Posts Tagged ‘business’
The Backup Footwear Option
I’ve had a few interesting conversations and about “emergency” footwear over the last week or so with some fellow barefooters. It seems to me there are a couple of predominant trends among dedicated of “full-time” barefooters when it comes to carrying a pair of backup footwear with them (e.g. flip-flops, mocs, etc.): some of us are OK with the idea of donning a pair of light footwear upon entering establishments that frown upon our bare feet, while some of us prefer to stick to our bare soles and put up a fight for our God-given right to be unshod at our will.
Through my 20′s and early 30′s I used to be a much more “hardcore” and “militant” barefooter that I am now. I used to get into many an argument with both employees and management staff at any establishment that would deny me service due to my lack of footwear. I used to write letter after letter to companies’ head offices in the hope for some justice to be served and my rights to be respected; all of these efforts yielded minimal to no results in most cases.
My take on CBC’s "Running Shoe Controversy"
Last week, I managed to sabotage a potential radio interview with CBC’s The Current when I told correspondent Jodie Martinson I had a few concerns about a previous piece The Current had run about barefoot running vs. shod running on May 11, 2009: “Running Shoe Controversy” (see part 3 down the page). I found quite interesting that Jodie didn’t seem interested to learn what my concerns were. Instead, she came up with what it seemed to me like an excuse, telling me they had received a good amount of feedback from their audience and that they wanted to do a follow up to the running piece that way instead. I was told this follow up piece was supposed to run on Friday, May 15th. Checking back on the show archives I found no trace of this follow up piece on that date. I’m curious as of when this piece will actually run…
My concerns about the May 11 story were similar to the concerns I have for many of these media articles; whether it’s TV, radio or print, many of these pieces seem to follow a common pattern or formula used to showcase something or someone uncommon or who’s going somehow against the social grain:
At the New Office / Bad Influence!
Since my business partner and I moved into our new office in March,
I’ve been predominantly and visibly barefoot. Until now, I’ve been a bit cautious/self-conscious about it, since we’re sharing the office with two other colleagues who don’t know me previously and the fact that they seem a bit more “corporate-like” that my biz partner and I. Until today, no one had made any comments or given me any “looks”, so I’ve been under the assumption it is OK.
I guess I my assumption was confirmed the other day, when one of the women working with us said to me this morning: “Moe, you’re a bad influence. I think I need to start going barefoot too!” — I told her to go right ahead. She didn’t hesitate to kick off her slip-on heels and stayed barefoot for the rest of the morning.
She had a visitor right after lunch so, in the afternoon, she was back in her heels walking around the office. She pointed out to her visitor my bare feet as well – in a nice way though. The visitor (I think it was a potential client of hers, a nicely dressed lady) didn’t seem to be bothered by my bare feet at all either and she commented: “you didn’t have to put shoes back on for me, I’m not THAT formal myself”…
In retrospect, this is very similar to most of my experiences with barefooting at previous jobs/offices. I guess, for me, the fact that I don’t make a big deal of my barefooting in the first place seems to do the trick for me.
Keep ‘em bare!
Barefoot Moe
barefootcanada.ca
Bare feet in Quebec City, Summer of 2006
Barefooting around Quebec City this summer was especially great because of all the different textures around the downtown court and the Old City. This photo was taken very close to Chateau Frontenac. Barefooting definitetly helped climbing the steep hills of the city. Sandals or shoes would only get in the way.
I also loved the fact that people didn’t seem to care about the fact I was barefooted. I managed to go barefoot into many churches, a couple of restaurants and in and out of the hotel we were staying without a problem.
I also managed to see a few other barefooters around the city and at the hotel lobby — the hotel indoor pool is very close to the lobby so people went from the pool to the lobby to use the public computers in bare feet. I thougth that was nice.
Especially enjoyable was dancing barefoot at “Le Drague” (THE gay bar to go to in Quebec City). I arrived in flip-flops but I managed to kick them off rather quickly upon starting to dance. No one seemed to care.
Quebec City is a wonderful city and I hope Gary and I go back again there soon…
Adventure at a fitness club.
I had an interesting adventure yesterday afternoon I’d like to share with you. It’s a bit long, but I like to share some of the details as well…
I took the chance that I had to run an errand to the bank in the middle of the afternoon to make it into a nice walk, since it takes me about 45 minutes to do the round trip on foot from my home office…
On my way, I always pass this upscale fitness club that caters mostly to the residences and business people in the area (picture upper-town east Toronto, which is mainly populated by business towers, fairly new home developments and condo towers). I have thought many times to challenge myself to go in that club to pretend I’m interested in becoming a member and see how I am treated as a potential client.
