"DEAR MISS MANNERS: In my high-rise condominium building, I must leave my flat and travel (generally via carpeted hallways and elevators) to various common areas in the building to deposit trash and collect mail. The whole building, including all common areas, has a single, guarded entrance, through which only residents and guests may pass. What must I wear in these common areas? May I dash down in stocking (or bare) feet to mail a letter or empty my garbage? (Most people are shod in the hallways.)"
"We'll make it apply. It's just been sitting around idly, anyhow. It was based on the polite fiction that the porch appearance is not public, but only a momentary detour from bed to breakfast, where robes and slippers are permissible. In your case, the available fiction is that of using the swimming pool. Or gym, if the building has one. You know that the related outfits are customarily tolerated in your building, whereas you would not know what might offend guests in a hotel."
A resident in a guarded high-rise building questions whether bare feet, stocking feet, shirts, or shorts are acceptable when briefly passing through carpeted hallways, elevators, and other common areas to collect mail or discard trash. The accepted rationale treats such brief passages as analogous to transitions to or from recreational areas like a pool or gym, where casual or swimwear is commonly tolerated among residents. Even when relaxed dress is customary, residents should avoid exposing bare chest and bare feet and should not deliberately test neighbors' comfort levels. Standards in hotels or public places may be stricter.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]