This guy was being an ass

yeah, again, get told to put on shoes
But this guys just comes up to me and starts yelling at me about it
well
he used a very harsh tone, and keeps telling me the bullshit... it's a health department regulation. I CLEARLY told him there wasn't any
I put on my shoes cause I didnt wanna deal with this bullshit. I was planning on saying it was a religious thing.. well, it is a personal belief. eh, I didn't have the guts to say it. I was almost yelling at the guy too. But I just got so fucking angry. I wrote complaint note and I attatched a page one barefooters.org that was all about being barefoot in public. it's all 8 pages, and it can totally prove them wrong.
So I wrote this note/letter, but I am a crappy letter writer, and I need your guy's help in proofreading it. This is what I wrote [and it sounds terrible, so don't laugh]

Hello,

Today I was in your store at around 5:45 PM. I was not wearing shoes, because it is a part of my personal beliefs. An employee wearing a white button down shirt approached me about this. He didn't adress the situation in a polite manner, though, instead he used a harsh voice and was almost raising his voice at me. He kept on saying how being barefoot is against a Health Department Regulation, and it was against the law. I told him this wasn't true. These statements he made were not true. I've attatched some papers on this subject. I hope your store removes the signs on your door so I can shop in your store without having any unpleasant intrusions.

Sincerely,
[name]

i'm gonna go back there today and give them the note and papers. and be barefoot. if anyone says anything, I'm just gonna go absolutely nuts. not really. but I'll start getting really pissed off. Because I am JUST SO FUCKING SICK OF THIS.

 

some people are just jerks, what else can you say

 

yeah, I know.
But this is pretty much the only store I can go to to get certain things... there's a little natural food store thats a 2 minutes walk away, and they really don't care. But they don't have everything I need, so I'd like to go shop without being forced to wear shoes by some shaven clean-cut buttwipe.

 

send your letter to the owners or the corporate office whatever, is appropriate. go to the barefooters.org site. it will provide your with all the information you will need to attack their anti-barefoot bull shit. good luck dealing with this. if they continue giving you grief, take you money to a more barefoot friendly business.

 

To quote former President Jimmy Carter, “I feel your pain.”
To paraphrase a saying regarding things which one perceives are unjust, “Lord, give me the strength to challenge the things I can change, accept the things I cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
And finally, the teachings of Gandhi, who spoke of non-violent protest.

I believe all the above come into play here. First, I admire the energy you have around this topic. It took me many years and a couple of serious cardiac issues before I finally realized it’s not important what others think of me, it’s important for me to test the limits of things I want to challenge and experience the things I value. To that end, I feel your pain. Unfortunately, when one gets upset, one often loses the argument. That’s why I mention Gandhi and non-violent protest. If one gets loud and raises their voice in protest, they can be discounted as being overly emotional and irrational. This usually results in the loss of the argument. Rather, accept what the manager had to say, walk away, and then write a well-thought note to the owner/home office with your credibility intact. Finally, you won’t win all the time, so accept defeat graciously (hence the “Lord give me the strength,…” quote).

Okay enough philosophy. Enough of me playing counselor. If I was in your position I would probably read this and think, “who’s this crazy old fart”? That brings to mind another old saying, “If I had known then what I know now, I would have been dangerous.” It applies to relationships, conflict management, career opportunities, etc. At your age (~15 per your profile),I would have had the same reaction as you did. My suggestion is to forget about it, move forward, and maybe think about the non-aggressive approach the next time something like this occurs. I’ve got a couple of postings, one under “Bummer at Target,” in which I entered a store and was asked to leave. I’ll try again in the Spring just because now it’s a challenge.. The other posting is under “Share your positive experiences,” in which I was asked to leave an Office Max. I wrote the home office and got an apology and a $25 gift card. In both cases, after the initial confrontation I simply walked away and then dealt with the governing offices.

If the store makes you wear shoes, put them on, buy what you need, and forget about it. If you can find someplace else to shop that’s barefoot-friendly, give them your business. Again, personally I’d defend your choice not to wear shoes, but in the big scheme of things, it’s not worth losing sleep over a few bad experiences. Oh well, those are my thoughts for what they’re worth.

 

Were it me, I'd have completely ignored him and gone about my business as if he did not exist. He was completely in the wrong to yell at a customer no matter the provocation.

 

I attatched that to the letter, actually.

I would've totally done that too. but I just didn't think of it. simply because he was being so irrational. if the employee was more calm and polite, I would have been, 'exscuse me, it is my own personal beliefs to not wear shoes. I know you think it is a health code violation, but I've done plenty of research, and that is not true. Can I please go on shopping?' and maybe walk away. but eh, he just got up in my face. probably because he thought he was superior.. some 45-year old dude with a buzz cut and a white shirt, I'm a short 15-year old in a plaid jacket and jeans and nobody is around. fucking loser.

and Straight Toes, I totally get you. no, I was just really angry that day, I've cooled down now. the guy obviously yelled at me because he didn't want to deal with me and didn't want to put up an argument. it was just so rude. when he walked away I got really overwhelmed and almost cried =/ I was just really sick of it. But I'm going to go in there and ask an employee to give the manager the note... they didn't have an email or adress I could send this to. I'm just gonna go in, if someone tells me ot put on shoes, I'll try to stay as calm as possible... it really depends on what their tone was, like this guy just toally made me freeze... whenever someone says something about my bare feet, I just cannot get any confidence to really say what I wanna say, I'll say the health code part isn't true, but not much after that. eh, I freak out, pretty much.
if they still have a problem, yeah, I will just keep my business away from them, remind them of what a good job they did for giving a customer alot of inconvenience.

