I got kicked out for the first time :(

No problem here in the UK either.
Over the weekend i was doing some weeding at the local nature reserve, barefoot of course, and many walkers asked me if my feet were cold (it was about 50f) but as usual there were no negative comments. I gave them the barefooters web address so they will know what it's all about.

 

I can't say I've been "kicked out" of anyplace (sounds sorta violent!). I have been told apologetically that I need to wear shoes to enter an establishment. Bummer, but at least they weren't nasty. I've also been served at places but also asked to wear shoes for my next visit. For the most part, people seem to ignore my bare feet. Yesterday I stopped by my Physical Therapist's office briefly. I'm sure he noticed I was barefoot, but he maintained eye contact and never commented.

Often I think the level of the emotional response has more to do with the barefoot person's attitude than with the establishment's policy. Sorry, but that's the way I see it. I've read some comments in this forum in which people sounded like they were screaming and swearing about their right to be barefoot. In my opinion, that's not going to get you anywhere. The few times I've been told I had to wear shoes, I just said okay and left. I could get angry, but the bottom line is that it's not an arguement that I'll win, nor is it an exchange in which I choose to participate. It is what it is. I'd rather go somewhere else at that point.

 

I didn't mean it that way. Just a figure of speech.

 

Today I stopped in a 7-Eleven. What transpired was sorta funny. There were two women working at the time, one at the checkout and one had just wandered over by the refrigerated section. Anyhow, when I walked in, the one at the counter called to the other. I didn't think much about it. I saw something out of the corner of my eye. The women at the checkout was kicking her legs up in the air. I guess she was signaling the other woman to look at my feet. Within seconds the woman by the refrigerated section asked me if I would please wear shoes the next time. I answered "Sure." I stood there for a few seconds, didn't really find what I wanted, and decided I didn't really want to shop there anyhow, so I just left. They would have served me, but why buy from a business that uses signals to alert each other of the presence of bare feet? Oh well, I wasn't bothered by it. It's really pretty funny. You should have seen the woman kicking her feet in the air to signal the other one!

 

I guess the bonus of living in a small town is the fact that everyone knows you and no one really cares what you do as long as its not harmful, an' I mean really harmful. Cause I can walk into any buisness cept 2 in this town barefoot and no one'll say a word. Its just the two "big" resturants in town that'll kick me out.

 

As I often do, I just had to follow-up with 7-Eleven after this happened. The response I got made me scratch my head a bit, whatever. Here's the exchange.

7-Eleven
Thank you for bringing to my attention the incident that you had earlier this week. I apologize for how you were treated. We, as a company, are moving toward serving our customers fresh food. This store that you were in will be getting a $26K remodel later this year. This remodel will allow us to sell Hot Food. Because of this fresh food focus, we have been asking our customers to wear shoes. I want to thank you for your patronage and hope you will continue to shop at our stores.

My Reply (How could I not respond to those comments)
Thank you for your reply. As I pointed out in my memo, I was running errands and was barefoot. The 7-Eleven was a convenient stop. To comply with the shoe request, I would have had to drive home (~10 miles) and then return. Not that I'd do it anyhow, but this is unreasonable for a "convenience store" to expect. Traditionally these locations have been "come as you are" establishments. I doubt my inconvenience will change your new "shoes-required" policy, I'll just stop places that welcome my business, such as the local King Soopers grocery in this case. Alienating customers in this economy is probably not a good practice, but I can't tell you how to run your business.

 

Don't shoes bring in just as much, if not more, dirt into a building? I fail to see the reasoning that indicates a correlation between barefeet (which should not even touch food at all) and heated-food health concerns. These rules are just beyond me.

 

This is simply a re-hash of the old "health department myth". Just a parrot-like exclamation made by ignorant and feeble-minded shoddies.

 

When I first wrote to 7-Eleven, I said I knew there are no Health Dept. laws against bare feet in restaurants, etc. in Colorado. I offered to provide the supporting document. Basically I had eliminated the possibility of any of the standard "here's why we require shoes" retorts. The guy had to come up with something unique to defend the employees' actions - the "we're planning to serve fresh food" thing. Oh well. They didn't kick me out, they would have served me, and I'd probably stop in again if I was in the area. Realistically, I think the request that I wear shoes next time was probably more of a personal preference for the two women working at the time than it was a store policy. There's a 7-Eleven close to where I live. I've stopped in that location and no one's batted an eye. For that matter, I stop in convenience stores barefoot all the time without incident. They survive by being "come as you are" establishments.

