Should you take off your shoes before entering shops?

7eleven

It is traditional in Thailand to take off your shoes when visiting someone’s house. The same goes for temples. We even have to do it at school. The students are not allowed to wear shoes in the corridors or in the classrooms. But, usually when it comes to shops, you can keep your shoes on. Rarely will you be asked to take off your shoes. Which is why this picture posted on kapook.com caught my attention.

The story goes that staff members at 7-Eleven were mopping the floor when these customers arrived. Not wanting to dirty the floor, they politely took off their shoes at the door. Thai people on social media commented that these people were brought up with good manners and didn’t want to create more work for the 7-Eleven employees. In the case of the child shoes in the right picture, they commented that the parents of the children should be complimented for having brought them up well.

2 thoughts on “Should you take off your shoes before entering shops?

  • May 4, 2015 at 2:02 pm
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    I don’t take my shoes off before entering a pharmacy since I got a bad verruca infection on my feet which I believe could only have come from a pharmacy I had recently visited.

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  • May 4, 2015 at 1:35 pm
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    Sometimes I wear sandals that are quite difficult to take off. I live in areas where there are a lot of Thai military – grunts with high boots, not brass.
    It kind of pisses me off that if I don’t take off my sandals, I’ve gotten dirty looks or even a comment or two in some shops, but the military guys walk in and everybody ignores it.
    Having said that, I would not walk into a shop wearing footwear where people were mopping – not without asking first.

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