I must apologize in advance to any who habitually put your feet on the dashboard when you are a passenger. I must also confess that I don’t like feet in general. Bare feet are a kind of openness and intimacy that I don’t like having shoved on me, especially at seventy miles on hour. I’m not phobic of feet, but I do appreciate some sensibility when deciding to go without foot attire.
First of all, please refrain from placing them on objects higher than six inches off the ground. I know how comfortable it is to recline in a chair at the coffee shop, or bookstore, kick off your shoes and put them up on a stool. However, I do not feel comfortable when you do so. Some people care for their feet, and take great expense to keep them trimmed and cleaned. Yet, they still spend most of their time in contact with dirt, (it tends to go down you see). Even more so, sandals notoriously dirty and blacken feet. The combination of sweat and rubbing generally creates some form of darkish matter to be found on the bare foot. (Hence the invention of socks.) So, no matter how well tended they are, I do not want to look at them hanging out there as I go about my day.
Second, feet should never go anywhere near where my hands go. I know that this is quite silly, as there is no difference between the bacteria count on the hands as on the feet, save for the fact that dirt usually accompanies the feet. So you may see the stool as a foot rest, I see it as something I have to pick up and move around. Hence, hands where feet go.
Third, if you wish to recline with your feet up, do so where it is appropriate. If the chair does not have a matching foot rest, it was not intended to have one. I am amazed that people will find anything tall enough and throw their feet up on top of it. I can’t think of many reasons one needs to have that level of comfort so badly as to improvise a solution, a la MacGyver, from the materials at hand. I can understand the necessity of testing out the actual foot stool before you buy it. But I don’t see the correlation between foot rests and books for instance. I have never found the elevation of my feet a necessary part of my shopping habits. I of course tend to shop as little as neccesary, and can browse in only a few location. However, the most I’ve needed to do is sit so that I can consider my options. I find it a bit superfluous and decadent to put up my feet as well.
Lastly, don’t place your feet on the dashboard. I know that I got here slowly, but the other things needed to be said. Obviously the very visible nature of the dashboard makes the prospect of feet even more apparent. This breaks the six inch rule but about three feet, (five if you are in an SUV). I am already driving a half ton vehicle at deathly speeds, weaving in and out of traffic, and making sure that the thirty other people around me are safely doing the same. It is very distracting to have feet flying at me while I do so. Aside from my discontent for the idea, I do find it necessary to point out that if the airbag goes off, you will wish you had left your feet on the floor mat where they belong.