 

I never could understand the concept of "we serve (or sell) food here" excuse. How is it that a patron can affect the cleanliness of the establishment or the quality of the food itself just by being in the store barefoot?

There is no connection.......right?

 

as has been said on this forum before "I'm not going to eat off the floor so what does serving food have to do with being barefoot?"

 

I partly agree. Screaming and swearing doesn't help! I'll try to argue in a calm manner, pointing out how long I've been barefoot without any trouble, showing there are no laws against going barefoot, pointing out other flaws in their arguments, and in far most cases this has worked fine. I've won several arguments with very little effort! Okay this is in the Netherlands where anti-barefoot attitude is less deeply ingrained, but in my experience and in my country, arguing in a calm manner & showing clearly you've done your research and didn't just forget your shoes or were too lazy to put them on that one time, DOES work -almost every time! And if it doesn't -which has happened a couple times over all those years- I don't agree with saying 'okay'. In my opinion, it is NOT okay to be told to wear shoes, this time or the next. I will yell or cuss at them, I will leave if truly necessary, but I'll do so making very clear that I disagree with them and that I will not under any circumstance return with footwear. It's quite possible to be firm without being loud.

 

I don't understand why your reply back to them didn't focus in on that ridiculous statement, rather than talking about the "convenience" store aspect. What does your bare feet on the floor have to do with "fresh food"? They could just as easily have said that because of their fresh food, they were asking their customers to wear a hat. Or because of their fresh food, they were asking their customers to wear a pink shirt. That would make about as much sense.

 

Funny you mention that,...

When I first sent in my complaint, the 7-Eleven website has one of those ridulous little windows where one can only enter text and hit "Submit." There was no e-mail address to write to. I had the Health Dept. letter ready to append as an attachment but there was no way to do it. When I got the response, you're right, I should have mentioned how ridiculous his comment was, but I didn't. Realistically, I just figured he decided bare feet are wrong and there would be no changing his mind. Not being one to just roll over, once I had his e-mail address from his reply, I did send him a copy of the Health Dept letter from the State of Colorado that's on the www.barefooters.org website. That was yesterday. I have yet to receive a response. My personal perception is that the whole "anti-bare feet" thing is just an emotional arguement, not a rational objection. Personally, I find emotional arguements frustrating and will usually just avoid them as people are irrational at that point.

Yesterday I stopped in another 7-Eleven. There were two people working at the time, a man and a woman, and both were by the refrigerated section. Both looked directly at my feet and said nothing. In fact they offered to help me find what I was looking for. I've often said that the anti-barefoot position is probably more an individual position of the particular employee than a corporate policy.

After joing this website in September 2008, I kept a log of businesses, public buildings, etc. that accepted my bare feet and those that didn't. Of 104 different businesses I visited last year, only one, a Target, asked me to leave. Even then the woman was quite polite. I went to another Target without incident. This year to date (it's been cold), I've been to 22 establishments so far. The one 7-Eleven location was the only place that commented about my feet. Even then they were going to serve me. The woman just asked me in an irritated voice if I would please wear shoes the next time. Realistically, I don't think most people care if you're barefoot or not. Some may have a preference for me to wear shoes, but most won't say anything. But every once on a great while you run into that one person who has an emotional, irrational objection. I'd just rather avoid them.

 

Of course, everybody has to deal with such things in their own way, whatever they feel the most comfortable with. And i would not presume to tell you how you should act or react. But I'm sure I would have reacted somewhat differently. To the woman who made that statement to you - especially in an irritated voice as you mentioned, I would probably have said something to the effect of, "Well, I certainly will not wear shoes next time, because I do not wear shoes, ever. And I think it's rather rude of you to say such a thing to a paying customer. What possible harm could my being barefoot be to you or the store?"

Then of course I might have gotten a big argument from her or she may have backed down and listened to reason. Who knows? In any case, she needs to know her words were entirely inappropriate. Her being emotional or irrational doesn't justify or excuse it. Why should we put up with being discriminated against by such ignorant people? Not saying something back and standing up for yourself just gives people like that more affirmation that they are in the right and encourages them to just continue to treat other people just as shabbily. Again, that's how I personally feel, and that's how I would most likely have handled it.