Gross! Wearing Sandals and Tongs in Public

Do you wear sandals in public? How do your feet look? Trust me on this: Your feet look a lot more disgusting to other people than they do to you. Especially if you're a man. (Uuggghh!) But first...

I've always wondered how people could wear sandals. They look so uncomfortable. I mean, come on, how can that constant rubbing of a leather strap against your skin not aggravate your skin eventually? Don't the straps, especially the one around the back of the heel, cause chafing and redness and burning?

What if your feet begin sweating? Don't the sandals cause a sticky environment? Well, sweat and irritation aside, let's examine the bigger issue here: The ugliness and grossness of most men's feet. Now, women who wear sandals usually have nicely pedicured feet that include polished nails. But exceptions exist, like a former co-worker of mine I'll call "Sue."

Sue wore tongs, actually, every day to work; tongs or sandals, makes no difference, because either way, the feet are exposed to the eye. The skin on her feet looked like it had never had contact with lotion, especially her scaly heels. And the greyish nail of her big toes just kept getting longer and longer, and I kept wondering when she was going to cut it. Had she no sense of hygiene and looking half-way decent? The indoor temperature of the office was about 70 degrees, and even on cold days outdoors, she'd wear these grubby tongs, showing her grubby feet, toes and nails. Finally, she came in one day with cut big-toe nails.

But the barf bag really comes to mind when it comes to men's feet. I see men all the time waltzing around in their sandals and tongs, totally oblivious to how repulsive their feet look. No sign of self-consciousness for miles-and they have every reason to be self-conscious: untrimmed, filthy toe nails, often with black wedges of dirt under the nails. Usually, the nails are brown or yellow, crusty and overgrown. The skin around them looks yucky. Yes, "yucky" is the word of choice here by this journalist. I can't think of a better word than "yucky" to describe the feet of just about every man who wears sandals or tongs.