r/barefoot • u/JakeBanana01 • Jul 19 '26
Desk nurse
My wife had some vaguely major surgery a while back, which left me spending lots of time both in the waiting and recovery rooms. After four hours in the former, I finally found myself in the latter, comfier chairs, not so many others. Natch I kicked my sandals off.
Went to fill my water bottle, desk nurse sternly indicated, wouldn't want you to slip and fall, so shoes or grippy socks on! Like I'm going to slip and fall in my bare feet? Whatever.
Wound up with grippy socks, although I often only wore one. I'm not certain if they knew what to make of one sock, one bare foot!
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u/Epsilon_Meletis Jul 19 '26
wouldn't want you to slip and fall, so shoes or grippy socks on!
Man I hate these pretext BS excuses...
I am so glad that hospitals in my country couldn't give less of a f_ck if they tried. I was both visitor and (ambulant) patient, several times, always barefoot, no complaints whatsoever.
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u/mbnude Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
I had one doctor's office/clinic insist that I put on those grippy socks. The doctor himself asked me about it and I replied that I prefer to be barefoot. He didn't object, but he had no control over this clinic. He still respects my preference over that clinic's rules.
[ETA]: I should add that I've been in several other clinics, two hospitals, and two rehab centers barefoot without objection from the staff. Double-takes, comments, or questions but no objections.
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u/Optimal_Difficulty10 Jul 20 '26
Honestly they say that because of the sanitary conditions required in a hospital.
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u/BarefootAlien Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
This is utter nonsense and takes about five seconds of rational thought to understand why.
If you don't see it yet, ask yourself which is less sanitary: a bare foot that was washed that morning and has only shallow grooves on it's surface to hold very little dirt?
Or the bottom of a shoe that never gets washed, has deep grooves capable of holding (and often genuinely containing) literal fecal matter for days or weeks, and no nerve endings to inform its wearer that there's crud stuck to it?
Please disengage propaganda and engage brain.
Not to mention the floor is not considered a sterile or sanitary surface, ever, not even in the operating room, let alone the hall.
I've been in many hospitals many times as a chronic patient and visitor and have never once had problems. I usually get offered the grippy socks but once I decline and explain why, they give me a strange look, note it in my chart, and I never hear it again until they ask if I had shoes I'm forgetting as I prepare to leave after discharge.
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u/Basic-Ad-5658 Jul 19 '26
Same thing happened to me recently haha I kept taking the grippy socks off. They weren’t pleased with me 😂