So what are the bottomless sandals used for ?

Well it was going to be used as trickery in some stores. It turns out I came up with other options so I may not need them so much now.

I have a few stores that require me to wear shoes. Mostly grocery stores, but at this point it is only one grocery store giving me a problem. That is 1 grocery store out of the 3 that I use. Why not just not just stop shopping at that one store ? Well it is a natural foods co-op, and they have products I can't get at the other stores.

At this co-op I had very open conversation with them from the very beginning once I started bare footing. In fact at first they said they were not enforcing a shoes required policy. Then they changed their tune once I came into the picture. So speaking openly to them about it came back to haunt me a little. This store puts the blame on their insurance company. In the stores mind bare feet are at higher risk of something happening. If they file a claim because something happens to a customers barefoot. Then the store feels that insurance will harass them for letting folks walk around barefoot. I've tried to explain to them that bare feet are at no greater risk then any other body part. I've asked them why flip flops are OK, but not bare feet. They don't really have a answer for that one, but I already know the answer. Society accepts flip flops much more then bare feet is the answer. Clearly the store is much more concerned about the bare sole of the foot rather then the bare top of the foot.

They even had that common unfriendly sign saying "due to health reasons shoes are required". This was a separate conversation I had with them. The sign was not worded exactly like that, but it was worded as if bare feet were unhealthy. So I took this topic up with them. It turns out based on that conversation we had they changed the wording on the sign. Now it says something like "We ask that customers please wear shoes in the store".

Don't worry I'll get back to the bottomless sandals thing. So during all these conversations I was trying to come up with creative ways to work around this policy. Frankly they were not offering me a valid reason to put shoes on so I did not like the policy. Plus when I walk in stores, etc my feet like to feel what it is walking on. I gave them many very valid reasons on my barefoot position, but they just would not budge. I just wish they could have given me some valid reasons for their shoe policy.

So at first I got some paper feet sandals , and I like those they are about as minimal as you can get. Then just out of curiosity I got some topless sandals. They were cool, but they take too much maintenance to keep the sticky stuff working properly.

After the topless sandal I said OK let's see how far I can push the limits with this store. If I have something clearly visible on the top of my foot. Then that will trick folks brains that if something is on top of my foot then surely something is on the bottom. How many people will look then question if something is on the bottom ? I don't think people will question it at all as it looks like a flip flop, or sandal is on my foot. So that is the reason for the bottomless sandal. It is trickery !

However that order I placed(linked in the previous post) took 30 days or so for me to receive. It was a customized order so the women hand made the products. So during the time of waiting I came up with another alternative. I knew who the manager, and assistant manager were in the store. They seemed to be the only two enforcing the shoes required policy. As it is not the other employees job to enforce. It would not surprise me if most other employees are not even aware of the policy. Anyway I figured what if I shop barefoot when the two people enforcing the policy are not in the store. So at this point I am successfully shopping in this store barefoot without any problems. I've done it numerous weeks now. I usually go in on my weekends during the evenings. The store is open til 9 pm, and few employees work the last 1.5 hours the store is open. So I just go in during the evening when few customers/employees are in the store. So this folks is my way around the policy.

I figure now that I have the bottomless sandals I'll probably start wearing them in the store. Just as some extra security for the trickery factor. Though I really feel like it is not needed. The other two grocery stores I use clearly have no issue with my bare feet. The managers have seen my feet numerous times, and don't seem the least bit concerned about it. Interesting, huh ? Different strokes for different folks. In future posts I'll discuss my bare foot shopping experiences in more depth.

The bottomless sandals surely bring out my hippie side, but we have lots of hippies in the co-op as well as Arcata. So I fit right in! I don't consider myself a hippie these days. I'm much more a of a athletic type. As you can see though I have my forward thinking bare foot advocate side, and I'm willing to test the limits in private stores. How dare others try to suppress my desire to live healthy which starts at my bare feet. I don't demand you take shoes off. Why you demand I put shoes on ? I'm a bare foot individual living in a shoe addicted society.....

Oh yeah my foot is feeling much better. That three day weekend of rest paid off. I'll probably rest my feet through the rest of week, and start to play again this weekend starting off slowly of course.