TOTALLY GEEKED!

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

RE: Dear Prudie: Fiance Gets MAD if i put Bare Feet on Coffee Table

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

I don't know. It's just the way I was raised. You take care of the things you have. Maybe because we've all worked so hard for the things we have. I refuse to let them be messed up arbitrarily.

If another wants to put their feet on their tables, fine. I'm not going to tell them they are wrong or they shouldn't do it.

chef · Guru

lilyofcourse wrote:
I don't know. It's just the way I was raised. You take care of the things you have. Maybe because we've all worked so hard for the things we have. I refuse to let them be messed up arbitrarily.

If another wants to put their feet on their tables, fine. I'm not going to tell them they are wrong or they shouldn't do it.

I take care of my stuff but I also use it. My dining table is around 20 years old. It shows its age but it's also in good condition. One of the chairs recently broke and another has a rung missing but for a table that's been through over 10 moves, I think it's holding up real well.

Now, my art supplies are my pets. I have good sets of drawing tools, pens, etc. and people who come over know that they're off-limits. I have a box of regular pens for daily use and cheapy crayons for DS.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

My dining room table is fifty years old and looks brand new. And I've never refinished it either. It has some little nicks and some teeny tiny splotches of paint but not noticeable. My parents were gifted it as a wedding gift and it's the only thing I asked my mother for as far as possessions go. She got a new one about 15 years ago and I have hers now. I love it. Of course, we don't have the original chairs for it.

We have a corner table but no coffee table. Everything gets set on the corner table. I would rather eat off the ottoman than the corner table.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

And that's all very well and good. It's your house, your stuff, you can do as you please with it.

As can anyone.

Ilumine · Regular

I think that marriage or cohabitation requires a give and take. IF this is the ONLY think he has a bugaboo over, then she needs to acquiesce. But if he has issues with other, seemingly innocuous issues, then a discussion needs to be had.

The reality is, feet are carriers of nastiness. Myth Busters did a whole episode on toilet flush feces spray. So unless a person wears bathroom only slippers, their tootsies (more so than the hands that should have been washed) are dragging around minute particles of poop. Which can be transferred to the items kept on the coffee table, and spread to your hands and then mouth. ESPECIALLY concerning if those things are food receptacles.

Now, I am NOT anal and I do allow feet on our coffee table. But I also clean my surfaces more than once a week with a reasonable mixture of natural and chemical products (sorry folks, vinegar does not kill feces or salmonella), again not in an anal way, but with a basic understanding of the science behind the need to be clean and need to have bugs in ones life to have a healthy body.

While comfort is important, that does not trump someone's ick factor.

So I agree with Prudie - get an ottoman.

flan327 · Itty bitty's Grammy

Ilumine wrote:
I think that marriage or cohabitation requires a give and take. IF this is the ONLY think he has a bugaboo over, then she needs to acquiesce. But if he has issues with other, seemingly innocuous issues, then a discussion needs to be had.

The reality is, feet are carriers of nastiness. Myth Busters did a whole episode on toilet flush feces spray. So unless a person wears bathroom only slippers, their tootsies (more so than the hands that should have been washed) are dragging around minute particles of poop. Which can be transferred to the items kept on the coffee table, and spread to your hands and then mouth. ESPECIALLY concerning if those things are food receptacles.

Now, I am NOT anal and I do allow feet on our coffee table. But I also clean my surfaces more than once a week with a reasonable mixture of natural and chemical products (sorry folks, vinegar does not kill feces or salmonella), again not in an anal way, but with a basic understanding of the science behind the need to be clean and need to have bugs in ones life to have a healthy body.

While comfort is important, that does not trump someone's ick factor.

So I agree with Prudie - get an ottoman.

My tootsies are filthy!!!!

(...and I don't care...LOL)

flan

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Well, if we want to talk ick factor, how many of you wash your keys? Keys are filthy. How about your light switches? Door knobs? Fridge and microwave handle? Because all those things are really really filthy too. And unless your toothbrush is over thirty feet from the toilet it has poop on it too.

huskerbb · Guru

lilyofcourse wrote:
There is a huge difference Husker. One is for feet, the other is not.

The only difference is your label. They are roughly the same height and size. Their use is interchangeable.

huskerbb · Guru

Ilumine wrote:
I think that marriage or cohabitation requires a give and take. IF this is the ONLY think he has a bugaboo over, then she needs to acquiesce. But if he has issues with other, seemingly innocuous issues, then a discussion needs to be had.

