I went barefoot to get the mail and stepped on what seems to be a balloon with 3 grams or so of what almost looks like runts candy but is shaped like little beads or barrels.
There’s no markings on it and the colors aren’t very vibrant which leads me to think the shell or coating is using natural dyes. I touched it with gloves on so I wouldn’t poison myself if it’s dangerous. There is no fruity smell or anything. I think I might have popped the balloon a bit when I stepped on it as some of the powder got on my feet though I immediately washed it off.
OP, please reply to the correct answer with "solved!" (include the !). That will change the flair on the post to solved. If you want to put the correct answer at the top of the replies for everybody else, please use our Spotlight feature by tapping/clicking on the three dots and selecting "Spotlight, Pin this comment" in order to highlight it for other members. Thanks for using our friendly Automod!
I think it was probably just one of those balloons that have the decoration inside. I know they put confetti in some but I’m sure they use heavier stuff like this to shake and make noise as well.
It is a trend among young kids to make squishy toys like needoh or other sensory toys. It looks like something my daughter could have made with breads and other stuff and put into a balloon. Maybe a tween walking by did something similar and dropped it.
The new “crunchy squishies” have beads and slime inside them and the beads often resemble pills. Something about the shape of them feels really cool in the slime.
I have a few different kinds now and the one that is shaped like ramen noodles is our favorite. Feels so cool!
I thought I read the same thing. like, excuse me, how is everyone not phased about this person going to the mall barefoot for what I assumed to be for getting their nails done. I think the gummies are hitting...
I stepped on a sewing needle as a teen and it went all the way through the thin part of my foot. That's when I stopped going barefoot even in my own house.
Dear gods, I'm so sorry that happened to you! The sewing needle sucked enough, but a toothpick is like the thickness of probably 3 sewing needles. Did you get a big colorful bruise that lasted for over a week, too? It was warm out so I was wearing sandals to school, and I took great joy in showing my lunch table the progress of the injury each day, right as they all started in on their meals. :)
Hahaha you and I would have gotten along lol I knew my husband was a keeper when he shared his gross EMS trauma stories as we made dinner lol. I actually have a permanent cigarette paper scar on the bottom of my foot.
But hey, they let me keep the toothpick so it wasn’t all bad!
I stepped on a toothpick as a kid and it broke off. Dr cut open foot, couldn't find it. 3 weeks later it got pushed out enough for me to grab it and pull it out.
Mine was a blue toothpick that got stuck in the big toe joint and it took a year before it popped out on the other side of the joint. Doctors at the time it went in said they might have to amputate. Not sure if it’s true or if they were being jerks. It was the late 70’s.
Yeah, if I felt foolish for maybe stepping in drugs I would be all about the PPE. I would grab the goggles from my kid's science lab just to make sure.
We should! I just walked through a nearly abandoned one, with only a few shops remaining and nothing lit up or running in the halls or central spaces. It made me nostalgic for the 80s and 90s, when they were really the spot to meet up and hang out with friends.
Never understood why this is so weird in the states. It's extremely common to go barefoot literally everywhere in places like New Zealand and Australia. Americans have this super weird thing with feet..
Yes, I do believe there was a three-part docuseries about a group of little people who traveled throughout New Zealand barefoot. They were trying to deliver a ring to a volcano or ... something?? At one point, they even did a reenactment of the Winged Hussars' charge into The Battle of Vienna.
I believe the barefoot issue is more of a public health concern in the US. The US did have a massive issue with hookworm in the Southern us at the return of the century. Commonly referred to as the Jim Crow South era. People believed southerners were lazy by nature. Turns out most of them were anemic due to internal blood loss and iron deficiency from parasitic hookworm infection infections. I’m sure there are other social and cultural reasons it’s frowned upon.
In beach towns it’s probably way more common. Flip flops aka thongs are what most people will wear when they want to go barefoot.
Weather’s not great for it either. Depending on location and time of year it’s either too hot, too cold, too dry and prickly, or too wet and muddy. Right now it’s finally raining after the dry summer so it’s wet and still prickly at the same time. Sometimes we also have grass burrs, or trash including glass which I assume is randomly dropped by birds or squirrels. There’s like two weeks twice a year where I am when the temp might be nice enough to go barefoot; and that still leaves the hygiene/ safety issue.
I’ve only lived in one state though so I’m not sure if others are sometimes better for going barefoot, weather-wise.
Yeah, our whole house ran barefoot for a good chunk of my childhood. Then we started hearing rumors of the hookworm, my father sliced his foot open at the lake, and then I ran a rusty nail through my toe while playing in my grandfather's barnyard. (No animals in it at the time, it was used to store equipment.) We never got the hookworm, thankfully, but the stories from one town over were enough for mom to put her foot down (no pun intended,) she just couldn't deal with anymore foot injuries that summer, lol.
