Excuse Me!

People get very nervous if you walk around with your laces untied.

I take my shoes off at work, I have naturally hot feet, but they don't smell, oddly enough. So, if I want to head down stairs, naturally, I have to put my shoes back on. Sometimes, I just slip them on and head to the lift, leaving them untied on purpose. You know, just to see. 

Oh, I am just lazy, I’ve told you that before. Just slip them on. I always wear lace up shoes, never slipons. I hate the look of slipon shoes.

I don't really see what the problem is, I can walk around no problem with the laces flapping in the breeze. I don't know what neurosis is at work there, something from our dim, dark, hereditary past, but there is always someone, with a furrowed brow and a nervous look, who points and nudges and says, 

"Excuse me, your laces are undone." Nervously. Often more than one person. Sometimes they line up. 

Occasionally there is a chorus. "Excuse me?" "Excuse me?" "Excuse me?"

Such childhood trauma, I think as I saunter past, seemingly oblivious.

Occasionally, one will chase me, tap me on the shoulder, make me see the danger to my life and limb that I am clearly missing.

That always makes me chuckle.