I don't take them off immediately when entering, and I don't ask guests to.

The wife new regulation were to take the shoe off as soon as entering the house. All must obay even guests.
She keeps the wooden floor clean so no issue in walking barefooted.

I don't always take my shoes off when I come in, and I never request anyone else to.

ok we still have a tie.. let's hear more !

I couldn't take the poll because there was an option missing - I don't take off my shoes and don't ask others to remove theirs either. However, I do take my shoes off when I enter someone else's home but I also carry slippers so I'm not getting my socks dirty.

None of the above. We have wood or tile (easy to clean) floors throughout the downstairs, we take off our shoes before going upstairs.

I have never heard of such a thing! When I was growing up in Wisconsin, we took our snow boots off in the mud porch because they were usually caked with snow. In the summer we didnt wear shoes anywhere. As a grownup. There were so many kids & dogs & people, I always have something on my feet. I hate stepping in "wet" spots! My carpet is so bad even the shampooer can't help it. Is that like a custom in other countries? To take your shoes off as a guest?

I think it's really weird to wear shoes in the house to the point where I ask if I should take them off when I go to someone else's house. Just think of all the crap (literal and figurative) you walk through in your shoes. Gross. I almost always have socks on though. I grew up on a farm so we always had to take our shoes off so we didn't track mud or worse in. Now I live at the beach and I don't need sand coming in on shoes. Take them off! I prefer guests take them off, but I don't require it. If the giant pile of shoes by the door isn't enough to give you the hint to take them off, I assume you are more comfortable not taking them off. It's so much more comfortable not wearing shoes too.

I prefer if my guests would but I don't want them to feel uncomfortable or self conscious. I know for a long time I wouldnt go inside an acquaintances house because she was a germaphobe who required shoes off, but I was afraid my feet were smelly and gross, but now that I'm immunosuppressed I prefer it

None of the above

I have pets so there’s no point in taking shoes off just because of germs. I don’t eat off my carpets so I don’t see the problem. Unless it’s muddy, of course.

I do take my shoes off for comfort, though.

I think it’s rather rude to demand visitors remove their shoes.

i generally don't need to ask. i always take them off myself, though. i did that even BEFORE i lived in japan for a decade.

g

It may be a British thing but it would be thought strange, even rude, to ask a guest to take their shoes off here, which is odd because most people wear socks anyway, and most use slippers in their own home. I think it is great that you at least have some variation, we can be very old fashioned and frankly dirty here, we could do with some mass immigration from Japan.

No, I do not take my shoes off. Doctor's orders. I also do not ask my guests to take off theirs. I have a vacuum cleaner, brooms and mops.

In warm climates/seasons people are often wearing sandals and I will walk around barefoot in the immediate area of the house so the point is moot.
When my son was young he would sometimes have had n adventure that had him under orders to completely hose down outside and enter through the laundry room.

I lived with someone who demanded that people remove their shoes, and once watched a guest try to hide the fact that there was a hole in her sock all evening.

The paper booties like doctors wear would be an option if guests appear uncomfortable.

But I'd really never ask a thing unless their shes were obviously dirty.

Makes a lot easier to clean the house after

I take my shoes off for comfort only and don't require my guests to remove their shoes.

Here's my philosophy on shoes in the house.
Living beings put nasty stuff on the ground. There's poop, pee, spit, puke, dirt, oil, and a multitude of germs and bacteria. All carried in on the soles of one's shoes. You don't wanna take off your shoes in my home? Then don't come over.

If your shoes are of a type that would damage my floors then you have to remove them. Otherwise I have no problems with shoes of any kind but I often remove mine inside the house.

It is easy to take off shoes in cultures that are prepared for it - extra indoor slippers at the door, an expectation of shoes off everywhere, so you buy shoes that are easy to get on and off... a cultural thing. It is just as easy to keep shoes on in the house in cultures where that is a thing - like the US. Take off boots in the winter, and anything muddy anytime, of course, but regular-wear shoes in the house is fine. Note many boots are worn over shoes just for that purpose. The problem comes when cultures mix - also like the US. Then you get some people expecting to keep them on - and not prepared to take them off, either physically (sock issue) or mentally (do my feet smell?, are my nails clipped?) And some people who apparently clean their floors everyday so that taking shoes off is important to them. Carpet is more for bare feet, than hardwood, I think, but even then, the US shoe market is not made for easy-on, easy-off shoes for removing at the door all the time. It isn't really practical here because it isn't our custom and therefore we haven't developed ways to make it easy. BUT your house, your rules. If you insist (in the US) on having guests remove shoes, make it easy for them by putting extra indoor slippers at the door for them, and warn them before hand if they are new to your home. And guests should abide by house rules, unless there is a reason not to, which you explain at the door and then you and home owner decide what the ground rules are. I would add that culturally, the US has always been a shoe-wearing one. For those too poor to afford shoes, it was an aspiration, of course, not a reality, but there are iron shoe scrapes on front stairs of old houses, because people didn't take off their button-up shoes. Kids went barefoot a lot more, but even then, shoe-wearing became more common the older they got..The idea that if you had shoes and wore them outside, you wouldn't take them off just to come inside, is pretty much ubiquitous in the US until recently. Other cultures are showing us that there is another way. A better way? I don't think so. But it isn't worse, either, just different.

I take off my shoes because I find it more comfortable but leave it up to guests to make themselves at home as they choose.

Shoes track in dirt, dust, bacteria and leave prints and smudges. So shoes off at the door, please!

No & no.

None of the above.
All my floors are tile so it's easy to clean.

No, no, no and no