One of the first “huh, this is a significant cultural difference” things I ever noticed was the idea of “Do you wear shoes in the house?” (With the connotations of “outdoor shoes” there. Some folks need to wear orthotics or other things for physical support while walking, but that’s separate from this question.)
I don’t exactly recall if I took my shoes off as a child. I’m pretty sure I did, if only because my bedroom had carpet, but I know my parents leave their shoes on (if they’re clean), so I don’t think I was raised to. It just made sense. (Also, my shoes were more likely to be muddy than theirs; they had specific work shoes for the yard and stuff in the basement, while I didn’t have a bunch of Old Shoes lying around because I grew out of them so fast.)
But as an adult who is now a No Shoes In House person, it’s been interesting navigating this with other people. I haven’t had any problems with “Would you be okay with taking off your shoes?”, I think because it’s polite and allows the wiggle room of the other person to say “oh, actually I need them for support.”
I think if I had a stronger disgust response to Shoes In House, I’d probably buy some disposable booties for folks to wear when they were over. But as it stands I’m okay with people in the living room with shoes on, and I just vacuum up the dirt when they leave.
But all this idea has now got me wondering if there are other cultural differences that I’m just not aware of. Like, I saw a TikTok once that was like “I don’t wear outside pants on the bed.” And my first reaction was, oh, that’s ridiculous. But if I’ve been someplace with a lot of strangers, like traveling or something, yeah I’ll take my pants off (and sometimes put on others) before I sit down on the bed. (Or I’ll pull up the quilt so the cooties don’t go where I’m sleeping.)
So yeah. What other imperceptible cleanliness rituals do I have that I’m just not conscious of?
Emilybook 