Old Brown Shoe

I am notoriously cheap when it comes to buying shoes. I buy the cheapest shoes I can find and only after my previous shoes are completely shot. I will go years without buying shoes. Payless is too rich for my blood.

So when one of my brown dress shoes started falling apart, I looked briefly at shoes at Famous Footwear but they were too expensive (nothing under $30). I quickly got aggravated and left. It didn’t help that I can’t stand going shopping and not finding what I want and having to go somewhere else. This happens every year at Christmas. I shop as much as possible online but once in awhile, I think, “Maybe it would be nice to get out of the house.” Then I don’t find what I need in several stores and have to run around. Cannot. Stand.

With my mission a failure, I channeled my Depression-era forbearers and Krazy Glued the sole of the shoe. It was worth a shot and if it fell apart, I was only out a few bucks instead of all that money for shoes. The shoe lasted a day that way and fell apart when I got home. It ended up worse than it was before. At least it didn’t break during the workday so I wasn’t just staggering around like an idiot.

Now I’m annoyed at Krazy Glue. All those years they ran that commercial where the construction worker glued his helmet to an I-beam and stayed attached. And I couldn’t even glue a shoe together for more than eight hours? Class action lawsuit.

I don’t even know if I need brown shoes since black goes with more so I’m waiting for now. I just don’t care what’s on my feet. I won’t wear something ugly but owning nice brand name shoes is meaningless to me. Shoes are utilitarian. The only shoes I have now are two pairs of black dress shoes, sneakers and running shoes. They’ve all seen better days but I’m hoping to hang on a little longer. They were all cheap. My sandals finally fell apart at the end of the summer so I got rid of them. Maybe I should have tried to staple them back together.