“Please remove your shoes!”
Illust by Natsumi Narasaki
Here in Canada, it is so common to go straight inside the house without removing your shoes at the entrance. I have always wondered as to why such a thing is commonly done here? Had the shoes only been on clean grass that maybe I wouldn’t have as much hesitation.
However, just to think that the shoes could’ve been to places like public bathrooms and dirty puddles, the chance is that the shoes have picked up not only bacteria but also sand and dirt. This gives to me an icky feeling. I can’t help but think that such a habit simply doesn’t make sense. Some people even sit on their bed with their shoes still on their feet!
In elementary school, when a friend first came to visit, I remember my mother and I screaming with shock when that friend entered our home with her shoes. When hiring an electrician or a plumber, we couldn’t help but cringe with disgust when they would enter the house in their big work boots.
We would especially be startled when they would walk on our tatami floors!
I was surprised to learn that my Canadian husband refused to enter the house with his shoes when we first met. He also had the same mentality not to enter the house with shoes on. Although he had been raised in a typical Quebecker household where his parents and relatives shared the same habit of entering their homes with their shoes, he grew up not understanding the practice. This only
fuels my belief in what an “egg” he is! (from my first column) Working as a hair and makeup artist, I often visit to my client’s home where they always tell me to come straight in and not to bother removing my shoes. I often plead to remove the shoes as I enter.
However, they often reply back by telling me, “Don’t worry, the house is dirty anyways.” This only leaves me to hesitate even more as I think, “Hmm, then will my bare feet/socks get dirty?” I wonder… Am I the only one who finds this so disgusting?
Living in such a multicultural city as Montreal, I think it would simply be a kind gesture to always ask upon entering a home if you need to remove your shoes. And if you’re entering an Asian home, you can almost expect the answer to always be, YES PLEASE!