The reality is, feet are carriers of nastiness. Myth Busters did a whole episode on toilet flush feces spray. So unless a person wears bathroom only slippers, their tootsies (more so than the hands that should have been washed) are dragging around minute particles of poop. Which can be transferred to the items kept on the coffee table, and spread to your hands and then mouth. ESPECIALLY concerning if those things are food receptacles.

Now, I am NOT anal and I do allow feet on our coffee table. But I also clean my surfaces more than once a week with a reasonable mixture of natural and chemical products (sorry folks, vinegar does not kill feces or salmonella), again not in an anal way, but with a basic understanding of the science behind the need to be clean and need to have bugs in ones life to have a healthy body.

While comfort is important, that does not trump someone's ick factor.

So I agree with Prudie - get an ottoman.

So what? What are you putting on your coffee table that has to stay so clean?

huskerbb · Guru

lilyofcourse wrote:
And that's all very well and good. It's your house, your stuff, you can do as you please with it.

As can anyone.

Then she should be able to put her feet there since it's her house and her stuff.

flan327 · Itty bitty's Grammy

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
Well, if we want to talk ick factor, how many of you wash your keys? Keys are filthy. How about your light switches? Door knobs? Fridge and microwave handle? Because all those things are really really filthy too. And unless your toothbrush is over thirty feet from the toilet it has poop on it too.

Seriously, I must be broken. I take basic precautions, but sh1t happens...

flan

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

flan327 wrote:
Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
Well, if we want to talk ick factor, how many of you wash your keys? Keys are filthy. How about your light switches? Door knobs? Fridge and microwave handle? Because all those things are really really filthy too. And unless your toothbrush is over thirty feet from the toilet it has poop on it too.
Seriously, I must be broken. I take basic precautions, but sh1t happens...
flan

I'm just sayin flan... People overlook the most obvious germs. How many people wash their keys? Nobody. And you drop your keys on the floor and leave them on the checkout counter when you're checking out. You drop them on the floor and in the parking lot. There are so many things that we think are germless and they are actually filled with germs. You can either be paranoid or clean to the best of your ability and live life. Besides, it's detrimental to be too germ free.

flan327 · Itty bitty's Grammy

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
flan327 wrote:
Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
Well, if we want to talk ick factor, how many of you wash your keys? Keys are filthy. How about your light switches? Door knobs? Fridge and microwave handle? Because all those things are really really filthy too. And unless your toothbrush is over thirty feet from the toilet it has poop on it too.
Seriously, I must be broken. I take basic precautions, but sh1t happens...
flan
I'm just sayin flan... People overlook the most obvious germs. How many people wash their keys? Nobody. And you drop your keys on the floor and leave them on the checkout counter when you're checking out. You drop them on the floor and in the parking lot. There are so many things that we think are germless and they are actually filled with germs. You can either be paranoid or clean to the best of your ability and live life. Besides, it's detrimental to be too germ free.

I totally agree!

I used to work with a very bright young woman who practically BATHED in Purell. I never use the stuff.

flan

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

I'm not saying that you should bathe in Purell, I know you didn't say that!, but I always laugh at these parents who put their babies in shopping carts and cover the whole care and wipe down what's showing and bathe the kid in wipes and then give them their car keys to munch on. Then the kid drops them and they pick them up and give them right back to the kid. Store floors are nasty.

huskerbb · Guru

5 second rule. 10 seconds if it's an Oreo.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

huskerbb wrote:
5 second rule. 10 seconds if it's an Oreo.

Perfect example!

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

Ohfour wrote:
My kids...a few years ago. Eating ice cream with their bare feet on the coffee table. Probably my favorite picture of them...I actually posted this on my Facebook page on Thursday...

That's not a coffee table - it's an ottoman.

It is really understandable not to want feet on the tables. I don't think that's unreasonable. The ottoman suggestion solves the problem.

huskerbb · Guru

Lawyerlady wrote:
Ohfour wrote:
My kids...a few years ago. Eating ice cream with their bare feet on the coffee table. Probably my favorite picture of them...I actually posted this on my Facebook page on Thursday...

That's not a coffee table - it's an ottoman.

It is really understandable not to want feet on the tables. I don't think that's unreasonable. The ottoman suggestion solves the problem.

You could put coffee on it. The only difference is what you call it.

Ohfour · Hooker

It's actually not an ottoman. It's my great grandmother's hope chest that I had a cushion on because I was doing some work on it. It was only used a couple of times, it kept slipping off. We don't have the cushion anymore, but we still use the chest as a coffee table. And anyone who comes to my house is welcome to put their bare feet on it....

