Shoe Love is a Poor Substitute

On weekends, I work at DSW Shoes as a clerk. It is a good job for me. The hours are flexible, the discount is 30% and I get to talk to women about shoes. I have no papers to grade, no plans to make. I just help people find the shoes of their dreams. The other reason I enjoy the job is I get to watch people. Very few things amuse me as much as people. When they think no one is watching, they do the most unique things. I have watched people yak away on the cell phone while they wander up and down the aisles, never really looking at the shoes. I think they want us to notice how important they are. I have watched people agonize over the decision to buy certain shoes. One woman spent about fifteen minutes trying to decide and then she called someone and discussed the decision with them. I have watched brides pick shoes for the women attending them. One man bought a pair of shoes three hours before the wedding. People do the most interesting things.

The people I think about after I leave are the ones who spend a long time in the store. They are usually women and they are usually alone. There is something wistful about them, some quality that reminds me of sadness. They wander up and down the aisles touching the shoes. They try them on and look in the mirror from all angles. They repeat the process with nearly every shoe in their size. Evventually, they leave with a pair of shoes or two. But for every pair of shoes they leave with, they have returned as many. They often tell me their shoe woes as I chat with them in the aisles or at the cash register as I check them out.

I get the feeling that these women are trying to fill a void in their lives with shoes. But the shoes never really give them what they want. I assume that these women are looking for love and respect like the rest of us. They probably want someone to care about them as people and feel that there is no one that does. But the shoes won't either.

I think that people need to realize that materialistic things will never make up for the bond between people. And if these women devoted as much time to their relationships as they do to shoes maybe they wouldn't be in a shoe store for as long. Letting people get close and assuming all the risks with that is scarier then trying to find the perfect shoe but it is a lot more fulfilling in the end.