Shoes - on or off?

Just read someone on Twitter complaining that a visitor hadn't bothered to take his/her shoes off before coming into her house. Here in Chicago, where there's a lot of snow and salt for months on end, it's common practice to remove your shoes at the front door.

Workmen often come equipped with shoe covers that look like soft shower caps (see photo) and most people have a boot tray of some sort to protect hardwood floors from the drips.

But I hate it. OK, most of the time I'd prefer not to have to wipe up wet footprints, but I also hate the fact that people are padding around my house in their socks. And I especially hate having to take my boots off in other people's houses since I usually have a hole or two in the socks.

People here do it even at parties, which always looks rather ludicrous. The Ball & Chain and I went to a nice drinks party when we were skiing. I thought long and hard about what to wear. OK, liar, liar pants on fire there - I chose between the two nice sweaters I had packed. I also made sure to wear a decent pair of black boots rather than the fetching lumberjacky ones I usually trudge around in. When we arrived, I was greeted by row upon row of footwear at the front door, and instantly got the message that no matter how long the boots made my legs look, they were coming off. Annoyingly, I was wearing gleaming white sports socks which made the whole shoeless look even sillier.

I don't know, maybe it's me that's being silly?