Here’s a very old strip, published July 5, 1951. It’s from Muggs and Skeeter by Wally Bishop.
Muggs and Skeeter, July 5, 1951
[As always, click for a larger, more readable version.]
Back then before they were brainwashed, kids liked going barefoot so much that devious adults would take advantage of it.
What is it about feet that everyone wants to control them? Deprive a human being of something natural and pleasant and then grudgingly permit it “this one time”, and this human being will be grateful to you… What a shame. Sometimes I really hate our reality.
It’s not just feet/shoes. It’s such a “great way” to assert one’s authority when one can command someone what items of clothing to wear or not to wear. Seems like a lot of people with authoritarian leanings are around – from grandmothers to shopowners to policemen to …
Victor – great question! I was forced out of my gym for exercising without shoes. I attended the gym barefoot for four months without trouble, then the District Manager saw me, and had the manager tell me I needed shoes on.
I had already signed a Liability Waiver that protects the gym even if I die, and people are allowed to be barefoot in the pool and spa, in the yoga classes, in the Kid’s Klub and in the shower and locker rooms. I have seen women dancing barefoot in the racquetball courts, too.
BUT, this one person saw me barefoot in the weight-lifting area, and all hell came down on me. WEAR SHOES OR WE WON’T LET YOU ENTER. Appealing to the corporate HQ did nothing. IT’S OUR RULE. It is not written anywhere, though. The contract says, paraphrasing: L.A. Fitness may recommend, but not require, attire. For instance, we may recommend shower shoes around the pool or recommend eye protection in the racquetball courts.
I saw one other person without shoes. She was using a walker and was always barefoot. I wonder if they forced her to put shoes on or quit the gym?
I wrote a letter accusing them of breach of contract, and they ignored that, saying shoes are required. Period. (Except when they aren’t required, of course.) They ruined my day, week, month and year. It’s ridiculous to have a shoes required (unwritten) rule when you sign a liability waiver, but they would not budge. Insanity wins again.
Keep sending them letters! Go in there barefoot and demand to know why the weight room is ‘special’. If they talk about things dropping on feet, point out that the only shoe requirement they can actually make under health and safety is that you wear officially regulated steel toecaps. Keep hammering at them. Keep attacking their logic and make them look publicly stupid if you can. If they start talking about trainers as if they have special force-fields that will save their owners from the weights (“well some protection is better than no protection!”), point out how stupid that is. For a start – thinking you are protected by a fine piece of fabric is the best way to to get really seriously hurt. After all, you wouldn’t walk across a gun range in a silk shirt because ‘some protection is better than no protection’! Ask to be allowed to use the place ‘now that I’m here’ and then if they say yes, carry on as normal and come back next week! If they get rowdy, quietly and politely accuse them of magical thinking, hypocrisy, and not knowing how feet work. If they cite bacteria, ask them if they check for people coming in with dog muck on their shoes! Be polite but insistent! Tell them your rights and make clear that they are the only people who object to you by bringing up a list of places where you are allowed to go barefoot! If they mention foot fungus, point out that it doesn’t exist in habitually barefoot tribes and say that changing shoes in the shower rooms is how you get it (Specifically say that walking over the fungus and then putting your wet foot in a shoe is literally the only way to get it). Same for verrucas. If they bring up hookworm, stop them sharply and loudly say “wait a minute, are you saying you have had people poo on the mats in here?!” and then explain that people pooing on muddy earthy ground is literally the only way to catch hookworm (No, the floor in the toilet won’t do it). The trick is to keep doing it. Polity and without being a nuisance. You keep finding ways to get in there barefoot, and force them to be the ones to talk about you being barefoot. In the end they’ll probably just give up. Failing that, threaten to take them to a small claims court and point out they have been lying.
I wonder what would happen if you just ignored him. At first, just repeat “I have a contract without the rule” and “I signed a liability waiver”. And eventually just don’t respond at all but keep doing what you are doing, totally ignoring whatever he is saying.
What’s he going to do, assault you? If so, call the police on him and file a complaint.
Is he going to bother calling the police? Will he hide out in front of the door and lock it whenever he sees you coming? I doubt it.
This all happened at the end of October. I attended from July through October. Right now I am enjoying the holidays with family. I’ll revisit this after Thanksgiving.
They have refunded my money for November which was deducted a day or two before the incident. We’ll see if the automatic deduction for December hits my account late in November.
They also sent me a nice (form) letter saying how they are sad “I decided to quit” and offered a button for me to click saying “I changed my mind” and want to continue with them. The form letter writer doesn’t know that I was FORCED out, and that I never wanted to stop going there. I think it is a power trip and low-level management loves to flex their “authority” muscles when confronted, like Cartman on South Park.
Thanks, everyone, for the encouragement. I’ll post back here if any progress is made. (This weekend in Phoenix, I was chased out of a Circle-K because I entered the store without shoes. Also, a guy at Sprouts, a real nice food, nuts, chocolate, etc. store, wanted me to wear shoes for safety. I told him, “I take FULL responsibility for my own safety” and he left without saying anything back to me. All other store entries went as they should go, without any comment by anyone. The weather was PERFECT. Some people did ask if the ground was cold, and I told them it wasn’t, but I don’t know if they believed me.)
Hmm. Is there something in the contract that says that they can cancel it whenever they want for whatever reason?
The majority of state laws around the country have no rule or regulation prohibiting a patron to enter a public establishment barefoot. In any case, try looking up on what your state says about that. The Society for Barefoot Living has a section on their page about all the state laws and what they say about barefooting. I hope you find a way to settle this issue and if not, you can take your business somewhere else.