If the shoe fits......(longish, maybe pointless)

[mosquito]

I had been using two pair of shoes, sandals and walking shoes, for several months after I should have trashed them. Why? It's almost impossible to get shoes I like that fit properly, at a price I'm willing to pay.

Anyhow I'm in Vegas visiting a friend and at one point I put the sandals in the kitchen trash can. My friend asks to borrow something I have in the car, so rather than hunt down my other shoes I pull the sandals out of the trash. I go out to the car, come back, take the sandals off and throw them back in the trash.

My friend has watched this and asks, "Why are you throwing those away?" They were fairly nice sandals and all, but the soles had pretty much broken down to where the support was making my feet hurt. They were still very comfortable while I wasn't walking (moreso than other shoes), so I used them sometimes when I knew I would not have to walk much. Also the rubber on the bottom had cracked thru on both sandals. So I explained and got a silent semi-acknowledgment that it was okay to trash 'em.

Okay, a week later I'm back home and finally buy another pair of walking shoes, the same model I had before actually. I'm in the store trying on the new pair (just in case) and mention to the saleslady how nice it will be to throw away my old pair. She looks at me and says, "Those shoes look fine, I don't see any holes."

Now, my reads are pretty good but not perfect. I'm pretty sure she is serious. From 6-8 feet away the shoes do look fine, they are well built shoes that take allot of abuse. Still, two seams on each shoe have split at least one inch. The support had broken down, again to the point where they were giving me some pain (although not as much as the sandals did.) I had used the shoes enough over 17 months(!)walking 2 miles or more daily (plus whatever if I wore them the rest of the day), that the soles had worn into a pattern that was making me walk poorly as well. I was even on my second set of laces.

Okay, I get the new shoes home. The next day, I put the old pair on the trash pile. One of my housemates looks at the shoes and asks why they are there. I explain. She says "Those are too good to throw out. Lots of people would be happy to have them. I'm saving them for the Salvation Army."

The "kicker". I had mentioned needing to buy new shoes to another pal about 6 months ago. (See - I used them an xtra 6 months - LOL) He proceeded to tell me he used his last pair until there was a quarter size hole in the sole.

Silly me, I like it better when my feet don't hurt. The new shoes are great. What aren't I getting? Again, to casual inspection both pair looked much more serviceable than they actually were. OTOH I am pretty much a cheapo when it comes to spending money, anyone except the saleslady would have known that. No one was trying to pull my leg or joke with me.

On a related note, there are times when people will question me if I say something almost as obvious as "gasoline is refined from crude oil" but will tend to take as fact if I say something like "There is a polyester blight in Africa, the price of shirts will be going up."

Thanks for listening.