SINGAPORE: Singaporeans have expressed mixed reactions after a netizen posted a photo of a man who sat on public transport with his slippers off. While some shrugged it off as no big deal, others voiced out that they felt this behavior is inappropriate.
Facebook user Joel Chen posted a photo of a man sitting between other men on the train, legs crossed, with his bare feet resting on one of his black rubber sandals. The picture is cropped on top, however, and so neither the man’s face nor those of his companions can be seen.
He is the only man in the row who has his shoes off.
“Dude, do you think your feet smell good?” wrote Mr Chen in the caption of his post.
While some seemed to agree with the OP, many commenters, however, sprung to the man’s defense. One asked him “What’s the big deal here?” and added that for him, it doesn’t make a difference whether someone has his or her shoes on or not.
He further advised the post author to ignore the situation if he didn’t like what was going on. Otherwise, he could talk to the man, or in the event of an offense committed, he could report it to the authorities.
“Stop behaving like a child,” he added, reminding the man to mind his own business.
Others also asked why he couldn’t ask the man directly to keep his shoes on instead of posting about it on social media, and those who were less polite among the commenters told Mr Chen to “get a life.”
It’s not uncommon for people to be used to taking their shoes off. It’s considered a particularly Asian trait, after all, to remove one’s footwear before entering someone’s home, or especially their own.
In Singapore, there have been commuters who have been known to take their shoes off on public transport before putting their feet up on seats, but this is not the case in Mr Chen’s photo.
However, keeping footwear on in public is generally considered to be a sign of good manners and hygiene, especially since feet can sometimes emit unpleasant odors when the weather is warm and people get sweaty.
A woman whose TikTok account is all about etiquette said in a video last year, “Unless due to religious reasons or demands of the host, shoes should never be removed in public as we disrespect others this way.”
She added that bare feet should never be placed on surfaces that are used by others for sitting, calling the practice “very rude.” /TISG