Job Discussion Forums

[sebastienupper]

This may be a stupid question (for which I have form), but it hasn't snowed since the last ice age in Perth and ... well I am stupid...

My question is this:

What do you do when you get to the shops/school wearing your nice & filthy fur-lined snow boots that you've clomped through the mud and slush in? Are you supposed to carry a neat pair of shoes under your arm wherever you go, to change? I'm having difficulty imagining this, but also imagining the alternative: people trudging around the supermarket in their socks.

Or can you get away with some kind of hardyboot/dressy shoe hybrid even when it's -30C as long as you don't lose the will to live on the way to the shops?

Wearing inappropriate footwear is a hobby of mine that I was even able to indulge in England, but I don't want to lose my toes ... they're my only friends.

[spiral78]

I stashed my work shoes at the office, and always changed right away, but shopped in the filthy fur-lined ones. Washed off the filth in the bath every evening. How's that for a workable compromise??!

[JessInRussia]

Everywhere I've been, you shp in the same shoes. The only places I change my shoes are: home (and other people's homes), work and at the gym.

The snow doesn't cling to your boots so much at -30. Currently we have +2 in Ekaterinburg after heavy snows, and yes, that makes things dirty. But usually it's fine.

And lastly, I've never washed my shoes in the bath. There is good cleaning equipment easily available and you should always leave your flat with polished shoes. (Many people here even have a duplicate cleaning set at work.)

So good luck, and may the dirt not be with you.

[spiral78]

Hmmm, that does make me sound pretty unsanitary, doesn't it? Of course, I had to scrub the bath subsequently.
But I had serious mud and I still can't think of a better alternative.

[IvanGrozny]

You put your boots out on the unheated balcony to freeze and then lean out the window with them and bang them together so the frozen mud breaks off and falls to the ground. Look down for people before doing this. Then it is easy to clean them off. And yes, you leave work shoes at the office, and carry a bag with shoes with you when you go out to dance and check your boots with your coat. It also helps to learn the russian way of walking so that you can dodge and float over any dirty spots in the street. An even more important skill is to be able to spot the 1/2 ton icicles that want to fall on your head and kill you as you walk down the street.

[spiral78]

Wow, Grozny's done a good service! Hoping to improve long-term karma? Thanks for the tip!

[sebastienupper]

Yep. Thanks kindly compadres. I'm starting to get the picture, rapidly, vis-a-vis footwear machinations.

I wouldn't judge you badly Spiral78, as long as you weren't wearing the filthy boots when you cleaned them.

But you did clean the bath afterwards too, and this raises another interesting point I hadn't thought of, namely, do they do 'rent'-inspections every 3 months in these rented flats? Even the school-owned ones?

That's what I've always despised most about renting--working my arse off to pay the rent, then working my arse off to clean my unit so's someone can invade my privacy every 12 weeks and give me marks out of 10 for how clean I'm living ...

Hey, you can say 'arse' and it seems to work...

[spiral78]

I wasn't inspected, though the flat owner did come by once or twice to do maintenance. I remember my old Czech landlady felt entirely free to come whenever she wished - that was embarassing once, though not because the place was untidy!!

I think you'd better ask whoever was in charge of making the flat arrangement for you, or your landlord/lady directly, about what they expect in terms of cleanliness.