# Shoes In The House



## trump (Dec 7, 2004)

this same poll was posted at another forum I frequent that has a predominately american user base. I voted no and was genuinely shocked when I saw the poll was at about 50/50, because in my life I have never seen people wear their shoes inside their house. Is it an American thing or is there this huge population of Canadians doing it that I've never met?


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## RevMatt (Sep 10, 2005)

I'm a no. You didn't vote


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## ArtistSeries (Nov 8, 2004)

I don't but we have lots of carpeting.


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## Paul O'Keefe (Jun 3, 2005)

I polled another message board I went to years ago. Bascially the Canadian, English, and Asians take off their footwear, while a large percentage of US posters didn't. They keep their shoes on.


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

Wear shoes in the house? Never. No reason to. And everyone I know takes their shoes off as soon as they get in the door whether they're at home, or visiting someone else's home.


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## anal-log (Feb 22, 2003)

We don't wear shoes in our house. I do notice most people that do wear their shoes in the house are usually renters.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Houses are for living ..not museum pieces.
I like a rowdy busy lots going on home. There was one house in Toronto that just blew me away ..there was so much going on, pets, science experiments, both parents crative pros working from home, ad hoc music get togethers......it was non stop every time I was in there.....just heavenly.

Then there's the mausoleums.
One of the saddests things I ever experienced was going out to see an 8,000+ sq ft house that was for sale. Personal home of the founder of Canada homes.

Immaculate, indoor pool , palm tree in the 30' foyer clearly built to be a multigenerational dynasty home.........and husband and wife living in a cosy "inside the home apartment" clearly meant for serving staff.

Family gone, huge empty - unfriendly monstrosity of a house when they themselves were most comfortable in this small friendly space they had made for staff who weren't there.

That said I like going barefoot around the house but obsessing over carpets and furniture etc as a set piece for looks instead of living is a turn off for me.

Give me instead a noisy messy home that's ALIVE with laughter and activity and cooking and living.
..and shoes......who cares.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

We wear our shoes in the house and have for over 60 years. Like MacDoc said, the place is for living, not to save for the next buyer.

Exception being when it rains, then off they come at the door. All my shoes and boots are in my bedroom closet. That's where I put 'em on in the morning and that's where I take 'em off at night. (Unless it rains of course.)

None of our neighbours remove their shoes when they visit us, nor we them. 

Living in our home means just that, shoes and all.


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

For us it's not a matter of "protecting the home" but more like "getting those damn things off our feet".


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## ArtistSeries (Nov 8, 2004)

I've seen shoe taken off to keep the carpet clean but I don't wear shoes at the office either. 

I don't see the relationship between shoes and an alive house... 
Interesting poll...


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## ErnstNL (Apr 12, 2003)

slippers on cold floor days. barefeet in the summer.


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## adagio (Aug 23, 2002)

I run around barefoot most of the time but occasionally I wear my shoes. When I visit my family the shoes stay on and visa versa.

Shoes/no shoes.... either way doesn't bother me. I don't have carpeting so it doesn't matter. I have a home, not a showroom.


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## MLeh (Dec 23, 2005)

Slippers for me, shoes for my husband. It's because he heads outside quite often. The daughter (tie-breaker for voting purposes) takes her shoes off at the door, and often doesn't even wear them when she's heading outside.


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## Cameo (Aug 3, 2004)

I only wear shoes where I have to.


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

wow, who'd a thunk that sinc, macdoc and i would agree on anything?
i always tell guests to leave their shoes on
most of the friends whose homes i frequent also do the same
also, i prefer hard floors (wood, tile, etc.) and area rugs to carpet
easier to clean to


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Spec: add me to the "agree" pile--ain't that strange?


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

It's certainly not an "American thing". I sometimes wore slippers, but usually not when growing up in New York City.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

MACSPECTRUM said:


> wow, who'd a thunk that sinc, macdoc and i would agree on anything?
> i always tell guests to leave their shoes on
> most of the friends whose homes i frequent also do the same
> also, i prefer hard floors (wood, tile, etc.) and area rugs to carpet
> easier to clean to


Holy sh!t! I too have hardwood floors with area rugs. This is too much!


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## mac_geek (May 14, 2005)

Hardwood is mandatory.

Shoes - no way.

Bare feet is where it's at.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

adagio said:


> I have a home, not a showroom.


Exactly! :clap: :clap:


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## jdurston (Jan 28, 2005)

Small rented apartment... We always take our shoes off. I take them off at work once I'm at my desk and at school if I'm going to be sitting for a while. 

It just doesn't seem healthy to me to confine my feet in leather bags all day. Shoes are for public spaces and outside in my opinion. Comfort comes first at home. Comfort for me means fresh socks or barefeet (maybe slippers).

