anxiety? fear of wearing shoes?

i think i'm scared to wear shoes.. seriously. i've been talking with people about possible getting a ..J-O-B and well.. most jobs require you to wear some sort of shoes. i don't wanna!!! i've been trying to think of jobs that i could go shoeless.. caregiver is one. i did it before.. i can do it again.. right? any ideas? (and if you're going to be an ass and tell me to just wear shoes, don't bother to reply.. i'll just ignore you!)

 

I have seen many night shift front desk clerks in hotels working barefoot. I also remember a few years ago I spent several weeks at a hotel in Georgia and a few of the housekeepers who cleaned the rooms were always barefoot, they said they made less noise when traveling in the halls so management didn't mind.
Good luck with the job hunt, keep us posted.

 

I believe Ohiodel makes a good point and that maybe a job in which your feet are blocked from view or you just don't come into contact with the public would be best.

Not too many jobs involve having you to be barefoot besides a lifeguard, pool attendant or yoga instructor. I've heard of people making a living selling products on Ebay, now that's something you don't need shoes for!!

Are you willing to settle for flip flops? Just wondering.

That making a living thing sure gets in the way!

 

There aren't too many left, but if you can find an independent bookstore, many of them are pretty relaxed about it. I worked for one for a few years, and was barefoot probably 90% of the time. Nobody cared, and some of our customers would come in barefoot, too.

 

Customer service call reps and telemarketing might also be a choice. Several years ago I worked as a sales consultant for a new home builder, when they built new housing developments I would spends some time in the model to show potential customers the features and layout of the model. I was able to spend a lot of my time barefoot since I was the only one there a lot of the time and if an occasional customer found me barefoot they didn't seem to mind, but I still had shoes if I needed them.

 

Divemaster, Tour boat hand, Barefoot windjammer crew, many high-tech companies (such as ours) engage IT professionals as independent consultants, which allows them to be their own boss and call their own shots.

Truly, the best option from any number of standpoints is simply to start your own business. You'll be able to call the shots and never again worry about a boss breathing down your neck and telling you where and how to live your life.

Check with your local Community Colledge or Chamber of Commerce regarding entrepeneurship mentoring programs.

 

thanks for the ideas

i'd love to have my own business.. but doing what?

i'm already looking even though i'm not desparate for a job yet... iknow there has to be something for me.. SHOELESS!

 

The best kind of business to be in is one that involves something for which you have a passion. Think about not only what you can do, but what you can do very well and be completely absorbed while doing it. Then, spend time brainstorming ways that this could be made into a business.

The aforementioned mentoring programs are excellent in identifying areas of interest which can be transformed into a workable business plan. "Find a need and fill it" may have worked for our progenators, but today's massively increased opportunities (primarily driven by technology) require a different approach.

 

I once went to a job interview at a company in California where everyone in the office was barefoot. They made electronic musical instruments and somehow the president of the company, an avid barefooter, convinced everyone else to work barefoot as well.

I now have my own business and it's great since I can make my own hours and work barefoot without hassle.

 

babysitting...is the only thing i know of.. i have always gone to other peoples houses to babysit barefoot.

 

babysitting..

it was once again suggested to me that i should start my own daycare. i'm going to look into it this time. kids love it when i tell them, "thats right i can do pretty much anything i want now that i'm a grown-up, including not wearing shoes... EVER!"

 

mmmhhh... jobs that require driving ? oh no, you i the us have that annoying *urban legend* about laws forbidding barefoot driving.
i'd say something which does not imply to have contacts with customers.

 

wear shoes.


oh you can't hear me.... that's right.

wear shoes, just to work.

 

my last shoe required job, the last few hours all i could think about was wanting to get the damn things off my feet. tooooo distracing! don't make me come to canada and beat you up for telling me to wear shoes!

 

OH, do please allow me to translate:

Wear foot coffins, compromise your integrity and be a wage slave because someone said that you must conform to survive as a cog in the sausage grinder called "the workplace".

Poppycock!

Start your own business, be independent, make exponentially more and call the shots right over the heads of the ignorant shoddies.

 

Well said seohsreven!

I've contemplated starting my own business, but I'm too chicken, plus too much procrastination and no drive are not a good combo.

 

i must speak my mind, or resign from this thread. i find quite strange to say the least that someone discards a job because of a dress code to respect (we all agree that dress codes are BS and shoe rules suck but it's not granted that life has to be pleasant), especially one who is adult and with a family and children and in times like these, and has to get desperate about that to come to such petty compromises. I mean, risk your life for freedom of speech but dont risk your daily bread for freedom of feet.
sorry for being an ass

 

no.. you are right. if it comes down to it.. i will wear shoes.. and suffer the whole time. but where i live.. i think i could do it.. shoeless. it's just going to take some creativity on my part.. and searching.. i looked today, but not finding it .. yet! i'm not in a panic or hurry, i have some time on my side to do this.

 

I could never conform to a dress code. Now I don't have a family to support, just myself, but I will go without a considerable lot of comforts before I would go through the absolute horror of wearing footwear. Because that is what it would be to me; total HORROR for every single minute. I'd stuff envelopes and make just enough to pay rent and eat cheap food, rather than do any high-paying job that'd require shoes.

But really the most important thing is that it doesn't have to come down to that choice. There are work-from-home jobs, databank/phonebank, IT positions, work in the arts, indeed there's always the option of starting your own business and being your own boss, there's things like lifeguarding, boating, etc... I know, I don't live in the US and there's far less of an anti-barefoot bias here but I've worked all the time I've been barefoot, including two job interviews and I was hired both times. It's gonna be harder in the US but there's more and more desk jobs where the only customer contact is by mail, phone, webcam (with just a close-up, you could probably sit there without pants and they would never know)... really look around and I'm sure it's possible to find a barefoot job.

 

But you see, that is the root of the entire problem:

You assume that the only way to make a decent living is to conform to the norm, buckle down and become a wage slave. This is patently false.

Where would Bill Gates be today if he said to himself 20-some years ago: "Gee, I'd better not drop out of school, because then I won't be able to get a good JOB".

As Myranya commented, and as I've illustrated quite clearly here, there are many, many alternatives and most of them are far preferable to the onerous routine that comprises the daily life of a "salaryman."

Yes, there is an element of chance, but you'll never truly prosper until you learn to take calculated, educated risks.

Take it from me, the best way up is out. Since becoming an independent businessman, my standard of living has raised exponentially in just a few short years, as has my standing in the community. All this in an economic environment termed locally as a "crisis" or "disaster."