Had my first run-in with officiousness

[ElyDave]

So, after work today I went to the local waste site to get rid of a load of rubble from a garden project. Sensibly for this, I wore shoes as I would be concentrating on rubble disposal and not where I was putting my feet. So far so good.

On my way home I stopped at the local supermarket (tesco's in this case), and left my shoes in the car. About three minutes into my experience, I'm stopped by a worker and told I need to put shoes on. I ask why and I'm told "we don't want you to step on something and then complain"

I reply "that's OK, I won't complain and I'll look where I'm going" and wend my merry way to the onion aisle. Three onions later I'm accosted by a rather overweight and unhealthy looking security guard who insists that I must wear shoes as "it's policy - health and safety"

Me - Who's health and safety?
Him - ours, if you get your feet run over you'll complain
Me - no I won't, I'll look where I'm going
Him - go and get some shoes now, or leave

I passed him my basket, told him to wait there.

On return, I pointed out the number of women wearing open toed sandals and flip flops and asked how they would protect feet from being run over.
Him - sandals are allowed, you have to wear shoes, safety
Me - you're not getting this are you?
him - it's health and safety rules
me - which rules? By the way, I'm a safety consultant.[which I am]
Him - it's hygiene
Me - so you think people clean their shoes before coming in here?
Him - It's the rules
Me - you and I know that you are talking absolute bollocks, and you're just a bully boy for the supermarket.

I didn't add "without two brain cells to rub together"

If I go into the other supermarket in town barefoot, I always end up having a nice chat with the cashier about it. Strange that.

 

[Bare Lee]

Happened to me at the local mom-n-pop mini-mart, with a young, pudgy clerk. Same conversation more or less:

Him: Next time you come in, please wear shoes.
Me: Why?
Him: Um, health codes.
Me: There is no health code about bare feet.
Him: I'm pretty sure there is.
Me: I know there isn't.
Him: Um, we'd like to have you wear shoes.
Me: Is it store policy? If it is, I have no problem with it.
Him: Er, yes it is.

I've been a customer there for years without a problem. Been meaning to talk to one of the owners about it and bring in the Primal Alliance flyers. It's a hassle because sometimes I'll stop there on the way back from a run to pick up supplies in-between major trips to a supermarket, and it'd be a drag to have to bring flip-flops along.

Anyway, you should check out Society for Barefoot Living. Half of the conversation there is about confrontations in stores with officious clerks. Gets a little monotonous. The other half can be pretty interesting though. I'm not a barefoot purist, but I like hearing that perspective from people who have been thinking about it for a long time.

 

[migangelo]

i was leaving the library yesterday after putting my huaraches in my backpack. i was looking at new release books and was approached by a librarian who told me i needed to put shoes on. i asked why and she said it was the libraries health code. i just looked at her and smirked. she was visibly uncomfortable. i didn't want to push the issue since i was leaving and they might remember the next time i come back and give me grief.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I'm just waiting for someone to confront me. I plan to point to the scars all over my feet and explain to them that shoes are what did this to me, and now I cannot wear shoes without being in a great deal of pain.

 

[migangelo]

maybe i could draw or tat some on mine and do the same thing?

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Sure. Why not? It's what you might have on your feet anyway if you wear the crap "they" want us to wear. Was that too harsh?

 

[ElyDave]

The thing that really got me was the guy telling me that it was unsafe to go barefoot in case a trolley/cart or one of their stock cages ran over my feet, but flip flops or sandals were OK.

The guy just oozed moron from every pore.

 

[ElyDave]

Took my daughter to ballet class today. Glorious weather, barefoot with a pair of huaraches in my shopping bag just in case.

Hit the library, ballet school and at least half a dozen shops, not a single comment.

 

[RunningPirate]

Your downfall, ElyDave, is that you were using logic and reason, and as an EH&S consultant (or do they call it HS&E over there?) you more than anyone should know that never works. If you really want to throw down with him, you could ask why steel-toed (or better still, metatarsal) shoes are not required to protect shoppers feet.

Safety-boy was probably following some rule that was a knee-jerk reaction to an incident that happened 30 years ago and no one changed the rule because "it's a good idea". [Lest you haven't figured it out, I'm an EH&S consultant, too - did you recognize the bitterness? ]

 

[ChasingShadows]

I got a fantasticly cliched, menacing "I'm not asking" after ignoring a bouncer telling me to put my shoes back on in a club - was pretty much worth it for the humour value. Decided it best not to argue with bouncers. (Injury tally, after taking shoes back off the second I was out the door & keeping them off walking around & for another hour's dancing; one tiny splinter, now forgotten about, two huge blisters from shoes, rough skin still remaining)

 

[RunningPirate]

I got a fantasticly cliched, menacing "I'm not asking" after ignoring a bouncer telling me to put my shoes back on in a club - was pretty much worth it for the humour value. Decided it best not to argue with bouncers. (Injury tally, after taking shoes back off the second I was out the door & keeping them off walking around & for another hour's dancing; one tiny splinter, now forgotten about, two huge blisters from shoes, rough skin still remaining)

Ahh....sounds like you were in one of those "Dress code strictly enforced" nightclubs. Yes, while I do understand our right to walk around barefoot, I've found that the large majority of bouncers can be...unreasonable...so, smart move on complying. Not sure where you live, but I'm sure there are other places that will be more than happy to take your barefoot money...

 

[stjohnthegambler]

Actually, to my surprise and disappointment, the library in Ann Arbor, MI does have a "shoes must be worn at all times" policy. I was told and checked.

I envy people who live in more liberal areas. Mid-Michigan? Not so much. People can get angry, and standing up to them doesn't do anything but get them angrier. Keep in mind, any store owner does have the right to refuse service to anyone, it doesn't have to be a written policy, though they may think there are "health codes."

I would love for a lawsuit to happen, to make owners more aware of what is and is not 'hygenic,' but I just don't think it'll happen.

 

[BFwillie_g]

Safety-boy was probably following some rule that was a knee-jerk reaction to an incident that happened 30 years ago

The way I read it, Safety Boy was responding to a cry for help from Wonder Worker ...

I go everywhere barefoot, never heard an officious peep out of anyone here yet. I get comments once in a while, but they tend to come from old geezers making jokes that were probably funny aroud the turn of the century. I mean, the last century.

 

[ChasingShadows]

Ahh....sounds like you were in one of those "Dress code strictly enforced" nightclubs.

This made me laugh, just because I think the dress code there probably doesn't get beyond "customers should be dressed"!

I guess it does all come down to what stjohn said, their place, their rules; they could stop you going in wearing purple if they felt like it - guess more people have an issue with bare feet than with purple though.

 

[BFwillie_g]

guess more people have an issue with bare feet than with purple though.

not true. Not true at all .... think Tinky Winky

 

[Mike R]

Spent this whole weekend barefoot so far. On our way home from the tractor show, my wife and I stopped for ice cream and I didn't want to put my sandals on so I went inside barefoot. No one even noticed except an older guy sitting at a table. He kind of gave me a dirty look but that doesn't really bother me. I asked my wife if she wanted to eat the ice cream inside but she didn't want to push our luck. I feel like such a rule-breaker!

 

[Barefoot TJ]

But the ice cream melts quicker outside! Hee.