We have hardwood floors with a few rugs. I won't hesitate to run in with my shoes if I need to grad something but generally shoes get taken off outside the door and are kept in the hallway closet.

Good topic.


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## jdurston (Jan 28, 2005)

Also, think of all the gross things you walk on in public spaces during the day... tptptptp


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## Ena (Feb 7, 2005)

Work shoes come off at the front door as I work in a hospital. Slippers or birkenstocks or bare feet in the house depending on how my feet are feeling that day. 
Laminate floors and area rugs here. If we're expanding the survey


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

jdurston said:


> Also, think of all the gross things you walk on in public spaces during the day... tptptptp


I watch where I step so it is not an issue. tptptptp


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## Chealion (Jan 16, 2001)

No shoes for all but one in my family. The house is mostly hardwood now.

That said, one of the biggest things I noticed living in the US was that taking off your shoes was nowhere near as common - to the tune of about 75% versus about 5% I see in Canada. I'm also in sock feet at work.

That's just my experience anyway.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

HowEver said:


> Gross.
> 
> Watch CSI for a while and that should disabuse you of the notion that where you step is remotely clean.


Some people watch waaaay too much TV! 

Really though folks, that is why half the population suffers from asthma and related allergies like peanuts and all types of stuff.

In the fifties, when a child dropped a candy in the dirt, Mom simply gave it a cursory rub and back in the mouth it went. Likewise there were no air filters and dust gathered in homes every single day and was consumed to a degree by everyone.

Our bodies built up a defense against such things as a natural defense against the dirt or dust or airborne stuff simply because we made no attempt to keep it out of our lives.

Now everything is super clean and hypo allergenic and anti bacterial, even with the soap we use to clean our hands. We and the allergies we now have are a creation of our own making.

That is exactly why many residents of third world countries can drink brackish water with no ill effects while we would quickly become ill.

So wear your shoes in your house, eat a little dirt every day and allow your body the opportunity to develop resistance to today's man made diseases. Throw away all that super duper cleaner BS and the antibacterial stuff with it. Walk in the dirt with your shoes on and bring it in the house. You'll be a much healthier person in a few years and can toss your inhalers.

Like and old friend once told me, "Trust me on this."


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## The Great Waka (Nov 26, 2002)

No shoes in my place ever. However, I know of people who do otherwise. I'm pretty much always in barefeet when I get home. When I get in and I know I'm not going out again for the rest of the evening/night I change out of my day clothes and move to home clothes. But if I forgot something on my way out the door, I'll walk to get it with my shoes on; I'm not crazily anal about it. What I am crazily anal about is "No street clothes in bed!". *shudders* Just seems dirty. 

Yes, mild OCD.


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## Sonal (Oct 2, 2003)

No shoes in the house, though on occasion, I have been known to leave them on while making a mad dash to the powder room. Or, they go on if I'm walking around trying to decide which shoe to wear.

Hardwood and a rug in my apartment.

Though speaking of being careful where you step, the other day, I was walking down Yonge Street in the pouring rain, and just as I stepped off a curb, my sandal seemed to get caught on something and I found myself stepping barefoot on the wet road. Yuck.


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## overkill (May 15, 2005)

Typically we do not wear shoes in our house just because I rather let my feet breathe normally when given the chance and its a comfort thing for me. Our guests also take their shoes off when they come over, unless we are having a gathering our our basement which is all tile in which we ask all visitors to keep their shoes on so that they are not uncomfortable on the cold tile floor during the year since either the air conditioning or cold weather keeps it quite cool down there.


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## RevMatt (Sep 10, 2005)

OK, I understand that for some the no shoes rule is out of a desire to preserve the house as pristinely as possible. But can we please listen that it isn't for everyone? Our house is hardly pristine. It's often just plain messy and dirty. But we still don't wear shoes. For several reasons - no one in the house particularly likes shoes being the biggest one.


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

SINC said:


> Exactly! :clap: :clap:


more like, i have a home, not a intel class 5 clean room
even my antique furniture is used for everyday use
chairs are chairs, regardless of how old they are


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

jdurston said:


> Also, think of all the gross things you walk on in public spaces during the day... tptptptp


that's why i pay someone to CLEAN my floors on a regular basis


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

Sonal said:


> No shoes in the house, though on occasion, I have been known to leave them on while making a mad dash to the powder room. Or, they go on if I'm walking around trying to decide which shoe to wear.
> 
> Hardwood and a rug in my apartment.
> 
> Though speaking of being careful where you step, the other day, I was walking down Yonge Street in the pouring rain, and just as I stepped off a curb, my sandal seemed to get caught on something and I found myself stepping barefoot on the wet road. Yuck.


gee, add a close up of your face and a bit of a pout and you have next x-mas season's chanel #19 commercial


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## Pelao (Oct 2, 2003)

We don't wear shoes in our house. The interesting thing for me about the commenst here is that there is an assumption that if you don't wear shoes it's about keeping the house pristine, germ free, or, worse - it may mean that MacDoc will label your house cold and not "lived-in"!  

