. I've definitely been noticing this forum trending that way in certain threads, and it's been mildly disconcerting to see (though not entirely surprising).

I have enjoyed my time on this forum because I had always felt the same amount of support for those like myself, who might only barefoot now and then, and don't live a completely barefoot lifestyle, whether that is by choice or whether it's just impossible to do, or both.

I personally see value in fostering such "part-timers" as a part of the community because I think that we might provide a good entry point for those people who have never thought of going barefoot more. But that's just my two cents.

Anyway, I know that I might have gotten a heavy subject going in response to a probable joke...but this has been bugging me for some time, so in a way thanks for giving me something to get this off my chest.

I love everyone on here, and I hope that I'm just being overly sensitive!

 

some people tend to put up competition in every field .
i dont believe that this is going to make "better barefooters" of us.

 

Sorry Matthew, I did only mean it as a joke. You did bring up a good point though. I can only speak for myself, but when I see people out in public:

dirty feet = someone who has no shoes with them and has been going around barefoot all day

clean feet = someone who has just slipped off their shoes or feet that have been sheltered by shoes.

Some people may think it's disgusting to see someone out in public with black-bottomed feet but to me it says they have strong and healthy feet. Anyway, I didn't want you to think I was cutting you down. I agree that part-time barefooters include most of the population and sometimes not everyone can pull off a barefoot lifestyle. The SBL or DSS can be very discriminating toward part-timers since most of the members are hard-core barefooters. If you have myspace and want to join an on-line group for all types of barefooters that is very supportive, join this one:

http://groups.myspace.com/barefootlife

The group was previously at 400 members but it was recently reformed and is growing. The only thing the group discriminates against is foot fettish people that want to join just to flirt with girls, etc.

 

QFT, and akin to my earlier comments about "creeping elitism and fanaticism" in another thread.

Some of the primary hallmarks of "hippyness", if you will, are tolerance, acceptance and compassion. Competition, exclusivity and elitism are all anathema to this aesthetic.

FWIW, I've been barefooting full-time for 15 years, and my feet look much like Barefoot Matthew's:



Black or dirty soles are due to the following factors:

1. The environment in which you're walking (I can walk all day in Nature and at the end of it all, my feet look pretty much the same as when I begin. )
   
2. How often and how well you scrub your feet

Back to the original intent of this thread, which was dirtiest stores; I'd say that any fast food chain (with the exception of Subway) or any garage could be eligible for this distinction. They both deal with unacceptable quantities of grease being used in unhealthy ways which is reflected in your very sole

 

My feet have gotten their dirtiest in 2 local auto parts stores that have concrete floors, and never clean. Also supermarkets. I wear my soleless moccasins, so as not to be "asked to leave" for being barefoot. The supermarkets I've been in, even though the floors appear to be "clean", my soles are black when I leave. What does that say??

 

Sterile yes, but only when it leaves the body! After that, it is of course submitted to all kinds of bacteria.

 

My feet get seriously black-bottomed on the London underground. I'll try and get a photo next time i go.