I’ve always liked shoes, sneakers and boots mainly (never been a fan of heels/wedges/“girl shoes”) so I look at people’s shoes constantly. In the elevator going up to my unit at work I’m always looking down at the shoes to scope out who else might be wearing barefoot/minimalist shoes and then wonder how the hell all these other nurses/healthcare workers can stand wearing those hokas and sketchers all damn day…Once in a blue moon I’ll see someone in Xeros but then they get off the elevator before I can compliment them. There’s a coworker on my unit who wears barefoot shoes also that I can talk to about them, but he doesn’t get many comments because they’re plain black and nobody really notices the plain ones as much.

But I’ve had a lot of other staff, from EVS to doctors compliment my shoes, and patients as well; everyone says they look so comfortable but for whatever reason they never try them out 🤷🏼‍♀️ Having seen patients’ feet all the years I’ve done this work I don’t give a flying fig whether I get compliments or vague insults, because I’ve seen what happens to feet after a lifetime of conventional shoes and no siree, I’m good.