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Entry tags:
Triumph
The shoes I got last year don't fit. The shoes I got this year don't fit. The new narrow version of Old Faithful does not fit, period. But I need walking shoes for the fall, and I need to wear my orthotics: Birks are nice but they don't support. So I held my nose and made an appointment at the place I got my orthotics and the first pair of shoes, to see if the 3/4 orthotics could be ground down a bit more so they no longer cut into my feet when worn with the narrow shoes as well as with winter boots.
And the technician or whatever she is was the reverse of the pissed-off clerk who so ungraciously condescended to sell me shoes last year. Said she'd do what she could for the orthotics, but explained that they wouldn't go as flat as I wanted and must be worn with insoles. I brought out the offending shoes and demonstrated that there was no room in the shoe for insoles and orthotics and my feet all at once. 'These are way too narrow,' she said. 'Why would anyone sell you a shoe that fits so badly?" I tactfully said nothing.
She went off to work on the orthotics and I looked about the room she'd brought me to. Which had a shelf of shoes, different models from the ones displayed out front, and a new-to-me brand. 'What about these Blah-blahs?' I asked when she came back. 'They look wider than the New Balance ones.' She brought out a pair and we tried them with the orthotics, and she shook her head. 'You need the next size up and I don't have any.' She brought another pair, velcro with soft sides. Lovely comfy fit but-- 'Are they waterproof?' Sadly, no- the nylon uppers leak, but naturally. 'Wait a minute- let's try these.' She disappeared into a storage area and came back with large black shoes like boats, with the NB logo on the side.
'That's the old model! Before they redesigned it!' 'They didn't. See, it's a different model number from the ones you have. It's our most popular style-- everyone wears them. Nurses, teachers, sales clerks...' I put the full-length orthotics in, put the shoes on, and ohhh-- 'Hello old friend.' Am almost too happy to curse last year's sales clerk whose inability to recognize the store's most popular model has to date cost me well over $500. I have new shoes! That fit! And that can be dubbined into semi-waterproofness, as I well remember from 2012.
And the technician or whatever she is was the reverse of the pissed-off clerk who so ungraciously condescended to sell me shoes last year. Said she'd do what she could for the orthotics, but explained that they wouldn't go as flat as I wanted and must be worn with insoles. I brought out the offending shoes and demonstrated that there was no room in the shoe for insoles and orthotics and my feet all at once. 'These are way too narrow,' she said. 'Why would anyone sell you a shoe that fits so badly?" I tactfully said nothing.
She went off to work on the orthotics and I looked about the room she'd brought me to. Which had a shelf of shoes, different models from the ones displayed out front, and a new-to-me brand. 'What about these Blah-blahs?' I asked when she came back. 'They look wider than the New Balance ones.' She brought out a pair and we tried them with the orthotics, and she shook her head. 'You need the next size up and I don't have any.' She brought another pair, velcro with soft sides. Lovely comfy fit but-- 'Are they waterproof?' Sadly, no- the nylon uppers leak, but naturally. 'Wait a minute- let's try these.' She disappeared into a storage area and came back with large black shoes like boats, with the NB logo on the side.
'That's the old model! Before they redesigned it!' 'They didn't. See, it's a different model number from the ones you have. It's our most popular style-- everyone wears them. Nurses, teachers, sales clerks...' I put the full-length orthotics in, put the shoes on, and ohhh-- 'Hello old friend.' Am almost too happy to curse last year's sales clerk whose inability to recognize the store's most popular model has to date cost me well over $500. I have new shoes! That fit! And that can be dubbined into semi-waterproofness, as I well remember from 2012.
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Yay!
The vagaries of shopping for shoes when you have unusual shapes/sizes of feet are among the most tedious of the banes of my existence. And there is no rhyme or reason to it. I can comfortably fit the normal width of some shoes (mostly made overseas), but can't wear extra-wides in others.
I *have* recently had the situation in which going up one size lets me wear some styles of shoes that wouldn't fit in my "real" size.
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