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

If it had a cushion - you turned it into an ottoman.

However - I don't actually share this issue, we put our feet on the coffee table. I just don't think it is an unreasonable issue. If he finds it gross - he finds it gross. It will be easier for her to get an ottoman than for him to stop seeing this issue as gross.

Ohfour · Hooker

That's often not reasonable. I could not have an ottoman AND a coffee table. I wouldn't put food or drink on an ottoman, but I do the coffee table.

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

Ohfour wrote:
That's often not reasonable. I could not have an ottoman AND a coffee table. I wouldn't put food or drink on an ottoman, but I do the coffee table.

OK - I do not put smelly feet next to my food on the coffee table - even I think that is gross and I would be digusted if anyone did.

But, obviously, they need something like this -

or this -

See how easy it is to compromise?

That's what relationships often need - compromise.

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

I have a bent glass coffee table & it drove me nuts when my ex put his feet on it when he had shoes on. Socks or bare foot no problem but shoes really annoyed me. The stupid thing about it is the sofa is a recliner. I have an ottoman that I use.

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

Oh, good grief. Stupid internet explorer.

www.google.com/search

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Okay Lexxy, no shoes on anything. Ugh. Gross. You could have stepped in dog chit in those.

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
Okay Lexxy, no shoes on anything. Ugh. Gross. You could have stepped in dog chit in those.

I kick my shoes off just inside the front door. I don't get wearing shoes in the house. Not just because it tracks in dirt but I'm much more comfortable without shoes.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

When I was working in the nursing home I would actually take my shoes off in the garage. I can't count the number of things I stepped in with them on. Gross. I would also strip down and shower immediately.

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

I liked the Japan way - shoe cabinet in the entry and everyone switches to house shoes. They could be sneakers, whatever - but you had shoes you wore outside and shoes you wore inside. When I went to the gym there, I had to change from sneakers into indoor sneakers. BUT, the house stayed MUCH cleaner - way less mopping and vacuuming.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

huskerbb wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
There is a huge difference Husker. One is for feet, the other is not.

The only difference is your label. They are roughly the same height and size. Their use is interchangeable.

You want to put your feet on your $500 coffee table, go ahead. It's yours. You can.

But in this house, we will not.

See how that works?

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
Well, if we want to talk ick factor, how many of you wash your keys? Keys are filthy. How about your light switches? Door knobs? Fridge and microwave handle? Because all those things are really really filthy too. And unless your toothbrush is over thirty feet from the toilet it has poop on it too.

I do. All but washing the keys. I cringe when I see someone hand a baby their keys to play with.

And I spray everything with lysol often.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Another thing people do is put their purse on the table at restaurants. Where all have you sat your purse down? It collects everything.

Ohfour · Hooker

lilyofcourse wrote:
Another thing people do is put their purse on the table at restaurants. Where all have you sat your purse down? It collects everything.

Where else would you put it? On the floor? That's not going not happen...

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

Ohfour wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Another thing people do is put their purse on the table at restaurants. Where all have you sat your purse down? It collects everything.
Where else would you put it? On the floor? That's not going not happen...

I usually put mine on the booth next to me but have on occasion put it on the floor. It makes me cringe but I don't want it on the table & I'm sure the people I'm dining with don't either. I also cringe when I have to tuck it under the seat in front of me on a plane.

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

Ohfour wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Another thing people do is put their purse on the table at restaurants. Where all have you sat your purse down? It collects everything.
Where else would you put it? On the floor? That's not going not happen...

That's where Miss Manners suggest you put ypur handbag. Better handbags have metal feet on the bottom to prevent the handbag from getting dirty on the floor.

-- Edited by Mellow Momma on Monday 13th of July 2015 12:49:39 PM

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

I put mine on the back of the seat or beside me.

Mom has one of those table hook things.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Or leave it in the car. I do that a lot. The less I have to carry, the better.

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

And I always say, if you are afraid to put your bag on the floor, maybe you need to rethink the type of places you go!

Ohfour · Hooker

I'm not putting my handbags on the floor. I don't have cheap handbags. I don't want them on the floor, or getting kicked and stepped on. if I'm in a booth, I will put it beside me, but it's not going on the floor. And iave had it knocked off too many times to be comfortable putting it on the back of my chair...

flan327 · Itty bitty's Grammy

I hate the smell of Lysol. My purse goes on the floor all the time.

