BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter supports the idea of allowing people to enter businesses barefoot.
I am writing to you on a topic that matters to me and many others and that's barefooting.
The "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service" policy originated in the 1960s, but has never been enforced by the health department, so if people want to be barefoot, why not?
There are many reasons why a person would be barefoot, ranging from medical issues, mental health, religious practice or personal preference and some places don't have a dress code regarding footwear. When someone does walk barefoot anywhere they aren't breaking any laws and it will have no impact on others.
Researchers are discovering many health benefits to walking barefoot which include, but are not limited to, better posture, strengthened immunity, and reducing stress.
Businesses waive any responsibility by posting (no shoes, no service signs), so any barefooters entering a business are pretty much at their own risk anyway.
Plus, no business is ever likely to be held liable for a customer's barefoot injury since it was the customer's free will decision to enter the store barefoot, and therefore would be deemed as having personally assumed any risk.
So there's no reason why anyone can't go barefoot anywhere, and business owners have bigger problems to worry about.
Brant Mawdsley
Orillia
