Common courtesy and other beasts.

[cherry]

It's easy, sometimes, to forget that the things you take for granted are not constant.

Case in point: my pet peeve is people who don't take their shoes off when they come into your house.

Now, as a citizen of the world, I now know that Americans don't do this. I still remember the first time I saw an exchange of the like on TV:

Television: "And his mom was so anal! She actually made us take our shoes off before we went into the house!"
Us: "Bwhahahah! Oh, poor baby. That's not anal. That's making you not be a jerkwad. Loser."

Half hour conversations have been launched off the very mention of people not taking off their shoes. Not debate conversations, but a snarkfests. Here, you take off your shoes. Doesn't matter if it's July or January.

If you can't bring yourself to respect the fact that it's someone else's carpet? You take them off to avoid a smackdown, or getting nasty things said about you after you leave.

Exceptions are granted for those from other countries the first few times. After that, you're expected to remember.


What, might I ask, is the point of this?

The point, my friends, is that if you're setting a story in Canada, get some basics. Don't go showing off how you know that Smarties are the Canadian M&Ms, but then have them being eaten out of a bag. Dill pickle chips are not a novelty, they're one of the most common kinds around. There's no such place as Sastakoon, Sasketchawan, and the majority of us? Really do not like Bush. At all. To the point where people who support him get threatened with deportation to the table next to the one we're sitting at. You hold the door for people because it's nice, and if you bump into someone, you apologize because it's the polite thing to do. (When I was in California, I got funny looks for holding doors and apologizing for jostles. Geez, people.)

Anyway. It's about doing a bit of research. And it's about things I've been reading that are just that much off.

But mainly? It's about the shoes.

I'm just saying.

Comments

[dreagoddess.livejournal.com]

See, I don't understand the whole shoes thing at ALL. Carpet is MADE to be walked on! Unless you have antique Persian rugs or something, it should NOT be a big deal to have your carpet walked on with shoes! And personally, I'd prefer that to having people's stinky feet smelling up my house. ;)

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

See, I don't get the shoe thing either. You don't know where your shoes have been, I don't know where your shoes have been (and this is a non-specific 'you,' Drea, I'm not implying that laywers walk through untasteful things on a more regular basis that the rest of us ::G:: ), and since it's not your carpet, you take your shoes off.

It's just -- here, anyway -- that it's downright rude. It's like implying that you don't respect your host *or* their house. (And yes, if you're wearing sandals with no socks? You ask first, but you usually get told to take the sandals off.)

Like I said, though, if an American walks into your house with their shoes on, the first time or two it gets written off by being American. ::G::