I was in my local Lowes Home Improvement store buying material for my deck project and another customer standing at the contractor's desk raised his voice and said "how can you let someone walk around your store barefooted? Isn't that a safety violation?" The clerk behind the counter said "that guy (me) comes in here all the time that way. We don't pay any attention to it." Made my day.
Maybe he was just thinking of your safety. Maybe he was angry he did not have a "pair" that would allow him to do the same. Maybe he was just an ass.
I hate it when uninvolved, unaffected people feel the need to voice their opinion this way. Last year I was at a King Soopers grocery and a guy yelled at me for being "unsanitary." It was a bit embarrassing as it drew a lot of unwanted attention. Nonetheless, I just ignored him and continued on my way. At the checkout a store employee came up to me and asked me to wear shoes the next time. I explained I'd pursued this with their corporate office and it was acceptable. She didn't know what to say. I followed up with the Store Manager later. He was great. He thought bare feet were probably safer than shoes because of the tactile sensation. He wondered why anyone would be surprised by bare feet in his store. It's just off I-70, and as he put it,"we get people in here wearing (or not wearing) all kinds of stuff during the summer when folks are heading to the mountains." So where am I going with all this? According to the Store Manager, the guy who yelled at me wasn't a store employee - just a pissy customer who had an opinion. By the way, yesterday was warm, and I returned to that same store, barefoot and wearing shorts, went all over the store, passed numerous employees, no problems whatsoever!
I'm always so impressed with how you handle these situations, StraightToes. Some people are just busybodies who don't have anything better to do. Way to go!
I'm impressed with the manager's response! I'm sure he probably loves to go barefoot at least every once in a while, too, given that he knows how good it is
I was in a King Soopers grocery on Tuesday. I wandered around the store barefoot and was completing my checkout when a female employee came up behind me and asked if I'd wear shoes the next time. I calmly explained that I'd discussed my barefoot ways with Kroger's (the parent company) corporate offices and was told there was no policy requiring shoes. I further explained I'd had a similar encounter at one of the other local stores and the manager actually supported my being barefoot stating the tactile sensation probably made it safe. Anyhow, the employee was polite, but wasn't buying my story. When I got home, I thought about just ignoring her the next time but realized that would result in passive aggression, so I phoned the Store Manager. I explained my exchange with the corporate office as well as with the manager at the other store. The manager said it sounded like I'd researched it quite a bit, said he'd confirm my statement with the manager of the other store, but really dismissed it as no big deal. Yesterday I returned to the same store and the same female employee was by the checkout. We pretended not to notice each other as I passed, but shortly thereafter I saw her make a beeline for the Customer Service desk. Someone must have talked her down because that's the last I saw of her. Today I had to return but there was no encounter.
more barefoot police, they seem to be everywhere, for some reason some people seem to resent people being barefoot, i don't know i don't get it.
Today an uninvolved bystander tried to make an issue of my bare feet. Nothing ugly, but this is how it went. I was walking from my car to the entrance to a grocery store when a gruff looking guy passed. He commented that I needed shoes to go in the store. I ignored him and just kept walking. I wandered around the store till I found what I needed, checked out, and returned to my car completely unchallenged. So what was the deal with the gruff guy who said I needed shoes? First, he wasn't an employee, second, it obviously wasn't store policy, third, why does he think his opinions are more important than anybody else's? The exchange didn't bother me, it just made me wonder about the guy. So far this year I haven't had any real negative experiences, just a few comments by ignorant people who want the world to be their way.
I wonder what makes any customer comment/complain about some other customer's appearance. Why do they think it's any concern of theirs? I honestly can't even think of a situation in which I'd complain about another customer unless they'd physically assault me. I don't *like* everything I see, and just occasionally I think someone is an accident waiting to happen (drunken girl tottering in a moving train on heels for example) but that's totally their problem, not mine. If I don't like someone's appearance I'll look the other way, a drunken girl still has the right to ride the train (at least she isn't driving home, LOL), and if she falls down I'll even help her up. It's some weird busy-body syndrome that people even think of sticking their noses into other people's business.
