is it illegal...

...to go barefoot into a store that has a "no shirt no shoes no service" sign on the door? i was reading on the society for barefoot living and it said how there aren't any health regulations against going places barefoot.

so is it illegal er not?

 

I'm not aware of anyplace that its illegal, but a store can make its own dress-code policies, since it is private property, and they don't legally have to let you in the store and provide any services, if you don't meet their dress requirements. <-at least that is how I understand it.

 

If it's only a sign, you aren't breaking any laws by not abiding by it, many stores don't enforce it. Besides, literally speaking it doesn't say anything about just being there, only about service If the sign claims 'by order of the health department' then the sign may be illegal; it's not allowed to misrepresent the law. Some states may make the store take the sign down or re-word it if anyone bothers to contact them, however other stores have been known to get around this by claiming it's 'the company's Health Department we're referring to, not the State Health Department'.

 

Nope it's not illegal. They might ask you to leave, but that's about it. Check out this website for state by state info: http://www.barefooters.org/health-dept/

"sign sign everywhere a sign..."

 

as mentioned it isn't illegal to enter, however; if they ask you to leave you must becasue it is private property and if you don't leave you could be charged with tresspassing.

 

^ yeah that's a good point. A store can have policies regarding shoes on customers. Even at that point, if you didn't leave and somehow allowed the situation to escalate to where the cops were called and were arrested (wtf!?) you wouldn't be charged with entering a store barefoot. The charge would have to do with your behavior after being asked to leave. It just a matter of respecting that they can do what they like in their establishment.

As a side note, I spent the day barefoot going in and out of stores today without issue, even an icecream parlor!

 

Just because its "their" store doesnt make it right for them to ask you to leave just because youre barefoot. Doing that isnt anymore right than asking someone to leave the store because theyre asian or christian or gay or anything like that, its discrimination. What you wear isnt any of their business and its got nothin whatsoever to do with how they run their store. I mean if youre causing some disruption there thats one thing or doin something illegal but if youre just in there barefoot then they shouldnt bother you. If we let em treat barefooters that way then they can get away with denying service to anyone based on their appearance if they dont happen to like the way they look. We're the customer they should have to serve us weither they like us or not.

 

The customer is always right!

 

I never said it was RIGHT. I'm a basefooter too. But honestly it's not discrimination in a legal sense. The reason being people that are asian or christian or gay or something involves an identity that can not easily be modified and asking someone to do it is an over the top request. Asking someone to put on shoes is really not THAT MUCH of an inconvenience. I have my opinions and respect theirs too. If they don't want me in their store barefoot I don't want to be in their store anyway.

Note that no where did it's right, or do I think it should be like that. But it is, and honestly, if they don't understand that's their problem. Besides, in a global sense, there are a lot more important battles to be fighting than one ignorant store owner.

 

It is for some people and some people make going barefoot part of their life and almost like a religion to others and its not right for a store owner to interfere with that. What if the person didnt have shoes with them and they were a long way from home and had to buy whatever was in that store at the time? Id consider that a big inconvience. Besides if it were easily to change oreintation, sex or religion with a flick of the switch would it make it anymore legal for the store owner to expect that person to flick the switch to meet their personal criteria before that customer enters the store? It doesnt matter how easy or convient something like putting shoes on is the store owner has no business asking the customer to do so.

Fine he can have his or her opinion but having an opinion doesnt mean they have to impose their views on others. I dont mind hearing people's opinions its when they force their views on me by making absurd rules that I get upset.

 

Yeah but you're not paying the rent or costs for running the establishment. The proprietor of the store isn't going to learn or expand their thinking at all if you just fight with them. Losing a customer on the other hand, maybe more than one...

 

lets reverse this. you own a store that does a very good business and have a BIG sign that says "shoes not allowed, you must enter this establishment barefoot" someone enters and says they aren't going to remove their shoes because going barefoot is stupid, illegal and they don't have to remove their shoes to enter your store.

you tell them to remove their shoes or leave and they say "I'm not going to remove my shoes and I'm not leaving" what are you going to do ? let them do as they please or call the cops and have them make the person leave ?

you don't need this one persons business, one customer leaving won't bother you because you have hundreds of people that shop at your store barefoot.

race, creed, national origin, religon these are things, by law, you cannot discriminate against. simply a dislike of shoes isn't one

 

^werd! Besides, if you really want to send the message you can do it by just not shopping there. Getting enough people to do it would help. But it's going to be hard. I haven't even SEEN another barefooter around here.

EDIT: I have seen ONE person at a college campus.

 

I am in a way cuz without me (the customer) and the money I bring them by shopping there they cannot pay their rent or the costs of running the establishment.

Theyre gonna realize there is a problem and theyre gonna wanna do something about it because they dont want to lose a customer, every customer counts. If you just leave they might not know what happened or why you left if you confront them theyre gonna know exactly what the problem is. Of course you could always confront them about it and then leave and then not only will they know theres a problem, they'll lose a customer too.

