Has anyone gone barefoot in public? like to the store or school?

Only in the house or friends’ houses, in the yard or friends’ yards, in the car or at work (in my office or cubicle under the desk). Never in a public place except maybe a dressing room in a store.

It seems dirty, disgusting and a recipe for disaster with stepping on something like a glass shard.

It is not a matter of daring, it is fear of dirt, germs, cutting my feet, etc. I take my shoes off the minute I walk in the door of my house though.

I have… I love walking barefoot.

welcome to fluther :-)

I spent much of my time in college barefoot. Used to drive barefoot, walk into stores and fast food places. I would go to class barefoot. I would wear flip flops if it was someplace like the sidewalk where there was dog poo.

As a kid, yes, as an adult no. I go barefoot around the house all the time, out on the deck/patio but not in public. I have flip flops on the porch in case I need to go out in the yard, but here in the country you don’t just walk around barefoot. Rattlesnakes, horses, rocks, stickers, you’ll come up lame fast.

Never go barefoot when working around horses, you need a sturdy boot in case you get stepped on. Trust me, a horse stepping on your foot is no picnic. hahalol

As a kid I was barefoot at times, but my mom usually didn’t let it last long. She worried I might step on something that would hurt my foot. That would be my worry now. I’m not worried about germs, because we are not extremely strict about no shoes in the house.

Ick, Ick, ICK! The sidewalk is dirty! People throw trash, toss cigarette butts, and spit their gum on the ground. While the NY State Bottle Bill has helped it has not completely eliminated broken glass from jackwad beer drinkers who toss their empties out the window so they don’t get busted for having an open container in the car.
I’ll wear shoes thank you very much.

In my backyard, no problem!

I agree with @LuckyGuy. Furthermore, in stores and restaurants, there are spills and stickiness on the floor. Gross.

@LuckyGuy Do you remove your shoes when you enter the house?

@JLeslie: That would be an excellent Fluther question!

http://www.fluther.com/181436/do-you-remove-your-shoes-when-you-enter-the-house/

New Fluther question.

I went through a period around the age of 19 when I never wore shoes, anywhere.

As a kid I spent most of the summer barefoot. We would start out dancing across hot concrete sidewalks and by the end of summer walking across broiling streets seeping near liquid asphalt without breaking stride. Calluses are a wonderful thing sometimes.

Nowadays I am usually clod.

Although, when we rafted the Grand Canyon a few years ago I would go from Teva’s in the raft to barefoot on the banks as soon as we stopped for the night.

For months! Our feet are black on the bottom! Your supposed to wear shoes in shops and pubs but who’s looking. I just put full boots on for the first time in March and it hurt for about a week.

^ She’s talking truth. I usually wear shoes when I’m out and about, but I never wear shoes around the house or to walk to the post box and the like. I’ve been known to run into a store barefoot in the past. I wear shoes so infrequently at home, I once got in the car and got to a city cinema before I realised I’d left my shoes at home. Nobody said a word and I don’t think anyone even noticed.

Funny, but this is a recurring theme in my dreams…I’m barefoot in all sorts of situations, and often confused and embarrassed to be so. Often it happens that it is winter in the dream and snow is on the ground. Must be some sort of signature state of mind for me.

Today I did my gardening barefoot, raking leaves and trimming dead parts off plants. It wasn’t planned but I just got into it from sitting on the porch and noticing things needed cleaning up. Once I started I wasn’t going to bother going into the house to get shoes on. One of my neighbors commented but I am ok about him thinking it’s weird.

I wouldn’t go into a store unshod though. that is one thing that has always been clearly forbidden even in my childhood local candy shop/“milk” store. Makes sense to me and so I respect the rules.