Not wearing shoes in the home is a rule for many households.
It can reduce the amount of mopping needed.
Dirt from outside gets tracked in so easily.
Redditor juiced-cabbage wanted to discuss her experience and get some feedback, so naturally, she came to the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subreddit.
She asked:
“AITA for demanding my husband mop the floors?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“My husband (41 M[ale]) and I (35 F[emale]) have been together for 8 years, married for 1.”
“A few years ago, we moved to a city in a warmer climate, and with the nicer weather.”
“I noticed my husband would walk outside barefoot almost every day.”
“He then walks around our house, sits on the couch, just goes about his day with feet that are often completely black on the bottom.”
“We live in a DIRTY city (downtown Los Angeles).”
“There is always trash in the street.”
“There’s often dog poop abandoned on the sidewalk, occasionally human poop.”
“He oftentimes walks barefoot in the road to get to his car, and the tar really makes his feet black.”
“We live in a shoes-off house, meaning we take our shoes off when we get home.”
“It’s not just comfortable, but I like to do it because it cuts down on the germs you carry inside, meaning we don’t have to clean the floors as often.”
“But if he walks around barefoot outside, that defeats the purpose of taking our shoes off inside.”
“For a few years now, I’ve tried to talk him into wearing shoes outside.”
“From a health perspective, my doctor told me he could get hookworms from walking barefoot. “
“He won’t budge, so I gave that up and accepted his weird behavior.”
“But I hate how dirty our floors are; my socks turn black just within a couple of hours of walking around our house.”
“I tried to convince him to clean his feet off when he comes inside.”
“The best I could get out of him is that he has a designated foot brush in the shower, but he only showers once a day (if that), so his feet are often still dirty in our house.”
“He often won’t clean his feet until I see them and complain.”
“To his credit, he usually cleans them when I ask, but at the same time, I hate being the dirty feet police, and the dirt damage is already done by that time.”
“Now I’ve told him that if he won’t clean his feet off, then he will have to mop the floors every Saturday.”
“He says I am being a controlling AH and a germaphobe.”
“I think the majority of his friends wouldn’t put up with this gross behavior either.”
“I’ve been more than reasonable in trying to work with him on this, so he’s been an AH to call my boundaries ‘controlling.'”
“I want clean floors, and I’ve given him three options to get there.”
“Yes, he has flip-flops.”
“And slip-ons.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“He says he wants his feet ‘to be free.'”
The OP was left to wonder:
“So… AITA?”
Redditors shared their thoughts on this matter and weighed in on some options to the question, AITA:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Many Redditors declared that OP was NOT the A**hole.
“NTA. The fact that he walks around outside in downtown LA with no shoes on is just disgusting.” ~ GBOC80
“My partner got a nasty blood infection from walking around Koreatown in flip-flops and almost had to be hospitalized.”
“Not even barefoot!”
“Nice flip flops!”
“The streets are DISGUSTING, he’s gonna wind up getting really sick being barefoot!” ~ whoisthepinkavenger
“Ok, so I’m an LA native who has lived in downtown LA for five years.”
“He’s walking around on the sidewalk barefoot??”
“I dunno where you are, Pico Union or Lincoln Heights or what, but eww the disrespect is wild.”
“Make him do a foot bacterial culture sometimes.”
“Drop dinner on the floor and let him eat it.”
“Wild s**t.” ~ DerivativeMonster
“There is no clean area in the world that you can walk barefoot and come home and hang out.”
“There is poop.”
“Dog poop, bird poop, cat poop, squirrel poop.” ~ UnpopularMentis
“Something about walking barefoot in downtown LA just feels rough.”
“I don’t blame you for reacting that way. NTA.” ~ bobofriendz
“Dude… husband is walking barefoot, stepping in s**t outside, coming into the house without washing his feet.”
“You know he’s dragging s**t into your bed at night. 🤮.”
“Not to mention your husband could step on a discarded needle and bring home a communicable disease to you.”
“Your city has an epidemic of homeless and drug addicts leaving bodily waste and drug paraphernalia in the streets.”
“Is your husband passively trying to kill the entire household?”
“I swear the average husband in AITA is gross.”
“I can’t believe ya’ll deal with this s**t in marriage.”
“This is such a heinous lack of consideration for y’all’s health and well-being.”
“Clean floors are the least of your problems.”
“I would consider leaving to protect my health.” ~ ITLynn
“NTA. He needs to mop daily.” ~ No-Strawberry-5804
“NTA and daily mopping.”
“I mop once a week, and we use slippers in the house.”
“Less than daily is just nasty.”
“He should be washing his feet every time he comes inside; he’s pretty disgusting if he’s not.”
