barefoot in a store?

you guys would understand, anyone with a toddler would understand, anyone who has had a screaming child or any age would understand.

so here’s where i start, i have a 1 year old daughter. she is extremely kind, loving, gentle. but she is also extremely stubborn.

she had just learned to walk and were still working on the shoes part. we had taken a little break and decided to walk to the closest small town grocery store to grab some ice cream for us to have a lil movie night. cartoons and ice cream? sounds like a dream.

so, we walked to this grocery store, before promptly, having a mental breakdown. tears rolling, arms flailing, and shoes flying.

she had grabbed a leaf and proceeded to try to eat it like an oreo cooking before i took it away. i know, i’m horrible.

i’m tired. we both took a second to collect ourselves, and i swiftly picked her up and stuffed her shoes in the diaper bag before we walking inside.

she started getting tired of being carried and at this small grocery store, they didn’t have carts, so i set her down so she could walk.

we walked through the maze of aisles, grabbing everything she could reach, we grabbed 72017191 thing we hadn’t needed, walked past a million customers and employees all smiling and telling me how adorable she is, before going to the checkout.

the cashier had snidely looked at me, and then my daughter, before telling me that she shouldn’t be walking around barefoot.

i didn’t want to make any rude remarks so i smiled, apologized and we left without saying another word.

but why?

why can’t she? she’s a 1 year old with a temper. she’s a little girl who just had a mental breakdown 10 minutes before we walked inside. we had walked past a lot of employees and customers, never had a single person said a word about her feet. she’s a happy, healthy, bright little girl who just wants to feel everything, hands or feet.

i had pondered asking the cashier myself but i decided to google it instead, that’s what we do in the 21st century.

i guess it’s mostly because of germs, dirt, and runaway rusty nails.

basically, everything the company should have in check, not the customer.

now, i’ve worked at a grocery store before. i’m aware that it’s never easy or possible to keep the floors clean, never possible to spray lysol on every quart inch of the store at all times. i’m aware it’s never possible to search if every nail or bolt is perfectly attached to the place it belongs.

but here we are, in a world of covid, where there’s millions of germs and millions of ways to remove them. in a grocery store, 10 minutes before they close following a machine that’s mopping the floors.

i appreciate the cashier being worried about my daughter. but if anyone should be worried, it should be me.

so here i am, ranting on a social media platform asking you, is it really a big deal?