I get can't get my panties in a wad over "GERMS!!!"

flan

Ilumine · Regular

While I recognize just how nasty our stuff really is (one's cellphone is actually nastier than a public bathroom, etc), and I DO understand and agree that our world is getting too antiseptic for its own good, I am not going to find the OP's boyfriend crazy or intractable over this particular bugaboo, given I DO know the science behind it.

Again, if this is his ONE bugaboo, why CAN"T she be the one to give in? Why is her need for a comfortable sitting position more important than his feelings about keeping his table clean? Especially when there IS an alternative in a foot stool.

Lady Gaga Snerd · Guru

She can give in. Or, he can give in. Or, they can come to some compromise aka a recliner or ottoman that is for her stinky feet or whatever. Neither is right or wrong. It is just a matter of opinion. Figure it out.

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

Ohfour wrote:
I'm not putting my handbags on the floor. I don't have cheap handbags. I don't want them on the floor, or getting kicked and stepped on. if I'm in a booth, I will put it beside me, but it's not going on the floor. And iave had it knocked off too many times to be comfortable putting it on the back of my chair...

The better handbags all have the feet on them. Putting them on the floor is not a problem because the feet collect any dirt not the handbag. I don't have a handbag without the feet for just that reason. But I will say it's mostly the bags thst don't have shoulder straps that have the feet - I loathe shoulder straps.

Ohfour · Hooker

It not usually the floor that bothers me. Its the other people's shoes kicking and on my bag and stuff being dropped. I have a 2 year old GD. She's not the neatest person...

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

Haha! Time to teach her some love for the gods of fashion. Lol. Be nice to Mr. Kors and his handbags and Grammie will buy you a treat for when you get home! 😝

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

Mellow Momma wrote:
Ohfour wrote:
I'm not putting my handbags on the floor. I don't have cheap handbags. I don't want them on the floor, or getting kicked and stepped on. if I'm in a booth, I will put it beside me, but it's not going on the floor. And iave had it knocked off too many times to be comfortable putting it on the back of my chair...
The better handbags all have the feet on them. Putting them on the floor is not a problem because the feet collect any dirt not the handbag. I don't have a handbag without the feet for just that reason. But I will say it's mostly the bags thst don't have shoulder straps that have the feet - I loathe shoulder straps.

I can't imagine carrying a purse without a shoulder strap. Do you just carry it by the little handles? I don't like the long messenger straps though.

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

I slide my arm through the straps on the top and carry it on my arm. Or I carry it by the handles on top with my hand. I never use the shoulder straps. It is too easy to take someone's purse that way and it hurts my shoulder - I have a lot in there!

Lady Gaga Snerd · Guru

Mellow Momma wrote:
Ohfour wrote:
I'm not putting my handbags on the floor. I don't have cheap handbags. I don't want them on the floor, or getting kicked and stepped on. if I'm in a booth, I will put it beside me, but it's not going on the floor. And iave had it knocked off too many times to be comfortable putting it on the back of my chair...
The better handbags all have the feet on them. Putting them on the floor is not a problem because the feet collect any dirt not the handbag. I don't have a handbag without the feet for just that reason. But I will say it's mostly the bags thst don't have shoulder straps that have the feet - I loathe shoulder straps.

I never owned a purse with "feet". And, as for better handbags, it's a purse, I don't get all the hysteria women have over purses. If my diaper bags hadn't fallen apart, I would still carry those, lol. biggrin

Ohfour · Hooker

Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
Ohfour wrote:
I'm not putting my handbags on the floor. I don't have cheap handbags. I don't want them on the floor, or getting kicked and stepped on. if I'm in a booth, I will put it beside me, but it's not going on the floor. And iave had it knocked off too many times to be comfortable putting it on the back of my chair...
The better handbags all have the feet on them. Putting them on the floor is not a problem because the feet collect any dirt not the handbag. I don't have a handbag without the feet for just that reason. But I will say it's mostly the bags thst don't have shoulder straps that have the feet - I loathe shoulder straps.
I never owned a purse with "feet". And, as for better handbags, it's a purse, I don't get all the hysteria women have over purses. If my diaper bags hadn't fallen apart, I would still carry those, lol.

The more expensive ones don't fall apart like the cheap ones. And my purses are an accessory to me.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

I love purses too.

I like the satchel or short shoulder bags.

Now when I go on vacation or places I am going to need to have it all day, like amusement parks, I have a long hobo bag. I can't put it across my body and not deal with it.

But I also love a good fanny pack for those trips.