This has something to do with other stuff... but I'm just saying this

[kippurbird]

What makes the bottoms of your feet dirtier than the bottoms of your shoes?

I'm wondering this because I went up to the cafeteria today at work to ask them to make me a turkey avocado wrap with no avocado. The guys there are very nice and they'll make me one especially if I come up and ask before lunch time. There's this one woman there who I don't like because she has a tendency to be a rules stickler when everyone else isn't. She's also very patronizing and condescending. Anyway, when I went up to ask for them to make the wrap for me I didn't have my shoes on. I don't tend to wear them when I'm at work. I do wear them normally when I go to the cafeteria, but on this particular instance they were off. I stopped at the cafeteria on my way back from the mailroom.

The woman saw that I wasn't wearing shoes and immediately started to berate me. I'd made sure I didn't go into the kitchen part of the dinning hall, but apparently this wasn't good enough. I thought it was. She then cited that I was in a place where there was food.

Which made me start to wonder, as stated at the beginning, how are the bottoms of my feet any dirtier than the bottoms of my shoes? They both touch the same thing if you think about it; the ground. So what difference does it make?

Comments

[spoofmaster]

I've kind of wondered this myself. It came up on customers_suck a while ago and there was a huge debate about it. I think one of the reasons people gave in support of the shoes rule was that your foot is organic and bacteria can survive on it longer than on the bottom of a rubber soled shoe. Don't know how true that is. But really, it's not like your feet are touching the food. The only other defense I can think of would be a safety of the customer deal--there might be more risk of glass or ceramic shards being on the floor, or bacteria that might give you warts or athlete's foot or something.

[syderia]

I was all set to answer that there was none and that that woman is a moron when I read the previous comment. The safety part might be true (but without link to there being a place with food).

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

The difference is that the Health Department will bust your ass if you let people with bare feet wander around, but not if they're wearing shoes. :P

[kevias.livejournal.com]

That's the gist of it. Business owners don't want trouble with the government over this stuff, and they don't want to get sued if people cut or hurt their feet on the premises. Of course, the "Must wear shoes" rule begs an explanation and different people will have different ideas.

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

*seems to recall most of these kinds of sanitary laws date back to Typhoid Mary, whose bare feet really were more dangerous than her shoes*

[subieko.livejournal.com]

Doesn't it have to do with the safety issue? If there's something sharp or whatever on the floor, and you step on it, it could be trouble for the company or whatnot. Also, I just wouldn't want whatever crap is on the floor to be on my feet. With shoes you can control where the floorcrap goes--on your feet, it just follows you everywhere.

[easol.livejournal.com]

In my experience, plantar warts. Those things hurt like an MFer, you get 'em from walking barefoot, and you have to burn them off with acid.

And yeah, there's probably some safety issues as well like the above poster mentioned. If you got cut, you could sue -- and potentially win. Plus if you did, there would be blood everywhere which is a totally separate health hazard.

[torylltales.livejournal.com]

I always thought it was because there are conceivably many sharp knives, and if you lose a toe or something it would be the kitchen staff's liability, or something...

Also, you could slip on spills.

[easol.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it just takes one idiot with a leaky lid and BOOM you're on the floor.

And some restaurants are slippier than others -- they sometimes use sauces and dressings that can be REALLY hard to walk on without falling.

[notadoor.livejournal.com]

Aren't there also certain parasites that like to travel from feet > food > digestive tract? I mean, I think they're more of an issue in countries where people are farming barefoot, but something similar may be involved here.

[easol.livejournal.com]

I think there are, but I can't remember what they are.... and yeah, I'd think there would be fewer of them in a country with sidewalks....

[bklydej.livejournal.com]

Well, you could have some sort of foot disease, but since everyone else is wearing shoes, it shouldn't be a problem. Maybe other people buy their lunch barefoot. :3

[kjtaylor.livejournal.com]

Obviously it's because bare feet=hippy, and hippy=dirty.

(Weird this should come up when I've just finished treating a plantar wart. I couldn't walk properly today)

[easol.livejournal.com]

My sympathies on your feet. I effing hate those warts.

[foxypope.livejournal.com]

Well obviously you were going to stick your nasty, grubby toes in everyone's mashed potatoes and thereby ruin lunch for everyone.