‘Is this normal?’: Scottish tourist shocked by cinema act

A tourist was shocked to see what was unfolding before his eyes at a NZ cinema — and he had many questions about it.

Tourists are often shocked by just how much we go barefoot in this part of the world – in the street, in the supermarket and in cafes.

But what about the cinema?

Across the ditch, a Scottish tourist snapped a picture of a movie watcher with their bare feet out and took to a New Zealand subreddit to ask what was going on.

They said the couple were putting their feet on the chairs in front of them, which were empty.

“It was odd seeing people walking around a city barefoot but I respect it, it’s comfy, let the dogs out y’know,” the Scot wrote. “I’m sure it’s good for the auld foot form and health.

“But this seemed mad to me, the next poor soul to sit in the seat in front is going to have the remnants of these twos pong wafting about their heads for a 120 minutes of run time.

“If this was Glasgow someone would have hurled a bottle of coke/ stolen iPhone at the back of his head before his foot had left his shoe. Is this just a cultural difference?”

A Scottish tourist snapped this picture of bare feet seen at the cinema in New Zealand. Picture: Reddit

Locals were quick to inform the traveller that getting around barefoot was quite common in summer, but putting said feet on the headrests of public chairs was definitely not widely accepted.

“Putting feet on headrests – shoes or no shoes – is crap behaviour,” one wrote.

“The feet on the head rest thing is some nasty s***. Barefoot outside? Super common during summer here,” another added.

“If I’m wearing sandals at the movies I’ll usually take them off. I won’t, however, put them on the headrest in front of me,” one Kiwi explained.

“Welcome. No it is not normal. It is poor behaviour,” confirmed a fourth.

Some described the act as “disgusting”, “gross” and “rude”.

As for walking around bare feet, Kiwis encouraged the Scot to give it a try.

“My American family came to NZ and thought that the bare feet thing was weird too. It is very normal here in NZ!” one said.

“I went the other way (South Africa to Florida before coming to NZ) and the first time I went out in public barefoot I had people running up to me in shock telling me how dangerous it was,” wrote someone else.

“My mate was over in Scotland when he was a kid in summer, running around in bare feet. An elderly lady stopped her car and gave him £10 ($20) to buy some shoes, though he was poor. His dad was an airline pilot,” a third person shared.

Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth is often snapped walking around Byron Bay without shoes. Picture: Danielle Gusmaroli

Of course, going barefoot is common in Australia too.

TikTok is filled with tourists sharing videos where they express their shock that Aussies often roam around without any foot coverings and it always gets a huge reaction.

Chris Hemsworth, his wife Elsa Pataky and their three children have been snapped endlessly by local paparazzi as they run all over Byron Bay barefoot.

The famous Aussie actor shared photos standing with furniture in his house at Christmas and foreign fans couldn’t get over Hemsworth’s dirty feet.