Wow, this is a very entitled author...<p>It reads to me like the author theirself is the one who's more afraid of germs, what with a good 1/3 - 1/2 of the article seeming to focus on germs. I've known a good number of people who prefer shoes taken off at the door, and none of them have ever been focused on "shoe germs".<p>They're also making a huge deal over the request to leave shoes at the door when they'd be a guest at someone's house. If you're making that big of a deal over a simple courtesy, then I wouldn't want you in my house in the first place.<p>I'll give them lack of sitting furniture for doffing shoes, but that seems like an unlikely scenario for a household that routinely takes off shoes at the door. Aside from cultural reasons, as I have noticed door-side seating being less common in those households, presumably due to them being far more experienced in removing and donning shoes unassisted.<p>> Once shoeless, feet are utterly vulnerable to myriad household threats: chair legs, bed posts, door jambs, dropped knives, random Lego pieces, and God forbid anyone has been playing jacks.<p>Does this author wear safety boots at all times? The world must be a scary place to them.<p>And the overall statement that removing shoes at the door doesn't reduce dirt seems to be purely another individual "raging against science", with their laser focus on that Univ. of Arizona study.<p>If you don't want to have people remove their shoes at your home, cool then. Good for you. But don't be a whiny asshole about it when you're at someone else's home. That's just common courtesy.