Should infants have to wear shoes in restaurants?
By AmAllen
@AmAllen (119)
United States
August 7, 2009 10:44am CST
There was something in the news yesterday about a mother, grandmother and child getting asked to leave Burger King yesterday because the child was not wearing shoes.
Now I can understand if this child was a toddler but this was a 6 month old INFANT that couldn't walk or crawl, only able to sit up and rock on its hands and knees.
Now how many of you mothers out there always had shoes on your infant. Evidently the mother tried to appease the manager by putting socks on the infant and the manager still told them they had to leave.
Should the no shoes policy apply to infants, I know that when my children were that young they rarely wore shoes, and 9 times out of 10 if i put shoes on them they had them off with in minutes and they were chewing on the shoe.
Burger I guess has submitted a fomal apology to the family and is going to retrain its employees on the no shoes policy.
Should the manager have made this family leave? Should the no shoes policy apply to infants? What are your opinions on this?
3 people like this
10 responses
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
7 Aug 09
No, the "No Shoes" policy should not apply for infants. I always thought that the reason for this policy was for hygiene purposes and if the infant is not on the floor to pick up germs, I don't see where the issue would lie.
My children rarely wore shoes until they were old enough to walk. I took them everywhere and we never had a problem. Yes, they had socks on during the cool months of the year, but during the summer they didn't.
In a lot of cases, or at least our doctor, said that shoes really weren't necessary for the kids until they became proficient at walking so I figured it was socially acceptable for the kids to not wear shoes.
2 people like this
@polo_princess (803)
•
7 Aug 09
I totally agree with you Dora, i think the world is going mad. I can understand everyone trying to cover their backs for fear of a potential lawsuit but i think this is going a little OTT. So if you went into the store with shoes on your baby and they pulled them off what would they do? Throw you out?
Definatley shouldnt apply for infants imo.
@AmAllen (119)
• United States
7 Aug 09
I agree, if hygiene isn't going to be the issue then why mess with them, I'm kinda curious if this manager has a huge problem with children altogether. Who can possibly be that crude? How does that man make it to management with such horrible customer skills?
My doctor said the same thing, there is no need for shoes until they NEED them. I put socks on my kids feet when it was cool but never in the heat of the summer like it right now.
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
7 Aug 09
I saw that on the news yesterday!!! Can you believe that? It was the silliest thing I have ever heard! What a legalist!!! lol!! -- extreme!! I am sure the initial reasoning is protection of people's feet who enter the facility, but the child is not going to be on the floor at any time.
You know, I think I worked for this manager at a McDonald's one time!!
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
8 Aug 09
what an asinine manager and I bet dollars to donuts he was
only about nineteen or twenty and proud of himself. an older
wiser person would never have made such a stupid remark
to the mom of an infant. where were the kids brains anyway?
I hate how so many times kids who arent even mature aRe made'managers? thats ridiculous. no infants dont have to wear shoes in a restaurants, they arent walking or crawling, what a stupid
thing for that manager to do. had to be a kid who was just not all that bright, a bright young man would have had better sense than that.
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
10 Aug 09
I heard about this. Rediculas. Most babies that young do not wear shoes. Like you said they won't keep them on, and they are not even good for their little feet. It is not like the baby is going to be walking around the restaurant touching her feet to everything. That is just silly. Most of the time when my kids were babies they had footy pajamas on if we were out in public. Or if it was summer time just socks. That Burger King employee was taking the rules way to literally.
@tdemex (3540)
• United States
7 Aug 09
In todays world unfortunately the lawsuits fly like birds! They have to take a stand for that reason. You could get them for discrimination if they let one get by and not the other! Also mothers aren't alway as CLEAN as other mothers are, If the feet are filthy is that ok? Should the employees be asked to inspect all the bare feet that come in and decide if they pass the smell test to get in? So you see the problem, get it to go and take those stinky feet with you!!! LOL! 
tdemex
tdemex
@tdemex (3540)
• United States
7 Aug 09
I used to work for a major corporation and those are the things they are paranoid about! I'm on your side, but I have seen some moms where I would question weather they should be a parent or not, and those are the scary ones! By the way you should hold off on issuing a best response for at least a day! tdemex
tdemex@AmAllen (119)
• United States
7 Aug 09
Right, so you are saying be worried about an infants bare feet, but do not be worried about those sewage workers who come in and don't go wash thier hands before making thier orders. I have to say that if this is the stand they want to make then they need to put on the door: "Must wash hands before ordering" then add a box of latex goves for us to put on before we get to the counter.
@bing28 (3795)
• Philippines
8 Aug 09
A very unkindhearted manager, good me and my family are not eating there at the Burger King. Granted there's such a regulation at their restaurant being a manager, he should be considerate.
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
7 Aug 09
People that are walking around should wear shoes like adults and children of age 3 plus. However a baby of 6 months old was in a buggy and not walking. The rule in the fast food restaurant shouldn't apply to babies, toddlers or infants.
My son is two years old and is disabled. He doesn't need shoes because he isn't able to walk. I only put shoes on him for his exercises. One of his legs is 2 to 3cm longer than the other. If he does supported standing he wears shoes and one has a platform on it.
The manager was wrong to ask the family to leave. If I was them I would feel insulted. My older son didn't wear shoes until he was walking. Most mothers don't put shoes on young babies feet.
@reagsmommy (3)
• United States
8 Aug 09
Thats just crazy!!! First off its not a 5 star restaurant, It's Burger King!! The manager should have used common sense on this one. My daughter didn't really wear shoes until she was about 12-13 months old. The only time we definitely had shoes on her was at church. I do understand that when people do come in to a store/establishment without shoes/shirt it devalues the brand unless its a swimming pool. But come on BK get it together!
@Maximum03 (1)
• United States
8 Aug 09
Just because infants are not conscious about there surroundings as we are, doesn't mean they don't have to wear shoes. I believe it is up to the parents to make conscious decisions regarding their child's shoes. I believe that an infants feet should be covered as they are apart of society as much as we adults are. Though, as an infant, privileges are allows allowed.
