Well, another day, another 1-star review on Facebook that needs to be discussed.
Enter Sarah, who went to dine at Skipper’s Greek Cafe last month. Keep in mind that Sarah came into to the restaurant wearing the same shoes she was born with: none. It seems that the owner of the restaurant did not want to see Sarah’s little piggies, none of which needed to go to the market, but some of which needed to get a pedicure, and refused to serve her.
“Discrimination!” cried Sarah.
Umm, no Sarah, it isn’t. While it may not be a federal law that people have to wear shoes in a restaurant, it is up to the owner’s discretion what type of rules are to be enforced. If an owner doesn’t want to serve people who need an extra seat for their toe jam, he can certainly refuse service. That’s not discrimination. Discrimination would be if he allowed every one else to come into his restaurant with barefoot and then singled you out and did not let you come in.
“But what about him?” Sarah asked, pointing to a man in thick-soled-flip-flops. “Would you classify him as wearing shoes??” she wanted to know.
Umm, yes. Those are shoes. When you go to buy flip-flops or any other kind of sandal, you are going to find them in the shoe section, meaning they are shoes. You had nothing on your feet. He did: shoes.
“You know there’s no federal law about or health department requirement for people to wear shoes, right?” shrieked Sarah.
It doesn’t matter. His restaurant, his rules. Follow them or get out. Which is exactly what happened. Sarah left, but not before letting the owner know that she would not be back, to which the restaurant owner probably shrugged his shoulders so hard that his earlobes were introduced to his clavicle.
Sarah has plans to reach out to a group that “represents barefooted patrons” and she expects that Skipper’s will soon be hearing from them. Imagine how worried the owner must feel knowing that this phone call is in his future:
Sarah, I’m glad you and your fellow tralierlicious, barefooted bestie were able to be accommodated across the street at the national chain restaurant, but I don’t believe you. You really expect us to think that Applebee’s or Chili’s welcomed you and your dirty feet into their establishment? No, I don’t think so. Good try though.
You can be barefoot wherever you want. However, if a place of business has a rule that keeps them from having to look at your Bilbo Baggins bare feet, then you either have to cover them up or go elsewhere. You don’t need to leave a 1-star review because they are enforcing their own rules. Now put some damn shoes on and delete this review.
Melissa
The reason people aren’t supposed to be barefoot in public is because the same crazies who cry “It’s my right!” are also the first to start a frivolous lawsuit because they got injured on broken glass in the establishment that allows them to be barefoot. Shoes aren’t worn for the purpose of others (everyone shouting about feet being cleaner than shoes, who gives a toss? Are you eating off the floors? Than that shouldn’t be a concern of yours) Shoes are worn to protect your own damn feet from injury or infection. And the establishment does not need to allow barefoot patrons in ever. There are protected classes and sorry barefootedness isn’t one of them.
HardlyAlive
PREACH!!!
Catherine
You want to cry discrimination, here’s true discrimination. I once worked in a dive diner in NJ, The Derby Diner. It was on Rt 17 N in E. Ruthford I think. It’s no longer there, thankfully.
We had a crowd of Deadheads come in, being close to the arena, after a show around 1AM. There were about 10 of them. I was their server. One guy had no arms. So they drunkenly ordered their food, they were very nice guys, not rude or obnoxious in the least.
The food comes, I bring it to the table, they proceed to eat. No problem right? Well, the owners wife Camille takes offense. Why? Because the guy with no arms is using his feet to eat. Yup, he’s able to maneuver both a knife and fork and with his feet no less. Awesome for him!
So Camille wanted me to tell him if he continued to eat like that she’d throw him out of the diner. I said Camille your nuts I’m not telling him to stop eating. She went to the table and asked why he had to eat that way, ‘Why can’t you friends just feed you?’ Can you imagine actually saying or even thinking something like that.
Suprise it took the so long to go bankrupt. I’m sure she’s rotting in her grave right now. She was a real class A bitch.
The Prozac Queen
I just want to see how he was able to eat with his feet! I learned to put on socks/shoes/underwear with my feet after I broke my pelvis in a wreck, but I’m definitely not *that* talented!
Kaos
So I found this…
http://www.barefootalliance.org
Erika
Big Barefoot really came out of the woodwork today.
GeenaG
I can see Swollen Face Sarah can dish it out but she sure can’t take it and she removed the post. No one but an ill bred pig wants to go into a restaurant barefoot. I’m glad they kicked you out, no one needs to hassle with your kind.
slumslut
My feet get gross just walking around my own house without shoes, and my floor is less dirty than the cleanest restaurant floor.
Sometimes glass gets broken, and I wear shoes until I’m sure I got it all with the vacuum cleaner. Even then, I occasionally step on a tiny fragment and have to dig around in the sole of my foot with a hat pin and tweezers for 15 minutes searching for the invisible particles.
Every once in a while, my cats piss, shit, and barf and I step in it in the middle of the night when I get up to piss, shit, or barf.
If the above sounds like fun, I highly recommend getting your barefoot on in restaurants, subways, gas stations, and public restrooms. After all, it’s perfectly legal in all 50 states.