“She says he showers once a day, if that.”
“I wonder if it’s in the morning or evening, is he going to bed with his filthy feet?”
“How revolting.” ~ Only_Cod3606
“Eww. NTA.”
“He brings those gross feet under the sheets and blankets, too. Ick.”
“I don’t know how you do it, that is gnarly.” ~ Left_Set_5610
“NTA, but be for real.”
“It’s been 8 years, and you expect him to change?”
“Good luck, babe.” ~ fIumpf
“NTA. He needs to mop the floors every day, or he needs to THOROUGHLY clean his feet whenever he comes in.”
“Whether or not you are there to supervise.”
“You’re not being controlling.”
“You’re not being a germaphobe.”
“You just want clean floors, and he just likes to track dirt all over your clean floors, so you will have to clean them up.”
“I’m basically sympathetic to going barefoot – I love going barefoot outside – but absolutely, if you’re going to walk around barefoot OUTSIDE, then you clean your feet when you get INSIDE.”
“This is not a barefoot issue.”
“This is a man being controlling and nasty to you, enjoying his power to disgust you, and trying to gaslight you into pretending you’re the unreasonable one.” ~ Enough-Process9773
“Dirty feet police AAAAAAAA OMG… NTA.”
“This is absolutely disgusting.”
“What is so hard about quickly wearing flip-flops when going briefly outside?”
“And it’s not like you live in a place fairly clean (as you mentioned, LA).”
“I would keep standing my ground.”
“Also, how do you put up sharing a bed with him, knowing he has dirty feet, and not innocent dirt from inside the house, BUT FROM OUTSIDE?”
“I WOULD NEVER!” ~ RegularEfficient2567
“NTA. Ewwww 😅 I would do the same.”
“Maybe tell him to do it every day since he apparently thinks you like cleaning up his nasty feet muck.” ~ PepeLeStank
“NTA, but quit accepting the idea that it’s up to you to do all the mental labor of coming up with a plan.”
“Tell him: it’s reasonable that he likes to go barefoot.”
“It’s also reasonable that you like a clean house.”
“He doesn’t like the strategies you came up with to have both, so now it’s on him to offer strategies to have both.” ~ SigridMalone
“NTA. He can wear shoes outside or socks inside, or clean his feet.”
“Everything else is disgusting and disrespectful to your home and you.”
“If he loves you, he would make any of the small, reasonable concessions you’ve outlined.” ~ tugmushy
“NTA. He also would have to wear socks or shower before bed because I would not allow those nasty feet in my bed.” ~ Gryrthandorian
“NTA, he and his free feet can just live outside then lol.”
“I would become controlling about it- his filth is affecting your health and your peace of mind.”
“I would make him wear slippers inside if he refuses to wear shoes outside.”
“I would not stop bothering him about it for one second.”
“It’s not okay for him to dirty up your home for his own comfort and call you a germaphobe for being uncomfortable with his filth.”
“His comfort is not more important than yours, and it certainly shouldn’t mean you have to clean up after him.”
“Once a week is not enough, by the way, I would have him wash his feet and mop the floor every time he walks in from being barefoot outside.”
“He can decide if it’s worth dealing with all the mopping and foot washing or not.” ~ late-nineteenth
“NTA. Yuck!!!”
“Just wear inside slippers.”
“And get a fly swatter and whack him every time his gross feet are anywhere other than the floor.”
“He’s gross!” ~ Serious_Pause_2529
“Mopping the floor once a week is ‘controlling’ to him!?”
“Like gross feet aside, mopping once a week in a non-carpeted living area should just be automatic.”
“We are a slipper house (remove outdoor shoes for indoor sandals/house shoes), but high traffic areas are mopped daily and the rest at a minimum once a week.”
“He’s getting that in your bed.”
“Possibly any sofa or sitting area if he props his feet anywhere.”
“He’s grown enough to know better.” ~ Mother_Throat_6314
“Please tell me you have carpet or rugs in your house!”
“I’m imagining a dirty path across the carpet.”
“Please, no carpet, please no carpet!”
“You are NTA, but he is.” ~ weaderwabbit
“NTA. I’ve fought- and lost- a similar battle, except mine refuses to take his shoes off and constantly tracks stuff in.”
“None of my kids do, because I won’t allow them to, but my husband is untrainable.”
“I decided it’s not worth fighting- he does dishes way more than I do, and he does 85% of the cooking.”
“So I sweep and mop a lot.” ~ Runns_withScissors
Reddit is with you, OP.
This is not just gross behavior; it’s unhealthy.
There could be glass on the streets, needles, you name it.
This is odd behavior.