January 18, 2009

So today after work I stopped by the Payless on the way home from work (not the way I normally go, but a way I can go) to try on the 8 of the shoe we put on hold yesterday.

Sitting down they were fine, but when I stood up, my feet were pinched.  And the straps left red lines on my feet!

I knew going in that this store didn't have any 8 1/2s and I knew I should have only sought out a store that had both an 8 and an 8 1/2, but I didn't, so I asked if an 8 1/2 could be put on hold for me at the store by the Aurora Town Center.

I was too tired from my overnight shift to go right then, so I got up at 3:15 and ventured out with Mom in tow.

The shoe they pulled was an 8 1/2 WIDE, which was disappointing until I went looking through the shelves and found a regular 8 1/2.  This time the right foot (the smaller, size 8 foot) was perfect, but as soon as I started walking, the big toe on my left, bigger (size 9 foot) was rubbing against the shoe.  I wanted to buy the shoes... but I just couldn't bring myself to do so knowing my feet were going to hurt.  Even if they were $4 plus tax.  I looked for a size 9 but they didn't have one.  They did have a 9 1/2 but those shoes were too big for both feet (the left foot was sliding, which didn't really make sense since that's the bigger foot, but whatever.  I knew that there was a 9 at the first store at I-25 and Arapahoe so I decided to ask the guy if they could call over there.  Turns out that store is not in this particular realm of stores that the Aurora Town Center location has in its database.  Mom convinced me to just go ahead and buy them because they *COULD* have worked and we could always exchange them at the I-25 and Arapahoe location.

Shortly after leaving, I realized that in the midst of asking if we had small coins we could offer and us digging around in our respective wallets, he never gave us our receipt.  This meant we'd have to explain that we really had just purchased the shoes and that we wanted to exchange them.

When we got to the I-25 and Arapahoe location, we found the 9.  This was by far the best of them all... so I thought.  I decided to try on the 8 1/2s that we had brought with us -- just to be sure -- and when I pulled them out, they had the security tag still on them!  Given the fact we didn't have a receipt, now it REALLY looked like we had stolen them.  Thinking I spotted a mother-daughter that had been in the other store, I asked them to verify our whereabouts but they were not the same people.  The hole I was digging for myself was just getting deeper and deeper.  At least I had my initial slip showing that shoes were being put on hold for me at the other store.  And the clerk did believe us, but that wasn't the last of our problems.  This store didn't HAVE security tags ... and she couldn't take it off!

So after we bought the 9s we had to go BACK to the Aurora Town Center location.  As soon as we got in the door, the clerk said, "You forgot your receipt but I was hoping that you would have called."  We then had to explain that that was the least of our worries at this point.  He apologized profusely, offering us a discount for a future purchase... at that store.  I explained how I was moving to Boston in two weeks so that wasn't going to work, but thanked him anyway.

Surely this is what play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson meant when he said, "Mile High Drama in the Mile High City!" 

But at least I have my shoes!
I think we figured it took about 10 hours in five days of shoe shopping to finally find success, whereas the dress was the first one I saw in the store and the first one I tried on. So now I think I have some understanding/sympathy? at those brides that keep searching.. and searching.. and searching for something that's going to knock them off their feet... or out of their shoes... whatever the case may be.  --POSTED BY COLLEEN