No Baby Shoes, No Service
The AP is reporting that the “No shoes, no shirt, no service” signs commonly found in fast food and other restaurants may have been enforced a little too strictly at a St. Louis Burger King.
The article says that Jennifer Frederich, along with her mother and her infant daughter stopped at Burger King on Sunday. The baby was not wearing shoes, her mom figured that her tiny baby feet were exempt from the rule.
But workers asked the family to leave because the shoeless baby was violating a health code. In fact, there is no such policy in that county and the restaurant eventually apologized to the family.
As a mom of two, I know that baby shoelessness is a common occurrence – at least with my kids. Even my toddler daughter, who is known to kick off her shoes the minute she is strapped into her car seat, sometimes is brought into restaurants or stores sans shoes. Be it because she is asleep or because we just don’t feel like fighting her about it – but never sets bare feet down on the floor. Perhaps if the young baby was walking on the floor it might have been grounds for a health code violation, but to require babies to wear shoes is a bit extreme. Heck, our seven month old son doesn’t even own shoes!
What do you think?
Did they take it too far at this restaurant, or should babies be required to have on footwear?
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Melissa H says...
Oh i would say they took it too far. My daughter didn’t OWN a pair of shoes until she was nine months old and starting to walk. I would never have been able to take her ANYWHERE if the rules were that strict
Rebecca says...
I saw this story on Headline News last week and thought it was so ridiculous. Neither of my sons wore shoes before they were walking and a lot of times, we didn’t bother with socks either (unless it was cold out) because they would just kick them off.
I heard that it was the manager that asked them to leave. Obviously, he doesn’t have children.
I hope they like all the bad publicity they are getting over this
Barefoot Guy says...
There is NO health code against patrons of a restaurant going inside while barefoot. The health code was set up for employees, not patrons (e.g. “Wash hands before returning to work”).
I feel discriminated against when I am not allowed to enter a fast-food restaurant while barefoot (I go without shoes as a lifestyle choice, so I’m a bit more sensitive to this particular issue than most folks). Do I also need to wear GLOVES while eating at this establishment? What about a HELMET? Is there some type of hidden danger lurking around? Even if I stepped on something, I am not going to sue the restaurant. It would be my fault for being barefoot and not looking where I was going.
And for people who don’t like seeing bare feet? They see bare feet in flip-flops all the time, so what’s the difference? Oh, that’s right — bare feet are directly ON the floor. But when was the last time you ate your food off of Burger King’s floor? Exactly.
Construction boots carry a lot more dirt and mud and filth than bare feet, too. So the argument that bare feet track in lots of dirt is silly. Can you imagine the nastiness on gas pump handles left by people’s hands? Yeah, maybe wearing gloves all the time is probably a good idea after all.
“No shoes, no service??” I’ll just vote with my bare feet and take my business — and my money — elsewhere.
(Oh, this whole barefoot baby thing is completely absurd, but I’m sure you knew where I stood on that already.)
Jessica Taylor says...
This is just rediculous! I don’t even have children and I still do not see why they made such a big deal out of it. Children, especially ones that aren’t WALKING shouldn’t be required to wear shoes. Some people are just ignorant, that’s their only explination. Or some people just had nothing better to do than to harass some random family. Ugh!
Muttix says...
I think it is going too far when a family is kicked out for their baby not wearing shoes. It is common knowledge that babies learning to walk should do so without shoes. A baby younger than walking age has no need for shoes. I fail to see the health issue here.
mishd24 says...
Babies honestly do not give a crap about shoes or even socks. Let babies enjoy being babies the restaurant went to far