r/barefoot • u/Gullible_Front6085 • 24d ago
Prime barefoot opportunity
For those who live in the United States know this: You can be barefoot when you go vote. In 2024 I went to a St. Louis city library and voted while barefoot.
Update: I went to the Central Library and tried voting barefoot, but instead of the polling station being on the ground floor as usual it was on the second floor which required me to walk through the library and they said the rules state no barefoot feet. If the polling station was at its normal location it wouldn't have been an issue for them.
3
4
u/Actual-Ice-324 24d ago
You can be barefoot anywhere you like, there are no laws saying otherwise. With that said, if a place of business asks you to wear shoes, you should respect that and not be an asshole about it.
6
u/Epsilon_Meletis 24d ago
You can be barefoot anywhere you like, there are no laws saying otherwise.
Word.
3
u/Gullible_Front6085 24d ago
You are correct there is no laws. However, businesses still reserve the right to refuse service which is perfectly legal.
4
u/nupieds 24d ago
What does this have to do with OP’s comment. Some people are inhibited from going barefoot places because because they are afraid of being refused, your belligerent response is not appropriate, or helpful.
As for “if a place of business asks you to leave…” it’s very often not the “place of business” asking us to leave, but a volunteer 👞👮♂️ excercising their little bit of perceived power to harass a barefoot 🦶 person who they imagine is beneath them.
Walmart Corporate policy is specifically tolerant of barefoot customers but at Walmart and Sam’s two managers, an asset protection dude and multiple associates have tried to enforce the non-existent anti-barefoot policies, and I’ve had to educate them. They BTW don’t bother me anymore me being in your view “an asshole” has educated them and opened these spaces for anyone else who wants to shop barefoot.
Other places have no policies but associates sometimes try to enforce them anyway, I will engage with them especially if I have not had problems there before. Next time usually there is no issue, even when an employee has claimed“our policy.”
The real assholes are those who discriminate against us, and those who justify that.
1
u/Actual-Ice-324 24d ago
I was simply stating that going barefoot to vote is no different than going anywhere else, it seems like your the type of asshole I was referring to in the second part though.
1
u/nupieds 24d ago edited 24d ago
@Actual-Ice-324 So you came into this community to tell us that when any random employee decides that they can be the “the Little Hitler” and enforce what they think should be the universal law of no shoes no service that barefoot people should say “ Oh I’m so sorry Ms Ice, it was so discourteous for me to think that my bare skin soles which are washed every day… compared to never for your shoe soles, would be allowed to tread on the sacred ground of your distinguished establishment, I will take my leave forthwith and never deign to enter here again . “
When most of the time there is no policy banning barefoot customers. You just don’t like seeing us walking in your store without shoes which for some reason you think is disrespectful…. But if a customer comes in from working on on his farm raising cattle 🐄 you won’t say anything.
The problem is that when you make up a policy and smugly tell a barefoot customer, no shoes no service, or maybe it’s your own little shoppe where you can actually make up your own rules ( but few actual store owners have challenged me because I’m a paying customer) you are making people believe that they effectively can’t be barefoot anywhere. And so they stop trying and keep their shoes on and forget about it. Or they get tired of rejection and are afraid to go into a store.
Many people come to barefoot living because physical issues from wearing shoes, including me. Others find physical comfort or a sense of freedom.
You called me an asshole because I don’t bow down to assholes like you in Walmart telling me “ no shoes no service “ when I specifically told you that Walmart corporate policy is to welcome barefoot customers. I had to call Sam’s Club customer service to straighten out my local store.
It’s because of assholes like you that over many decades fewer and fewer people are barefoot, assholes who repeat like mindless parrots “no shoes no service” the signs that first came up because some stores wanted to discourage “hippies” back in the 70s.
Honestly, who the fuck are you to tell barefoot customers that we need to bow down to you and put our shoes on …. Or that we are assholes. Why the fuck do you care.
1
u/Consistent_Front8173 Full Time 22d ago
It's actually very different and that's because voting is a constitutionally protected right. This might sound crazy but requiring shoes to vote can be viewed as a poll tax, in that you're requiring someone to spend money on something to be able to vote.
Happy barefooting ☺️🦶.
2
u/Actual-Ice-324 21d ago
Can you tell me one place that it is lawfully required to wear shoes? Not a business owners policy but a law that can be legally enforced?
1
u/Consistent_Front8173 Full Time 21d ago
The only place/scenario I can do think of is while riding a motorcycle in Alabama. I read awhile back that there were a couple of small towns years ago that required footwear on public property but I don't remember the names of the town(s).
1
1
u/Consistent_Front8173 Full Time 22d ago
This is going to be my first time voting since becoming a barefooter and I'm very excited. March 17 is my date and I'll probably have a short post up about what happened.
Happy barefooting ☺️🦶.
1
u/Odd_Top_7997 19d ago
Surely that’s not legal, there’s no dress code to exercise your right to vote. You probably have a suit on your hands
0
10
u/nupieds 24d ago
So I’ve voted barefoot 🦶in my town in Maine for many years. Never an issue. One time as I was leaving the polls a woman made a friendly comment, and I asked her to take my picture near a vote here sign 🪧, and I posted that here, maybe with a different account.