Malingering’s World

9 Responses to “barefoot at the mall”

1. wskrz
   June 5th, 2009 - 12:41 pm

   …..I do?

   Not sucking toes! LICKING toes! Especially after they’ve wandered through a dog shit infested park to go shopping at the farmers market.

2. Patrick Donnelly
   June 6th, 2009 - 8:41 pm

   I go barefoot 24/7 nowadays. I used to wear those odd Vibram toe-shoes, but eventually said hell with them and started treading bare. Really, it’s not all that dirty. The bottom of a shoe will get just as much dirt on it as the bottom of a foot (more, in fact, since feet don’t have treads for mud to stick in), and your feet stay very dry when barefoot. The sweat evaporates instantly. No smell, no ickyness. I’ve had people try to argue that going barefoot will give you athlete’s foot, which is absurd, since athlete’s foot is a fungus that requires a warm, moist environment to survive. That’s why you’ll get it after backpacking in the same socks and boots for three days – not when you’re barefoot.

   The only time I’ll wear shoes is my weightlifting shoes for certain barbell exercises and while coaching others. Even when doing front squats and such, I’ll go barefoot and use a scrap of wood to get the heel-raise the weightlifting shoe would normally give. So, maybe 23.5/7, on average.

   I love college. No one gives a shit what you do.

3. MarkinDetroit
   June 7th, 2009 - 7:19 am

   No shoes, no shirt, no service.

4. malingering
   June 8th, 2009 - 10:12 pm

   I’m worried that I would step on rocks and glass and heroin needles and rusty nails.

5. PJ Bird
   June 9th, 2009 - 12:52 pm

   and ringworm, don’t forget ringworm.

6. Patrick Donnelly
   June 10th, 2009 - 7:41 am

   Rocks, glass, and rusty nails aren’t really a problem. With time, you can actually walk right over broken glass without cutting your feet – it just takes a while to get up to that point.

   Now, the heroin needles aren’t an issue here, just outside of Washington DC, but I’ve never been to LA, so you’ll have to judge that one for yourself.

7. Mike
   June 23rd, 2009 - 5:16 am

   As long as there’s no breaks in the skin, I don’t see a problem. Here in Baltimore, though, heroin needles are a real issue.

8. Bram Edwards
   July 22nd, 2009 - 2:38 pm

   OK I’ll agree that sucking toes that have not been washed is unsanitary, but that goes with anything dirty. However, if I could go barefoot 24/7/365, I would. I would say I wear footwear on the average of 8-12 hours a week and not necessarily due to the climate of the Northeastern US (I go barefoot in the snow and it’s a wonderful feeling), or due to the mythical NS3 (no shirt, shoes, etc. ) signs which are pretty simple to bypass since there is actually no law against going barefoot. The only time I put on footwear is in an initial business meeting with a prospect who may not be keen on my fashion choice (but eventually learns about my fashion choice and no longer cares since we’ve already developed a relationship), or when I’m out with my wife who is not so keen on it herself – and even then it’s mainly flip flops which stay on my feet for about an average of 5 minute time periods or less. I’m barefoot pretty much on an average of about 110 waking hours a week (I sleep about 5-6 hours).

   Walking barefoot is not unsanitary contrary to popular urban myth. In fact athlete’s foot is caused from wearing enclosed shoes for long periods of time which causes the foot to drown in a reservoir of the sweat containing the impurities that your body naturally ejects. Ever notice how pungent the feet smell as soon as the sneakers come off? The smell eventually leave the feet, but the smell from your sneaker never goes away! You don’t get that with a foot that’s been bare.

   Question to those that say it is unclean: Do you wash the bottom of your shoes? When you’re indoors, do some of you take off your shoes, or do you trudge around in your home or other people’s homes in the dirt that’s been picked up off the street? I bet some of you answered the latter. I do wash my feet every day when I get home or before a business call (most of my business associates have never seen me in any kind of footwear), or visiting someone.
   Some of you may be wondering what I do for a living that allows me to be barefoot for about a total of 340 days a year. I’m am a small business owner who is basically independently wealthy and in the service of creating wealth for other likeminded individuals. You can learn more about hat I do at http://www.chocolate-wealth.com. This has allowed me to quit my 9-5 job and be able to live a lifestyle of barefoot bliss!

9. malingering
   July 22nd, 2009 - 5:51 pm

   I’m Chinese, we take our shoes off before we enter the home.

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