By the Numbers: Shoe shopping edition
3 - Number of significantly-sized holes in my current pair of work shoes.
25 - Approximate number of dollars spent on my current work shoes.
2.5 - Approximate number of years since I bought those $25 shoes. In terms of dollars spent per day worn, I think it's fair to say that I have won.
4 - Number of stores I have gone to so far in order to find a new pair of work shoes.
2 - Number of pairs I've narrowed it down to so far. Both are extremely comfortable, but one is too reddish-brown for me to commit, the other a little too much on the tan side. The few pairs I found that are the color I want didn't fit me very well.
75 - Approximate number of dollars required to buy the cheaper of the two pairs of shoes I like. This is just a few dollars less than how much I've spent on my last 4 pairs of work shoes combined (though one of those pairs was free).
20 - Number of minutes I spent in the store wearing the too reddish-brown pair, trying to convince myself that I should buy them in spite of their slightly-off color, the price, and the slightly weird shoelaces (see below).
10 - Number of minutes I spent looking for a different pair of shoelaces for those too reddish shoes, because I'm not wild about the ones that come with it. It shouldn't normally take this long to look through the available shoelace options, but I spent about 8 of those minutes trying to figure out what the difference was between 36" men's shoelaces and 36" women's shoelaces. They only had the color I wanted in the women's shoelace section, but I was not OK with buying women's shoelaces without knowing what the difference is. I still don't know.
0 - Number of pairs of new work shoes I ended up buying.
Comments
Sarah said:
You are my husband - he is like that about every purchase he makes. It drives me CRAZY.
Just pick some damn shoes! :)
Jonathan said:
Do they match the new glasses?
aubrey said:
wow. this sounds so much like me. i spent an entire hour in nordstrom rack a month ago trying to decide on a pair of shoes i ended up buying. are they the right color of brown? am i going to have something to wear with them? are they too expensive? are they good quality? is the heel to tall? duh. so the voice in my head just told me i could return them if i changed my mind. okay, so maybe your story doesn't sound SO much like mine.
good luck with your shoe purchase.
Tori :) said:
Just buy some flip flops. But then you'd need a pedicure...
Nancy Face said:
I just wear flip flops to work. They're so cheap, I can afford a pair in every color, and they don't EVER require shoelaces!
Tori just reminded me I need a pedicure.
Becky said:
Your concern over the color, coupled with the time you have spent trying to decide on a PAIR OF SHOES, makes the "womens" laces not so much of a stretch. I'm just sayin', is all.
Is it too country of me to still call laces "shoestrings"? Because that's my natural inclination. Just wondering.
elasticwaistbandlady said:
I buy shoes for Papi. We wear the same size. You can imagine the looks on the Florsheim sales staff when I roll in and try on wingtips over my flamingo socks and then prance around in them. If it fits me, I know it'll fit Papi.
Papi also got a shoe windfall when my grandpa died a few months ago. The man had some really nice shoes in new condition. Papi ain't too proud to wear dead man shoes, apparently.
Edna B said:
Well said Sarah. You're obviously a tremendously patient person. More power to you.
cadiz12 said:
i know EXACTLY how this feels. i have bought and returned several home-decor items in the last few weeks because i had gone with the cheaper option that i hadn't liked as much.
my mindset has now changed to: Buy what you really like as long as it's within reason. then sacrifice something else (going out to eat/buying clothes etc.) to pay yourself back for the overage. because if you don't, all you'll think about when you tie those slightly off-color shoes is about the ones that were the right color. and you can't put a price on buyer's remorse.
Sarah said:
Edna, "Patient" is my middle name. Now hurry up and write back!
Jon said:
My problem is that I focus solely on comfort and pay little attention to anything else. Consequently, I wear a pair of fuzzy, green dragon slippers everywhere I go. Sure, the fact that each one has it's own 3 foot wingspan is a little tricky at times, but you feel like your walking on a cloud wrapped in marshmallows with a layer of memory foam on top and a series of 350 tiny little shock absorbers on the bottom.