Heather
I think some of you are missing the point. It’s not about if someone’s bare feet are cleaner than shoes. It’s about what you’re stepping in. Shoes are worn to PROTECT your feet. By not wearing them , you’re opening yourself up to all sorts of infection and risk damage to your skin and bones. Also, shoes can be removed at the front door. I hope you barefoot wonders at least wash your feet before propping them up on the couch.
Marta
People should calm down about all this chat. It’s not discriminating against someone if they choose not to conform to a place’s dress code. Restaurants and bars choose them to attract a specific clientele and convey a certain image and are entitled to do that without explanation.
Aside from liability, which yes is an issue no matter what kind of laws may or may not be in place, it’s also not pleasant to have to deal with someone cutting their feet somewhere. The issue of blood on the floor and the rest of it can’t be pleasant to deal with from a server or bar owner’s viewpoint. Just like any other accidents, we should try to minimise them in the workplace, not just save ourselves from law suits. I certainly wouldn’t want to work in a restaurant or bar without shoes and will refuse to serve people without shoes on, no brainer. I’ve seen way too many glasses/plates/hot soups/coffees… be dropped to let that happen.
All reviewers will always say they “politely complained”, but all reviews are subjective and I don’t know many people happy to make themselves look bad on the internet, so it means nothing.
I’d like to know if there are any waiters/servers who advocate being shoeless in a restaurant, which I doubt very much….
Laura
Her bare feet were more than likely cleaner than any pair of shoes in the building. Toe jam is caused by wearing shoes. Flip flops leave toes just as visible. Do they require a pedicure of all patrons in sandals? You are correct. Your resturant, your rules. That said, there are consequences to having such rules. A negative review is just such a consequence. Most national chains, since you mentioned them, allow barefoot patrons because they are paying customers and it’s not like they are naked or something. Actually shoe rules in public places only came to be to keep hippies out of businesses. Before that it was pretty common to not wear shoes from what I see in old photographs, but I digress. You made your bed. It’s time to lie in it.
Chris
It was also common in old days to take a bath once a week, use asbestos to create artificial snow, and not have cars with seat belts. Are you going to argue for any of those as well, or just pick-and-choose what you want to be incensed about?
Kellie
This is a good example of biased reporting. The author used the terms, “cried,” and “shrieked,” indicating an irrational and rude encounter with Sarah.
However, her review stated that she made her comments to the restaurant politely. I feel her review was professional. She was able to clearly articulate that she was being discriminated against, because she wasn’t conforming to a supposed norm.
She was in no way expecting restitution for that discrimination. She was just passing along for others that a local business did not meet expected standards. Thus, a one star review.
Good job Sarah, for standing up for yourself and others who have the same lifestyle choice.
The Bitchy Waiter
I’m not a reporter…this is a blog.
Bitchy waiter's fan forever
I agree with him. This blog is lighthearted fun served with humor 🙂 . Honestly though, wearing shoes is required no matter what restaurant you go to. No amount of politeness gets you a “Get out of obeying the rules free card”. Every owner in every restaurant has their own policies on how the place needs to be run. Plus, quite honestly, I would not want to walk around barefoot in a restaurant, because I would expose my feet to the germs that are stuck on the floor. Shoes prevent this from happening. Truthfully, I think many people falsely use the term “Discrimination ” because they cannot handle being wrong. People have to be right all the time, and it is so hard for them to admit that they are wrong. She was wrong in saying there was no health code regulation that says shoes have to be worn. Every single restaurant I have been to says shoes are required. If you truly think it is ok to just eat barefoot in public, be prepared to order your food to go. Not everyone thinks like you and Sarah do.
To Bitchy, just keep being you 🙂 ignore the munchkin who was trying to treat your blog as something boring to read. Your blog is awesome. Never, ever forget it 🙂 .
The Prozac Queen
Health code violation or not, restaurants can make their own rules!
Michael
The funny thing is, Chilis and Applebees will welcome her. Because they know the value of a paying customer. I don’t wear shoes and I’ve been to both many times.
There are so many business owners that turn people away and then eventually, when their business fails they wonder why and Whine about 1 star reviews. Fact is she will tell her friends, they will tell theirs and there goes a big slab of potential customers.
The sad part is there is no reason to ask her to leave. No health code. No liability. Nothing. Just biased thought brainwashed into our heads back at the time of the hippies.
So there you go mister owner. You lost a paying customer it seems and all her friends and family. That’s a really smart way to run a business. Hopefully you brighten up.
Hugh Mann
http://www.BarefootIsLegal.org … In this case, the cognitive dissonance of what the shod track from the public restroom in a public restaurant being auto-purified by virtue of artificial sole, compared to their own, somehow requiring quarantine, and originating from a mobile home. Also, “trailerific”..? Stop hating yourselves.
Larz
I hope your wearing gloves while serving food, I don’t want to look at your nasty hands while serving me food. Clean your dirty nasty shoes also.
