I'm wondering... if you're going to someone's house, when you walk in the door, is the first thing you do is take off your shoes? Do you take off your shoes in your own home? Does it depend on if you know the person, like it's a friend or family or not?

(this probably seems pretty stupid, but for the longest time, when I was younger, I always noticed on TV how people never took off their shoes, and thought it was an 'American thing" LOL ... Then when I finally knew someone who was American, I asked him, and he said NO WAY would he take off his shoes in someone's house that he didn't know. I just thought that was bizarre, and have always wondered if it's a common thing)

Anyways, now that I have access to all you wonderful people, I have a good way to find out this thing that has bothered me forEVER!

Thanks,

Mandi

I popped in here to take a peek and chuckle about how far off topic this thread had veered, but to my surprise.......wow.....11 pages of shoe removal vs. shoe retention. Must be more of a controversy than I had previously imagined.

Us lucky Canuckis always take our shoes off when we enter a house. We used to be amazed by the Brady Bunch where you Americans left them on. Go figure, eh. lol

Where I am at, it is an all or nothing call. If EVERYONE takes off their shoes, then ok, but if not, there are horrid little bastard stickers called goat heads, that are prevalent everywhere here-----step on a few of them, and you will sleep with your shoes on! They usually get tracked in on the soles of shoes, and then break off the one little stabber, leaving several just waiting for a bare or socked foot to land in.

Ours come off at the door for that reason, we do not want them tracked through the house. I have never ever ask anyone else to remove theirs for that reason. The closest I have ever come to telling anyone what to do with their shoes, was to point out a tray we have to put wet snowy boots in, and if they took the hint and put them there, fine, if they preferred to keep them on, I cleaned up after them.

There are germs everywhere we go, and as long as people are willing to come see me, I am not going to dictate their foot dress while they are here. Most people just do as they see you do.

What are goatsheads?

Oh goodness, they're HORRIBLE!!!!!

Green, they are hard as rocks and about as small and shaped and colored about the same as small gravel (think pencil eraser size [maybe smaller] and dirt brown). The have spiked points that are SHARP! If you have soft soles like flip flops, they'll actually indent the sole and come through to your foot! When you try to pull them out of the bottoms of your shoes (tennies, flip-flops, anything they can stick to) the spikes break off and you can't get them out! The points will then scratch up your floors when you walk in your shoes. I've ruined several pairs of shoes over the years from those awful things! I've seriously sat down with tweezers and a bowl to pull goatsheads and their spikes out of the bottom of my shoes.

We don't have them too much here at this property and didn't so much at the last house we owned but the rental property we had before that was infested with them! It was awful. And the long hair on the animals can pick them up, then wait for the critter to come in the house before falling onto the carpet that is much the same color and lay in wait for you to come along in your bare feet to step on them! I SWEAR they have diabolical minds of their own!!

Oh and it's not just the spikes you have to worry about. NOOOOOO, once all the spikes break off, you have a hard little pebble-like thing left. Step on that just right with bare feet and you've now bruised your foot!!!

Jeez those things are HORRID!!!!!!

And trust me, and I'm sure Kat will back me up, I'm NOT be a drama queen when it comes to these things!

nope......she described them well. They are a weed, and the sticker is actually a seed to make a new weed, and once started they spread FAST! And since that is the part that spreads the plant, it is almost like it has a poison to it, and even after you pull it from your foot, the spot burns and is sore.

They SUCK!!!! Will try to find out a real name so you can look them up!

I back you up too Heartfine Goatheads are the worst sticker ever!!! They burn and are just awful. Painful, evil!!!