 

That sucks. Good luck.

 

That guy was an idiot! If he had approached you in a friendly, respectful matter, everything would be different. From what you said, he practically attacked you and that's rude and not proper from an employee who attends customers.

It's good that you've stated your complain against that store. I am sure you'll receive the manager's apologies. You can allege discrimination too.

Good luck, keep us informed, and keep barefoot. Don't let dumb people like this guy discourage you from being barefoot or force you to wear shoes.

 

good for you,gotta stand for something

 

I'd suggest you change the order a little. If the person reading the message doesn't like bare feet either, he'll be on the manager's side the moment he reads 'I was not wearing shoes' and the part about 'he used a harsh voice' will have less impact. Start with "Today I was at your store and was approached by one of your employees, who treated me rudely, raising his voice and using harsh language..." Only then continue and explain you happened not to be wearing shoes and you know the employee was incorrect about the health codes. This way, if a superior reads it, he'll be informed *first* of the rudeness of his employee, and if he's annoyed at the guy for that, he'll be more likely to listen to your complaint. I wouldn't even mention the signs on the door (getting them removed is one more step, see what happens about the guy's behaviour first).

 

Good advice Myranya!

 

There has to be someone better to quote on this.

 

A Nobel Laureate, key figure in Habitat for Humanity and recipient of:

• United Nations Human Rights Award,
• The Martin Luther King, Jr., Nonviolent Peace Prize,
• Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development,
• Conservationist of the Year Medal, National Wildlife Federation,
• Ansel Adams Conservation Award, Wilderness Society,

and a humanitarian respected worldwide who was one of the harshest critics of the Bush regime next to Noam Chomsky is not good enough to quote?

Study Carter's accomplishments, especially in the last fifteen years. If you are an advocate for peace, social justice and the environment at all, you'll hold the man in high esteem after doing so.

 

Decent credentials, but...

The Nobel Prize organization lost most of my respect when they selected Al Gore over Irena Sendler, who saved 2,500 Jewish children from a Warsaw ghetto, and was subsequently severely tortured and left in the wilderness, unconscious, with broken arms and broken legs. She spent the rest of her life trying to find the original parents of the children or trying to find them homes. What did Gore do?

He made a Powerpoint presentation.

United Nations isn't something I'm particularly fond of, as they seem to be undermining free speech by making the ridiculous, un-Constitutional, and un-humanitarian "blasphemy legislation" http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=9b8e3a6d-795d-440f-a5de-6ff6e78c78d5

I know, I didn't really compile anything against Carter here, but I wanted to state my distaste for some of these organizations.

Good for him on his conservationism as long as he was trying to protect the earth from things that are actually harmful... He would really get kudos if he actually made a big deal about the plastic bags that are destroying our oceans.

The big thing that leaves me unimpressed with Jimmy Carter is that during his administration, he ignored the elephant in the room that causes so many problems: the Federal Reserve. The last president to try do do something about that monster from Jeckyll Island was John F. Kennedy.

We all know what happened to him.

 

So you'll admit the OP wasn't completely off-base with the quote?

There's legislation recently introduced here (Micronesia) that seeks to outlaw those damn bags outright. The reality is that until they're simply outlawed, folks will continue to use them.

 

There might be hope, even without legislating their use. Here on the east side of the lake near Seattle, WA plastic bags are still offered but I find that almost everyone are bringing in their own reusable bags in every store we shop at (mostly Trader Joe's, which attracts cost and environmentally conscious consumers anyway). Every once in a while I see someone with plastic bags, but I would say that at least around here they are the minority.

 

I've noticed people using canvas bags around here. I don't trust the government with that sort of thing (well, I hardly trust them with anything). Let the market take care of it. Get the message out there and stores will find that they can get people in the stores if they offer a deal on canvas bags!

 

Here in the Netherlands grocery stores mostly use plastic, but it's a pretty sturdy plastic that stands up to quite a bit of re-use, not the flimsy kind I remember from the US. And since they're not free (35 cents I believe) most people do use them multiple times. I use mine many times, and use them for garbage bags or something similar when they're worn out too much to use for shopping! The convenient thing about them is that they fold up smaller than canvas bags -useful when you're a walker/cyclist, many people here don't always use a car for shopping trips- but they still last quite a while (as long as you're a little careful dropping in things with sharp edges).

 

wait, what does plastic bags have to do with this? XD