Good day at the store~

Went to Fred Meyer's today, some hispanic woman had this weird look on her face and whispered "he's not wearing shoes!!" to her co-worker and tried calling the produce dept. where I was walking (probably to tattle). Then some lady at the deli said "where's your shoes?" I said "I don't like them, so I don't wear them." She said "ah i remember when I didn't like shoes, but that was until I stepped in an ant nest and they bit me up to my knees." While I still don't see how shoes would have helped her in that situation, it was still nice that she didn't make any fuss about it.

I'm so happy, and getting better and better at caring less about what people think. I haven't had a bad experience anywhere yet! I hope I never do~

 

Yeah, I've also been into Fred Meyer's without a problem - in fact they are one of the few places I always felt welcomed by the staff, as they ignored the fact I was barefoot. I even saw one of their employees come into the store barefoot one time as she was reporting for work...it was pouring down rain outside, and she had doffed her shoes to go from her car to the store, rather than having to do her job is soaking wet shoes and socks. She smiled at me as we passed each other.

 

"...except in the lil' kid's playland area"

I don't ever understand this one either. I'm just starting to deal with this as my son is just beginning to walk and we've taken him to a couple of play areas that read "children must wear socks". I'm not really quite sure what they think they're protecting the kids from...I don't see any sharp objects on the ground in these play areas...and there are no rules about gloves or helmets to protect their hands and head (much more at risk, IMO, than feet).

 

Even if there were sharp objects,what good would socks do? I don't really understand that,either.

 

I think it's because most kids are forced to wear shoes all day and their feet get all sweaty and gross. So the management wants to prevent the surfaces of the play area from getting all stinky like shoe-wearing kiddie feet. Now if all the kids were allowed to go barefoot all day then their feet would be all nice and dry and odor-free.

 

I usually am not bothered by businesses because I'm barefoot; I think it's because I do a good job of not noticing the fact that I don't have shoes, lol.

 

I think that they believe they are protecting the kids from ringworm.

 

I didn't even think of that....I bet you're right.

 

Ringworm in the play area? I think not. The only place you might get ringworm is by walking around in dog poo all day and not wash it off. Even then it would be hard to get.

 

Ringworm isn't a worm or a parasite. It's a fungus. Athlete's Foot is ringworm of the feet...it's highly contagious.

 

Even more reason to keep shoes off the feet. Fungus only grows and multiplies in warm moist places- shoes are the perfect environment for fungal growth. Instances of Athlete's Foot is practically zero for people who go barefoot all the time and keep their feet dry. I knew a guy who had bad Athlete's Foot. He went barefoot in chicken coops and hippie communes half the day, then put shoes on for the rest of the day. What a nasty combo that was.

OK, sorry about the confusion. Ringworm is a fungus that can affect any part of the body and when it occurs in feet it is called Athlete's Foot. Hookworm, on the other hand, is the parasite that, in its larval stage, enters the skin from feces contaminated soil and goes through its life cycle in the human host. It gets into the lungs and gets coughed up, swallowed, and lives in the intestinal tract until it comes out again. Pretty cool, eh?