They also add about 122 inches to my vertical, which comes in handy whenever I go to the park and all the guys playing a pickup game of basketball start to tease me because of my shoes. What they don't realize is that the guy standing right next to me is my personal photographer. I then join the game in progress and take turns dunking on every single person that made fun of me, whether they are on the other team or not. My Photographer then takes pictures of me dunking on them and takes down their personal information. Later, when I get back home, I sort through the photos, pick the best ones, have them blown up to poster size and mail them off to the family and friends of the guys I dunked on.
In summary, comfort and a +122" vertical are more important to me than worrying about what people think of my fuzzy, neon green dragon slippers with three foot wingspans.
Lia said:
While I agree with Cadiz's philosophy in general, if you're choosing between two pairs that you don't really like, go with the cheaper one. There's nothing really wrong with reddish brown shoes. Although, since there's no picture, I can't really be entirely sure on that statement, since I haven't seen them.
I bought new shoes yesterday. I saw them, I put them on my feet, and I took them to the cashier. Total shopping time: maybe 5 minutes? Including waiting on line? Which just proves that this isn't always true.
Lia said:
Oh, and FYI - $41. In case you were wondering.
Joanna said:
New shoes AND new glasses. You're going all out, Omar.
I'm in desperate need of new brown shoes, too. I just can't find anything I like. It's been 2 years now. Not that I look very often.
I also recently got new glasses and -- because they look cool -- like to wear them more now than ever before. I still mostly wear contacts, though. I can't believe no one noticed.
Whitney said:
I can find "cute", "every day", "I don't care if they hurt, they're cute" shoes any day, and it only takes me about 5 minutes until I see the perfect pair and I'm out of the store. Work shoes on the other hand, not so much. Those require comfort, and looks, and cheapness (after all, they're only for work, and who wants to spend a lot on WORK shoes?). I have to buy some new works shoes here in the near future, so I feel your pain. I'm sorry you didn't end up getting either pair, I hope you can find one that works!!! :D
No Cool Story said:
I find it very interesting that men can keep their shoes for years. And then again 2 1/2 years for a pair of work shoes is a great deal.
It takes me forever to decide on shoes and pants, so I hear you.
Hope the 2008 OP Work Shoe Hunt goes smoothly in the future.
No Cool Story said:
Today’s NCS fun fact: I read this post of Saturday (Bonus Español fun fact: That’s “Sábado”).
While I am still on a break, I’m a tiny little bit miserable missing MOFs ;)
And commenting.
Gabs said:
I wouldn't buy the weird redish ones (unless of course you already have and then I say-way to make be decisive!!!). When I buy things I don't like at the time the taunt me from the corner of my closet until I get rid of them. I end up spending way more money trying to "save money" than if I were to just pick out something I really liked the first time.
But that's just me...
I can get you some awesome Brazilian flip-flops for $10. Think about it.
Gabs said:
I wouldn't buy the weird redish ones (unless of course you already have and then I say-way to make be decisive!!!). When I buy things I don't like at the time the taunt me from the corner of my closet until I get rid of them. I end up spending way more money trying to "save money" than if I were to just pick out something I really liked the first time.
But that's just me...
I can get you some awesome Brazilian flip-flops for $10. Think about it.
Gabs said:
ok, you can just delete that last one. :)
JustRandi said:
Ugh. I detest shopping enough that I would just buy the first pair I saw. Well, I also detest spending too much money, so I actually would probably shop around, but then I'd be mad the rest of the day that it had taken up my whole afternoon, and I didn't even get any shoes.
Wait... this is starting to sound vaguely familiar.
Lauren said:
Are there really mens and womens shoe laces?! Hmm, I will go start my investigation now.
No Cool Story said:
Its been one week since you looked at me
Cocked your head to the side and said Im angry.
Five days since you laughed at me
Saying get that together come back and see me.
Jon said:
Seriously? you've already got readers quoting Bare Naked Ladies songs? It takes me months of not posting to get that.
Color me impressed.
Rhonda said:
OMG, Omar! Just buy some damn shoes already. It's really easy and lots of fun...if you would quit being so logical about it.
Heck, just send me your size and I will send you some shoes!!!