Man Refuses To Take Off Shoes In Friend’s Home Over Medical Condition, Despite Crawling Baby

What problems might you run into during a game of Dungeons & Dragons with friends? A fire-breathing dragon? A cunning and powerful sorcerer? A horde of bloodthirsty goblins? Not really – after all, any monsters are purely left there to slay. Real life actually can be way more difficult than any magical mission.

The author of our story today, the user u/NameNo5495, had to deal with a much more serious problem – his medical condition doesn’t allow him to walk barefoot, and the owners of the house where he and his friends gathered for the session have a baby, and they recently introduced a no-shoes policy.

More info: Reddit

The author of the post is a 38-year-old man who is very fond of board games, especially Dungeons & Dragons

Image credits: Wavebreak Media / Freepik (not the actual photo)

So recently, the group of friends decided to gather for another game session

Image credits: NameNo5495

Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)

When the author arrived, he found out that the hosts had a crawling baby and thus had introduced a strict no-shoes policy

Image credits: NameNo5495

Image credits: korrawinj / Freepik (not the actual photo)

It became an issue for the guy since he can’t walk barefoot due to his medical condition

Image credits: NameNo5495

The man flatly refused to take off his shoes or put grocery bags over them and just left, thus ruining the session for all

So now meet the Original Poster (OP), a 38-year-old man who is very fond of Dungeons & Dragons. The author and his friends were recently getting ready for another game session, and one of them, “Alex,” offered his house. But when the guests started to arrive, our hero was faced with an unexpected problem – the hosts’ no-shoes policy.

On the one hand, it all made sense – Alex and his wife had a crawling baby at home, so the parents were worried about cleanliness. On the other hand, the OP has a medical condition called epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS), which makes the skin on his feet extremely fragile and sensitive to anything, even tiny things on the floor. In fact, it could really lead the man to bleed and cause pain.

Our hero flatly refused to take off his special orthopedic shoes with soft soles, or to put grocery bags or socks over his shoes. The bickering with Alex’s wife got to the point that the author was faced with a dilemma – he either had to obey or leave. He chose the latter, and as he was leaving, he heard that the hosts preferred to cancel the game session for everyone.

So now the man is in two minds on whether he was wrong here or not. His friends’ opinions were also divided – some believe that the hosts had the right to set any rules in their home, while others say that Alex and, especially, his wife, probably overreacted. So the author decided to ask netizens for their opinion – just in case.

Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)

Well, epidermolysis bullosa simplex is indeed a very unpleasant genetic disease, and in some people, it can cause the inability to walk at all. This disease is usually caused by disturbances in the genes responsible for regulating the structure of proteins that form the skin and mucous membranes.

Accordingly, doctors strongly don’t recommend walking barefoot for people suffering from this disease. On the other hand, the very idea of putting on shoe covers (sold in any drugstore) or simply putting grocery bags over shoes seems quite sound – and the health of a baby crawling on the floor would also be safe.

The vast majority of people in the comments were also simply surprised that the original poster didn’t bring indoor shoes, simply because it’s indeed a common practice among all people with this condition when they visit someone.

Moreover, a no-shoes policy is also a common practice in families with little kids. So, yes, the hosts overreacted by canceling the game session, but the author was also definitely wrong in his stubbornness, the responders believe.

In any case, the man should not have been stubborn and, as a last resort, should have agreed to wrap his shoes in something, since his friends actually suggested this option, netizens concluded. After all, it shouldn’t have created a serious issue. “You aren’t even walking during a DnD game,” someone noted rather reasonably. So what’s your opinion on this case?

People in the comments noted that he should’ve just taken his indoor shoes with him, and accused the man of being rather unreasonable here

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