We don't wear shoes for various personal reasons. I like bare feet, as do my daughters. My wife just can't wait to release her feet from shoes and throw on a pair of big comfy socks (usually mine).

We have a seriously lived in house, with teenagers, neighbourhood kids, friends nd oddballs visiting at all hours. Crazy place, no shoes. Crazy eh?


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

maybe the poll should have asked; "do you require house guests to remove their shoes?"

perhaps a better indicator of "lived in" vs. "looked at"


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

We don't wear shoes in our house... but it most certainly looks like it's been lived in.


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## acc30 (Apr 26, 2006)

As for the poll question, no we don't wear our shoes at home, we simply have slippers specifically to wear inside our homes, that we never or very rarely wear outside, maybe to just step out and take the garbage out. I always remove my shoes when I enter someone else's house unless otherwise told not to, but generally in my culture, we just do. 




MACSPECTRUM said:


> maybe the poll should have asked; "do you require house guests to remove their shoes?"
> 
> perhaps a better indicator of "lived in" vs. "looked at"


I can honestly say, we have not had one guest not remove their shoes, as of yet. We have a whole bunch of slippers available for everyone who wants to wear it in the house, otherwise they go barefoot or have thier socks on.

I don't think there is much reasoning behind it, we just happened to be like that back where I came from.


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## Pelao (Oct 2, 2003)

> maybe the poll should have asked; "do you require house guests to remove their shoes?"
> 
> perhaps a better indicator of "lived in" vs. "looked at"


Perhaps, though I have many friends who remove their shoes and expect guests to do the same - yet the houses are thoroughly lived in. In my experience, it's not so cut and dried. Maybe it's a cultural and/or generational thing: for some, no shoes is the choice as a means to cleanliness. For others, it just makes sense to removeshoes, but otherwise they are not hyper about keeping a clean house.


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

I'd like this poll to be revisited when winter hits.


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## Pelao (Oct 2, 2003)

> I'd like this poll to be revisited when winter hits.


:lmao:


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## thejst (Feb 1, 2005)

« MannyP Design » said:


> I'd like this poll to be revisited when winter hits.


Now, there's the real question!


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## LaurieR (Feb 9, 2006)

Like many of you, we take our shoes off at the door but will occasionally run in with them on if in a hurry. Our place is clean (without the use of chemical cleaners, but good old hot water, baking soda, vinegar, etc.) but not spotless, but I'm not interested in tracking things in from the street, especially when I see all the hork on sidewalks these days!

I can't remember where or when but I think I recently heard David Suzuki say that wearing shoes in the house was one of the most unsanitary things you can do and he strongly recommended not doing it - for the most part, I trust what he says.

We also believe in the 3 second rule for dropping food, so we *really* try to keep shoes out of the kitchen.


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## 20DDan (May 2, 2005)

jdurston said:


> Small rented apartment... We always take our shoes off. I take them off at work once I'm at my desk and at school if I'm going to be sitting for a while.
> 
> It just doesn't seem healthy to me to confine my feet in leather bags all day. Shoes are for public spaces and outside in my opinion. Comfort comes first at home. Comfort for me means fresh socks or barefeet (maybe slippers).
> 
> ...


I couldnt agree with you more!!! Glad you brought up the topic of it not being healthy to wear shoes 24/7. You feet need to breath too! To me, wearing shoes just seems in a way I hate to say it but.... uncivilized... Im personally a neet freak and I wouldnt like to spend tons of money on cleaning just cause Im too lazy to take off my shoes. Those who wear shoes... ever heard of "house shoes"??? = Shoes you wear in the house to keep your feet warm and comfortable... not the shoes you drag around to public washrooms and then bring all that filth home so your 1yr old daughter happens to put her mouth on the carpet exactly where you stepped! Im sorry but that's nasty!


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## RevMatt (Sep 10, 2005)

MACSPECTRUM said:


> that's why i pay someone to CLEAN my floors on a regular basis


Heh. If weren't lucky enough to be able to avoid the cleaning would that change your tune?

Thanks to Pelao for saying more bluntly what I was getting at.


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## JAGflyer (Jan 10, 2005)

My dad NEVER removes his shoes because he "doesn't like the feeling of walking with socks in the carpet". He wears old fashioned "gulashes" when its wet or muddy and doesn't walk in any dirt. He even puts on hospital booties when he goes to visit a client's home (he is a realtor). My mom and me take off our shoes if they are wet or dirty. I wear slippers in the house most of the time. We do not ask people to remove their shoes, but most do at their own courtesy. I personally don't remove my shoes at people's houses unless they ask me to. 

