Shoe Shopping

Today I went into a shoe store. I was just looking. In fact, I have plenty of shoes and don't need anymore, but I like to see what's being forced on the public every so often, just to keep current. Without a doubt, the most popular shoe for women in the month of May here in Maine is the sandal, especially the kind with a piece of leather or fabric going between the big toe and the next toe as the major way to hold it on the foot. I hate those, never wear them and never would, even if it meant going barefoot. While I do wear sandals at the beach, I like a closed shoe most other times to avoid stepping on a rusty nail and getting gangrene and possibly losing the foot entirely, among other reasons. (If more women followed my lead, fewer Asian girls would be slaves to the pedicure business, but that's for another time.)

So I went into this store, which is called Lamey Wellehan if you must know, and a salesgirl who could not have been more than 17 or 18 approached me immediately as if I were a giant slab of sheet cake and she was a fly. I said right off the bat that I was "just looking" but that did not seem to matter to her. She proceeded to tell me about their sale items and then offered to measure my foot. I said I am 68 and have been wearing the same size shoe for 50 years, so why would I need her, of all people, to measure my foot. I reiterated my mission of just looking. She followed me around the store like a puppy. I hated her.

Finally I found shoes I wanted to try on. She brought out three boxes, even though I had only asked to see two styles. It turned out she did not have either of the two in my size so she brought out other styles she thought I might like. I didn't. I left the store, and it was all her fault, which is funny when you consider that her goal was to get me to like her and actually buy something. She needs more training, at the very least.

This is why I hate shopping and I hate capitalism. I wish there were one pair of shoes for everyone and they were always available in every size.