"No fair, I wish I could work barefoot."
I hear this all the time from delivery people and other visitors who come in to the office. Since I use my feet to operate my computer mouse, pick things up off the floor, and for various other things when my hands aren't strong enough, I go barefoot most of the day. Now, I don't get all insulted when they say these things, and I rarely put on my snotty disability awareness educator hat and explain the reason for it, unless I'm in a bad mood. Usually I just smile and chuckle.
But seriously, people, don't be jealous of me. Sure, it's nice to be barefoot sometimes, and being forced to wear shoes all day long sucks. It does help me keep cool in the summer. But it's not always awesome. In the winter I freeze. I even went so far as to buy a pair of crazy thick and fuzzy slippers that I can slip into when I don't need my toes. My feet are constantly vulnerable to having things dropped on them, and to stepping on things like staples, thumbtacks, and tiny rocks brought in by other people's shoes. They are constantly filthy from walking around on dirty floors, and when my calluses crack or a blister opens up, that means I'm much more likely to get an infection. These are all risks I have to balance against the benefit of having an extra, sometimes more capable set of hands, and I do slip into those slippers, or in the summer, my sandals, if I'm going to walk in a particularly dangerous or dirty area. No, having to go barefoot because your feet are sometimes more useful than your hands, is nothing to be jealous of.
What would be better is if we all had the choice of whether to wear shoes or not.
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