Michelle
Most of you are sorely misinformed about discrimination, health codes, and cleanliness. Being barefoot is actually a protected legal right. In no state is it a health code violation. And every single thing that could be on her feet is absolutely on your shoes.
shel
I think most of us couldn’t care less about the cleanliness of her feet, even if that was a main inference in the article… flip flops show off as much foot as being barefoot and who cares…
The problem with being barefoot in a restaurant/bar is the liability if she would be injured in some way from being barefoot- stepping on something, getting a foot pinched in something etc.
Shoeless
There’s a legal term called “contributory negligence” that states that if you choose not to wear “proper footwear”, you’re contributing to your own negligence and, therefore, not able to hold the business libel. As long as the business lets you know about their policy and you choose to remain in the establishment barefoot, they’re not responsible for any injury you may incur.
Gary
Thank you!
Jeff
Being barefoot is a protected legal right? Please do explain with links to this legal right. Federal, state, and local links, if you please. 🙂
Kirk
Who gives a flying fuck? I don’t want o be sitting in a restaurant looking at your gross smelly fucking feet. FFS, what a bunch of whiney little bitches. Oh, I’m being discriminated against because I can’t be a cunt in public. Fuck off.
LaFawne
Some of your posts truly leave me speechless. This is one of them. I cannot even imagine considering going into a public place barefoot. It is just WRONG on so many levels. All I can do is sit here and shake my head in disbelief!!
David Via
She Barefoot right in front of my salad!
Dallas
What a dumb cunt! Even at the beach, where everyone is barefoot all the time, restaurants have signs that read “no shirt, no shoes, no service.” I truelly hope this raging bitch gets what’s coming to her.
Jean
All about a possible law suit. Money, money, money. Better served at a 7-Eleven after midnight when the owner is about to leave!
Marsha
I will go further with Xarata’s observation. Would she forego litigation if, indeed, she stepped on something sharp, got injured, and an infection arose? I wonder if she would take responsibility for THAT? Doubtful for a n absolutely ridiculous Yelp reviewer.
Chris
I’ve spent some of the happier days of my life barefoot, in my underwear, wandering in and amongst the crowds at various music festivals. Feeling the earth between your toes is an underrated pleasure – and it has ZERO place in a restaurant. What an idiot! The bar I used to work in (while wearing my wonderfully comfortable Red Wing work shoes) used to host Monday night jam band night. Not a huge venue but we’d get roughly 50-75 hippies to come hang out, pass joints around outside, drink some drinks, and get their groove on the dance floor. Inevitably, every night the bouncer/door guy would have to tell a handful of the dancers that they had to put their shoes back on. They piss and moan and tell him he was being unreasonable and he’d politely tell them he didn’t care, it’s the bar’s policy: you can’t dance barefoot in a place where someone is likely to drop and break a glass. They’d piss and moan some more and eventually put their shoes back on – only to repeat this entire scenario again the following week. Sure enough, one of the worst offenders sliced open her bare foot one week when her dance partner dropped his beer bottle. She expected us to pay her medical bill. We expected her to wear shoes. Sorry, not sorry.
Also, when people use the phrase “being discriminated against” in order to defend their shitty behavior, I want to shit on their foreheads. I once sat behind a drunken woman on a plane who, when the flight attendant stopped serving her more drinks, actually shouted “Why are you discriminating against me!?!” over and over. She was a twentysomething white girl who couldn’t handle her liquor. The 70 year-old black couple next to her – who may likely have experienced real discrimination in their lives – were unbelievably calm, a lot cooler about it than I would’ve been.
Raquel
White savior much? What do you know about what someone went through just because you can observe the color of their skin?
dead_elvis
Hey Raquel –
How is it that you can accurately tell the race of the commenter you’re accusing of “white savior”-ing, simply from the comment? I don’t know what color you are, but I can tell that you’re a hypocritical cunt.
Brian Bassett
Yawn!
Claudia
I just want to know why she was barefoot
Gary
Why should she need an excuse? Jeez!!!
Danny
Because it’s her right to be.
Jessica
In some states, it is a health code violation to admit a patron without shoes. Even if it’s not where she lives, it’s gross and his right. She is the reason people my age get called spoiled idiots.
Dale
It most certainly is not against health code violations to go into a business barefoot. Check you facts and laws before replying with something as stupid as that.
kathleen Lantry
My restaurant, my rule! No shoes, out you go!
Michelle
It’s not a health code violation in any state.
Gary
Right you are 🙂
Danny
I believe you need to do some more research before pontificating conjecture. The is no federal or state law requiring PATRONS to be wearing shoes. For proof, call your local, state, and federal offices and ask them.
Ed
So she actually reads up on barefoot rules and regulations? Wouldn’t common sense just be wear shoes in a restaurant?
Geo
At least she reads…………
Xarata
Do people realize how often glass gets broken in bars and restaurants? There’s a reason we don’t want you barefoot and it has so little to do with health code and so much to do with liability if you slice your foot open.
CincyDrunk
This so hard. I work in a bier garten of a high volume German restaurant. The garten is all gravel. Not only has it destroyed my feet, but there’s only so much we can do about broken glass out there. Parents let their kids play in the gravel so much I’m terrified of what would happen if someone (some kid) gets cut up by broken glass!!
Anonymous
Who the fuck doesn’t wear shoes in public???