Barefoot in Restaurants"No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service" We've all seen the sign. But how do places stay in business with such discriminatory policies? Because people are ignorant. Most people, including the employees of such establishments, believe that there is a law that prevents you from going barefoot in restaurants. Well, there isn't. Going barefoot in restaurants is not prohibited by law in any city, county or state that has ever been questioned on the subject. The truth is, and here's that word again, ignorance is the main reason people are generally expected to wear shoes in restaurants. People erroneously believe that there is some of kind of danger to their health or the health of others if they go in barefoot. But, really, how much sense does that make? No one eats with their feet. They never touch food or tabletops or chairs or fast-food trays with them. And yet, people do all sorts of nasty things with their hands. Many people don't even wash their hands after using the restroom. And then they do touch the chairs and the trays and the tables and the doors... Indeed, you are in much greater danger of catching a disease just from touching the door handle of the restaurant than you would be from going in barefoot. And how, exactly, do they expect the pathogen to get on the floor in the first place? Most restaurants, fast food places especially, mop and clean their floors constantly. Even if some infectious agent were to be present at some point, it would quickly get obliterated by the next bleach-mopping session. If the spread of disease were a legitimate concern, then the restaurants should require everyone who enters to wear gloves, not shoes. "No Gloves, No Shirt, No Service" is what the sign should say. The employees all wear gloves when preparing the food. Shouldn't people be required to wear them while they're eating it, too? Of course they should! But they aren't. And yet, they're expected to wear shoes, which have nothing to do with the spread of disease while eating. Fortunately, sometimes women do go barefoot to restaurants, despite the rules. Most business don't enforce the policy, especially in the case with beautiful women. Beautiful women can get away with anything. Still, it is a very rare occasion. I believe that, if going barefoot were more accepted and more commonplace, that more women would go barefoot in public, and would therefore be more often seen at your favorite fast-food place. In my opinion, businesses that enforce the ridiculous and discriminatory policy of requiring people to wear shoes should go out of business. People should go to other businesses that actually appreciate their customers and guarantee their freedoms. I am endeavoring to create a list of such businesses, but so far no business with a storefront or cafeteria has identified itself as such. And so, here in the United States, which claims to be "a free country," people feel oppressed into wearing shoes whenever they visit a restaurant or fast food joint. And until people stand up for their freedoms and stop allowing themselves to be oppressed, that's exactly how it's going to remain... |