I dont think its right for a store to require a customer to come in barefoot anymore than I think its right for them to require that they wear shoes, unless its the sort of place where its practical to go barefoot inside.

I would just let them come in and do their shopping, I wouldnt want to cause any trouble and itd be a waste of my time and the police time to call them just to remove a customer, better to just let the customer have his/her way unless theyre doing something illegal or disruptive. I wouldnt have a silly bare feet required sign in the first place though.

If theyre a good business then it would bother them because if youre a well run business then every customer counts to you, least they would to me. I would rather suffer their bare feet than deny them service in my store. Of course bare feet dont bother me so it wouldnt be an issue.

Going barefoot is almost like a lifestyle or religion for some people so you could almost say its discriminating against their civil rights. Besides why should the law always protect the owner's rights before the customer? I always thought the customer came first and is always right? What happened to that?

 

Well, lifestyle choices are not expressly included in the Constitution of our country, which is why there has been such a flap over discrimination against homosexuals - there are those out there who feel that it is simply a "lifestyle choice", while others (like myself) believe it's an integral part of a person's personality, as unchangeable as the color of our skin.

Religion IS covered in the Constitution of course, but I don't know of any major religion with established congregations where bare feet are required (except in temple, church, etc.) so you will likely have a tough time trying to sell someone on the fact that you're going barefoot into their business because of your religious beliefs. But I think with the religious fervor in this country, someone could probably push for it if they yelled and screamed loud and long enough...

And the law protects the owner's rights because it is THEIR property. It isn't public land, where everyone's rights equalize (or are supposed to). When someone comes onto your property, the law will respect your rights over that person.

The "customer is always right" isn't any sort of law - it's more of a philosophy about how to run a succesful business. There are any number of instances we could all think of from our own lives, where this wasn't at all the case. And also, this philosophy isn't meant to be all-encompassing whereby the business owner turns over all of their rights because the "customer is always right". It's meant to serve as a reminder to owners in disputes over services provided, or fees paid for - that ultimately you're only as good as your reputation, and that sometimes you have to keep your mouth shut and let the customer have their way in order to keep your reputation (and future business).

There's also the opposite philosophy which states "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone". And in our case I actually think that many shop owners likely feel that their reputation as a business would be hurt more by allowing a barefoot customer to do business on their property, and so they follow the second philosophy. I don't agree with it, obviously, but I think that this is one of those things that we can only change by voting with our wallets, and only supporting businesses that don't have a problem with it. Sadly we're still very much a minority group, so I don't expect we'll change too many people's minds that way...

 

Yea, I dunno maybe I'm just not as committed to the cause or whatever but I like going barefoot because it feels good and it frees my mind and keeps me at peace. Getting into a huge argument over it with a store owner is going to throw a wrench into that positive experience.

Plus might I add, I have had similar arguments with people that aren't owners and the one thing I realized is that some people just don't see it. And honestly, I'm fine with that. Everyone is free to choose their own lifestyle and do things as they see fit, I just don't need to be part of it.

 

Homosexuality is a whole different can of worms, its much more controversial and theres alot of evidence out there that says homosexuality is part of a person's personality and not just a lifestyle choice. I wouldnt feel comfortable with a business denying service to a homosexual person anymore than I would a barefoot person, its still discrimination.

Theres enough religious fanatics out there that try to use religion for everything so im sure that if you go barefoot into a store and you say its because its part of your religion people will leave you alone because they dont want to upset all the bible thumpers out there. Some of those people can get pretty nasty over silly stuff.

I think it has more to do with the businesses making the govenrment fat and happy by making our community prosperous than them actually caring about the owner's rights. So of course theyre gonna stick up for the business owner because money is everything to these people and they gotta keep the lil gears turning.

You cant run a sucessful business if you scare half your customers away.

Thats the way these business owners would like you to beleive they think until they run into a barefoot customer they dont like and then its another story. I mean theyre hipocrites. They treat the customer right only when its suits them.

Theres alot of evidence to the contrary and I doubt these guys are thinking alot about the customer's well being instead theyre worried more about keeping undesireables they dont like out of their store and claiming its because other customers dont like them. Its a bunch of crock.

I just want to be able to walk into a store and have these store owners keep their mouths shut and their bigotted opinions to themselves and just smile and do their jobs and respect me like anyone else.

 

Thats why you shouldnt have to argue about it with anyone, it shouldnt even be up for debate. These store owners need to keep their bigotry at home and mind their own business and treat us barefoot customers with respect. I could really care less if they like us barefoot or not, it isnt any of their concern, their only concern is making sure we get good service and making sure they provide us with what we need. We dont go there to get their input on how they feel about our lifestyle choices.

Thats why people just need to live and let live and stop sticking their noses into other people's business where it dont belong.