Our carpets are surprisingly clean and we get them dry-extraction cleaned every 2-3 years.


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## Kosh (May 27, 2002)

Generally, we don't wear shoes in the house and all our relatives are the same way. Occasionally I zip through with shoes on if I forgot something. I don't associate it with how active the house is, I''ve seen many a messy/active house in my fmaily and they all don't wear shoes in the house. I've also seen houses where your not allowed to go into this room or that room. I don't personally believe in going that far. I take good care of my stuff and I try not to get things on the carpet or abuse things, but if I do (it doesn't happen often), good ol' carpet stain cleaner usually gets it out.

When I got my new house a couple years back, they obviously either wore shoes in the house and/or had a dog (although I don't think having the dog was the only cause of it), because when I moved in I found I my white socks were black by the end of the day. I got Sears to come in and clean all the carpets and it was an eye-opener how dirty the carpets were. It was like night and day. No more dirty socks after that.


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## redheadgod (Nov 18, 2003)

Hmm I don´t wear them inside since it would look kinda funny walking around naked with shoes on


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## The Great Waka (Nov 26, 2002)

redheadgod said:


> Hmm I don´t wear them inside since it would look kinda funny walking around naked with shoes on


Amen!


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

This is the second post I have read by this member that I think is SPAM!


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

So did you report the posts/member?



SINC said:


> This is the second post I have read by this member that I think is SPAM!


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

HowEver said:


> So did you report the posts/member?


Nope, I'm not sure, so I tossed it out to see if other members agree.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Reported.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

Thanks. I thought so.


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

We have a neat poem, hanging somewhere in the house, that kind of relates to that our house may have fingerprints and footprints, but its a house that's well used or something like that. Kind of cute. 

I agree, a home is meant to be lived in, but I also like it somewhat tidy. If its a dry day, no worries, but if its wet or anything, the shoes better [email protected] well come off. 

My wife and I are very dutch, and its a very dutch thing to have a clean house. But its more than a presentation, is a value in taking good care of possesions. I know a lot of kids with a billion toys they never play with, but I was brought up to take good care of the things I have. Taking good care of the floors etc.. is just along those lines. 

Having said that, I usually take off my shoes right away simply so I can take off my socks and walk around in bare feet. My kids usually weat those crocks or whatever and slip them on and off. 

But yeah... as long as there is no mud or dog sh!† on them, who cares.


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## zenith (Sep 22, 2007)

I was raised to remove my shoes upon entering our house and to do the same in the homes of others. To this day I don't wear shoes in the house and God help anyone who tries to advance beyond my entry hall still wearing their footwear.

When visiting the homes of other people, I've learned to quickly ascertain as to whether the outside is cleaner than the indoor state of the house and then will decide whether to keep my shoes on or remove them.


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

We have mostly hardwood floors, so it is not really necessary to worry about whether we wear shoes or not in the house. We don't, except for indoor Crocs, slippers, Birkenstocks, et al. Of course, we also have 9 doxies (aka "Carpet Sharks") so it helps to protect one's toes from a playful pup to wear something on one's feet.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

It's also a cultural / climate thing. My roommate in México, and friends, think it odd that I remove my shoes upon entering the apartment. Carpet is pretty much nonexistent here - mostly ceramic tile or concrete floors.

If we were coming in from outside and it were raining, they would also remove their shoes - but since, at least in Zacatecas, we live in a desert region, that rarely happens.

In Canada, of course, we have eight months of snow and two months of poor skiing - a climate more suited to removing footwear immediately.


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## Wolfshead (Jul 17, 2003)

Paul O'Keefe said:


> I polled another message board I went to years ago. Bascially the Canadian, English, and Asians take off their footwear, while a large percentage of US posters didn't. They keep their shoes on.


Not so - English people (generally) keep them on.


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## BigDL (Apr 16, 2003)

zenith said:


> I was raised to remove my shoes upon entering our house and to do the same in the homes of others. To this day I don't wear shoes in the house and God help anyone who tries to advance beyond my entry hall still wearing their footwear.....


 When I worked on a delivery truck (courier type of delivery) a few people would want the item carried inside the home and then demand that work boots should be removed. I would politely advise the person that the boots were staying on and their choice became the item delivered to the door, the service they paid for, or where they really wanted the item.

Can you imagine an accident report of a broken/sprained something as a result not wearing safety boots?


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## wonderings (Jun 10, 2003)

I grew up with taking my shoes off, and I still do at my place. I just prefer to not wear shoes, I hardly wear my shoes at work either.


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