Sign of the times: Shoe polish

[FrenchHen]

WoW, so you teach, you've worked in the Pen, and you've done archaeological digs.

Did you ever work for the circus?

 

[English Chick]

I still polish my families shoes.... I use Kiwi and I still have my fathers set of shoe polishing brushes. I cannot stand to see anyone wearing dirty shoes, I am manic about it, my sons school shoes are polished every night, they gleam. Also once a week I wipe the insides with an antibacterial wipe, keeps them smelling fresh......I also like to see proper creases in trousers..... old fashioned, yes I am.....

 

[Squeaky]

With your permission, may I indulge in a hissy fit?

I agree: it's almost impossible to find non-disposable shoes or the things to care for them. Except for running shoes, hiking boots, and the like, all I buy is the kind where the sole can be replaced. I've had shoes last fifteen years or more. Since I don't buy clothing very often, I require the things I buy to last. I therefore expect to pay for quality. I save up, then I buy. By doing this, I avoid paying for umpteen disposable copies. It saves money in the long run.

The thing is, quality is no longer available here regardless of the price.

My cobbler went out of business due to lack of customers, and the only replacement I could find butchered three pairs of shoes in one sitting. He hacked half an inch off my best stage heels instead of using a touch of leather repair fluid to fix a scrape just above the lift, so that the balance was thrown off and the toes pointed up like skis. He rammed nails out the front of another pair of stage heels because the fine art of replacing a lift was too complicated for him. Finally, he ripped the decorations off of one of a darling pair of low-heeled pumps. When I asked him to fix the problems he created, he suddenly lost the ability to speak English. Luckily I'm a polyglot. The invective didn't fix my shoes, but it was great to see the shock on the guy's face.

Lack of cobbler service is probably a moot point because reasonable quality shoes don't exist here. Everything is designed to be thrown away: except for heel lifts, shoes are designed to wear out. We might as well all be wearing those rubber and Styrofoam flip-flops.

It's the same with all leather goods, I'm afraid. I hunted for about a month in an effort to replace my leather bomber (men's size medium, lamb skin, black) which had finally worn out after nine years. I couldn't find one single garment of comparable quality in the entire city in a men's medium. Nor was anybody willing or able to order one for me. The closest I could find was in a boutique that had a men's XXL in an Italian design, but the smaller sizes were sold out. The woman at the boutique counter told me that I could "probably make the bigger jacket work", as though three full sizes of difference were trivial. She added that if I didn't like what was available, I should keep coming back to the store and checking in to see if the stock changed.

It's not that I'm against imports. I'm not. Depending on what you buy, "Made In America" might mean "guaranteed to fall apart instantly", in which case it's better to buy foreign unless the foreign products are even worse. However, why are all the imports suddenly a bunch of barely-recognizable garbage?

To make matters worse, when you enter a store where they sell things, nobody wants to sell actual product. Sales staff (when they exist) would rather yap on their cell phones, flirt with each other, or fiddle with Sudoku puzzles behind the counter. There's zero interest in actually getting a customer to part with cash. It's almost as though they don't realize that there's a connection between the money they take in and their ability to hold onto their jobs. So here we are in a middle of an "economic downturn", you have customers ready, willing, and able to buy product, and we can't get it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that sounds like a retailer who WANTS to have an economic downturn.

Between the execrable product, the thundering incompetence, and the apathetic customer service, I feel as though I've been time-warped back to Gorbachev era Moscow... but without the vodka, which if you recall was the only way anyone got through it the first time around.

This is why I hate to shop. I have to fly to Calgary, Alberta to get shoes, and I've got no idea where my replacement jacket is going to come from. Do I have to actually do a Clan-Of-The-Cave-Bear thing and shoot something from scratch, gut it, skin it, tan the hide, and sew it myself? If so, isn't it pathetic that it would probably take me LESS TIME AND EFFORT than finding it in a store?

I'm starting to think Ayn Rand was right.


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[Bettacreek]

Oddly enough, we have shoe polish at Wal-mart here. But, in order to get a nice pair of sturdy leather shoes, you have to drive 30 minutes to the one Amish shop to get them made. I don't know of anywhere else that has GOOD, solid shoes. Granted, I wear disposable shoes, $20 at Walmart, lol. I'm very picky about my shoes, I have to wear men's sneakers because women's shoes aren't wide enough.

 

[crtrlovr]

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Give that woman hot tea, fresh scones, and shine her tiara RIGHT NOW!

Kudos to you, EC!

 

[pdsavage]

Hubby polish his boots,he works for DOC.
DOC=Department of Corrections

 

[joebryant]

Anne shines my shoes because I'm good-looking.

 

[Rosalind]

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I tried Super Stop & Shop in Westborough--that's where I get clothespins, washing soda and Borax, and they didn't have shoe polish stuff. I was surprised, I really was, since they tend to have the other old-fashioned products and that store in particular is pretty big. Don't know if we have a Shaw's, I haven't noticed one.

 

[Rosalind]

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I find that a lot too. Don't get me started on clothing, where so many clothiers apparently have switched their target demographic from "business people" to "$20 Lady Of The Night." Thank goddess for sewing machines, that's all I'm saying.

When I asked him to fix the problems he created, he suddenly lost the ability to speak English. Luckily I'm a polyglot. The invective didn't fix my shoes, but it was great to see the shock on the guy's face.

I do that too. It's all kinds of fun.

To make matters worse, when you enter a store where they sell things, nobody wants to sell actual product. So here we are in a middle of an "economic downturn", you have customers ready, willing, and able to buy product, and we can't get it.

I agree 100%.

I feel as though I've been time-warped back to Gorbachev era Moscow... but without the vodka, which if you recall was the only way anyone got through it the first time around.

Fortunately, I have friends and co-workers who survived the USSR, and they tell me we're not quite there yet. But, they consider the fact that I keep chickens as being an indicator that we're getting there: In the USSR the state stores usually ran out of stuff, and the coupons you got for food were never enough, so most people grew what they could on rooftop gardens and balconies. Families kept chickens and goats in little courtyard areas between apartment buildings. My Chinese friends say their parents in China still keep chickens on balconies for eggs. So, we're getting there...​

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

I have saddle soap, shoe polish, and mink oil... But they aren't for my shoes... They're for my dog. I scrub and polish and oil his leather collars, leashes, and his Service Dog harness.
I have only ever told BYC that. LOL

I buy what I can get. Sneakers are always Sketchers for me. Boots are always Ariat, which are nice.

My husband goes through shoes like toilet paper. He works HARD on his feet all day long and his shoes are always falling apart and needing to be replaced.