Ian Boudreau: I don't understand getting the opportunity to write a guest essay for the New York Times and thinking, "finally everyone will know that it is wrong to tell me, the main character of the universe, to take my shoes off in their homes"

I don't understand getting the opportunity to write a guest essay for the New York Times and thinking, "finally everyone will know that it is wrong to tell me, the main character of the universe, to take my shoes off in their homes"

Stay in your horse barn house by yourself if you can't do this, your shoes come off very easily, this isn't a major imposition and even if it's slightly annoying you can deal with it because it's absolute baseline common courtesy

this is just basic 'going to someone else's space' courtesy, and the discourse that followed from that was absolutely unhinged.

Oh Jesus Christ

I'm here to be an anarchist and suggest having a pair of sturdy house slippers or slides for guests for those of us whose feet are so pancake flat they were ordered by doctors to stop running around inside and outside barefoot or in socks. Or anyone, really. Terrible for you after a certain age.

If you’ve got a prescription to wear shoes indoors, you probably have a pair of shoes you wear indoors at home. Why not bring them?

Fair point! But it's still just a nice thing to adopt for guests. Plenty of homes in Asia do it.

Yeah, but they don't have any sort of support. If you want shoe like support, you gotta bring your own.

this is one thing where American and Canadian culture diverge sharply; it’s nearly unheard of to wear shoes inside the house, yours or someone else’s. Very strange business all around imo

It's probably more common in places where it rains/snows a lot and mud gets tracked everywhere. Or at least, that is my assumption.

I think you’re correct. In any place with a designated mud season you’d never be invited back to a person’s home if you didn’t take your shoes off.

It's not a cultural norm in New England.

"Sometimes societal norms are good and fine and aren't actually harming or inconveniencing you" is a thing people really fighting for their lives to understand

This is almost as bad as the 2015 gem, “I keep getting rejected on dating sites for my height, so I’m gonna recline into everyone’s knees on planes as revenge.”

I love the people who respond with "but sock feet are disgusting!" and I mean, not more than literally any street you can name. Though frankly that doesn't bother me as much as the messiness of it all. Do you people live in places without rain or snow?

Ftr, that oped was from ages ago and they were ridiculed endlessly on twitter, to the point where you can’t find the article any more. They either changed the title or pulled it.

I wish I could say I disbelieved you. But then we had "I am offended a hotel asks me nicely if I don't want a fresh towel every day to say so, but leaving the daily towel as the default"

I'd write about Finland where nobody wears shoes at home and plenty of offices also have the same policy.

What?

bsky.app/profile/ohro...

hey, let’s check in on white people and see what they’re up to! oh.

Blocked. But thanks

Oh dear God

Don't forget the "dont be a whiny baby and bother people with your list of allergies"

"Have you considered that telling me not to be a rude and bad guest is rude? CHECKMATE, PARTY HOSTS."

Or "SUSAN GUTFREUND You have to be responsible. This one is a vegetarian, which is a new thing in today’s world, versus the old days, where you just served a meal. Today, you have to be very aware — vegetarian, vegan, all these things. And you do the best you can."

Well...nice to see all the world's problems have been solved so we can get into...this?

I refuse to read any opinion piece on the nyt anymore. I just maybe fun of the headline and little blurb. Why should I put more effort into reading it than they put into writing it?

It sounds like the kind of article someone writes when they have terminally smelly feet

the shoes which have been on the sidewalks where there is puke, vomit, faeces, et al? those shoes? not shoes that were just removed from the shoe box direct from the shoe factory?

I assume lots of not-awful opinions are submitted, too. Which pretty clearly suggests that what gets published reflects the awfulality of the senior editorial team making those decisions. Which isn’t exactly news.

I bet she doesn't even wash her feet properly.

what's the essay? I don't see it

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