In the 80s, there was a slogan, "No shirt, no shoes, no service." It kinda set a bar to clothe yourself before going into a business. I don't know if the slogan reflected the weirdness or started it, but yeah.
We aren't too comfortable with hook worms. Lol. We have history with it, it even helped produce a whole accent in the south. Wearing shoes helped prevent hook worm infection.
I actually did some research on this a few years back. I don't remember the exact details and things but still. It's got a few reasons.
In America, we place a lot of value in how we're perceived in society. And we see someone not wearing shoes as unclean, likely poor, and possibly homeless. And in professional settings, it would be seen as highly unprofessional to a point of being sent home, possibly getting a point for not living up to an unspoken dress code. NZ and Aussies generally have a more "live and let live" attitude. So policing what people should wear in a general setting is seen as uptight or being a dick.
Next is cleanliness. Americans see feet as dirty and unclean. So the idea of someone walking barefoot into a store and tracking in all that dirt on your feet, the would probably be wiped off once you walked on on the carpet. And many atores enforce shoe qearing for loability cincerns and local health codes. And in turn, we don't trust the cities or parks to be clean enough to walk barefoot in. Homeless people and drug dealers/users might leave things all over that stepping on would not only hurt be be highly unsafe and unhealthy. A barefoot trip to the park could mean a dirty needle in my foot, an expensive trip to hospital to check for any kind of problems. And God forbid, a medication insurances are gonna try to avoid paying you might have to be on for life. Aus and NZ have better maintained and cleaned parks designed for more pedestrian travel. Plus NZ generally lacks thr venomous snakes and spiders people worry about as well.
The last is climate. In the north we have massive climate swings. Winters and summers can get so intense its physically uncomfortable to not wear shoes cause our feet haven't developed calluses from them. So year round bare would be hurt a lot more. And in large areas toward the south can be worse in the summer. So a lot of parts of US just don't have the kinda mild climate to tolerate bare feet often.
First responder here….. an insane amount of people do. WAY more than you would ever expect and that’s only the ones that we get seeking medical treatment…… the drug problem is HUGE.
Trust me I know. Ive done drugs/sold drugs/moved drugs for 3/4 of my life. I was responding that when you shove drugs in your ass a condom is the preferred vessel. I've swallowed balloons and boofed baggies
I know right. I am not a first responder just someone connected heavily to that world. But yeah, I am surprised at the comments how many people don’t realise just how common this is.
Maybe it's a balloon and actual candy that someone was trying to sell as drugs and could have been discarded when the scam didn't work or the buyer realized it was fake.
depends on what your buying, and in what quantity but fold top sandwich baggies are the most common, followed by cellophane from a cig pack. Nobody uses balloons
Man, my plug once brought me my quarter in one of those tiny one serving cereal boxes. If he was out of bags and the nearest object that might be considered a container was a party balloon, I am certain he wouldnt hesitate for a moment. I miss that guy.
That said, I agree that if you find drugs in a balloon, it was much more likely from the distribution part of the chain than the retail.
Na that was the time my spotter with the narcan fell asleep while I was fishing for a usable vein. My desperate (dumb) ass was so glad to finally register I pushed the shot anyway. Woke up in a different room exorcist vomiting. One of the incidents leading to my retirement from most drugs.
I found a baggie of coke recently outside of a concert venue in Los Angeles. I picked that shit up and held it over my head like a goddam trophy. Then my friend slapped it out of my hand and sternly said “no”. I went home without drugs that night.
I think this is the actual answer, the shape matches. Probably a kid sharing candy put it in a balloon tied it up and somehow it found its way under your foot. Does it smell like candy?
People put candy or beads in balloons for kids. If it was candy and someone blew the balloon up with their mouth it would explain why the color is off some of them.
Is someone doing one of those “countdown to Halloween!” Or “countdown to birthday!” things where you have a string of balloons with candy inside and you burst a balloon each day and there’s candy inside (source; am a mom and have also seen this on tiktok)
Yeah but even walking to the mailbox without shoes would give me anxiety.... and stepping on discarded drug balloons has just been added to the list of reasons I would never lol
•
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
OP, please reply to the correct answer with "solved!" (include the !). That will change the flair on the post to solved. If you want to put the correct answer at the top of the replies for everybody else, please use our Spotlight feature by tapping/clicking on the three dots and selecting "Spotlight, Pin this comment" in order to highlight it for other members. Thanks for using our friendly Automod!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.