This reaches slightly off-topic:
I had a similar problem at a local post office, where an ignorant employee gave me a hard time about something and I knew she was wrong.
Because I prefer it, I tend to not wear shoes. I drive around barefoot, I walk around barefoot... and I don't need anyone's permission, since I'm a grown dude and can assess life's risks on my own.
Well, this woman behind one of the counters of the local post office saw me preparing to mail something, and I was barefoot, and she started loudly exclaiming that I couldn't be barefoot in the post office.
My witty retort was, "I
seem to be doing just
fine ."
She told me that she would not/could not serve me. No big deal. The other lady -- the NICE one -- DID.
On at least two other occasions, the same woman saw me in the post office barefoot and exclaimed that it was against regulations for me to be there barefoot and she would not help me. Fortunately, this ignoramus is not a manager. I was still able to do my business.
On our last encounter, some months ago, I was at the counter and she challenged me again. I asked her incredulously if she were intending to not allow me to do my postal business simply because I was barefoot. She indicated the affirmative. I took umbrage.
"I am getting really sick and tired of you DISCRIMINATING against me every time I come in here. So I'm not wearing shoes! Big deal! Am I HURTING the Post Office?! I want to speak with your supervisor, if you claim there's a rule or law or whatever that I can't be barefoot here!"
A pause followed, and she went a few steps away to look somewhere. She came back to the counter and said, "He's in a meeting." I guess that was her way of saying she gave up, because she took my mail, and it got where it was going.
Now, for those of you who are curious, there is a website called
www.barefooters.org. It belongs to the Society for Barefoot Living, which in a saner world where people don't object to others having the freedom to make their own choices, would not have to exist. But many myths abound about supposed "laws" or "health regulations" that prohibit people from being barefoot. Members there have researched regulations in many states and many countries, to find out that there is virtually NOWHERE that has "laws" against being barefoot in public places. Not in stores, not in post offices, not driving cars, and not even in
restaurants . When you think about it, this makes sense. A person's bare feet, which were probably washed that morning, are no less sanitary than another person's shoes, which probably have
never been washed, and may contain gum, soil, or dog feces, which would be
immediately removed from the feet of a barefoot person upon contact! So they are not a hygiene threat, and cannot affect (other than aesthetically) the food that other patrons might be eating. (And feet that are bare for much of the day do not take on the customary "foot odor" that feet cooped-up in shoes all day are known to get, anyway.)
The Automobile Association of America compiles a digest of driving laws for the 50 states and U.S. territories. I have read through it, and found that there is actually a category in the listing for each state, stipulating explicitly that "barefoot driving is legal." How many of you thought, without knowing why you thought, that it was illegal to drive barefoot? See? Now you know why it is that a postal worker might "know" that it's illegal to mail knives, despite the fact that you know the truth.
