Sunday, November 20, 2005

A Coupla Four-Letter "S"-words

I've always heard that only boring people get bored--I'm not sure I've ever believed it, but, just in case, I'm always out there making my own entertainment.

For the past month or so, I've been conducting an informal sociological experiment involving my first four-letter "S"-word: shoes. Granted, shoes is actually five letters, but its root is four so give me a little leeway. (Notice I didn't say "allow me poetic license." That's because I don't want to get anyone's hopes up regarding the literary merit of this post.)

As I've mentioned, I hate, hate, hate shoes. One of the few perks of my job is that I'm allowed to wear pretty much any kind of shoes I want--in fact, as long as I have shoes on when I wait on customers, I'm even allowed to go barefoot in the backroom. In the interest of convenience, I've been wearing flip-flops all summer--slip on, kick off, they're a thing of beauty. (Or as a much a thing of beauty as you could expect something made of recycled tires to be.) As the leaves started to change and the temperature to drop, I hated to give up the foot freedom of the summer so I continued with the flip-flops even as my wardrobe went from short sleeves to sweaters and then even my coat.

After the first three people--friends, acquaintances, total strangers--looked at me like I might be criminally insane and said, "Aren't your feet cold?" I decided to push the issue and keep track of how many people just couldn't resist commenting (out loud!) on my footwear choices. For the last week or so, I've been wearing my heavy winter coat and even sometimes putting up my hood against the chill and still my little piggies have been poking out of my flip-flops for all the world to see.

In addition to tabulating the responses of total strangers, I've been reveling in the fact that Cranky Boss Lady can barely stand that I'm still wearing flip-flops. She says to me every other day, "Isn't it time for the real shoes yet?" She can barely stand it--and she knows she can't suddenly pull rank on me after letting me wear them all summer. There's no compelling, boss-like reason for her to suddenly be concerned and really the only reason it's bothering her is because she wants to be the boss of me and not just my boss. I was thinking it was a very passive-aggressive thing I was doing, continuing to wear these drugstore flip-flops, then it hit me that since I'm actually doing something--wearing the shoes--it's really aggressive-aggressive. Still, I'm pretty okay with that.

But Thursday night, my resolve was put to the test by the other four-letter "S"-word for today: SNOW. When I peeked out the window and saw the white stuff--just a dusting, but still, I knew I would have to cave and drag out my sneakers, I was disappointed that my fun had ended so soon. I was really looking forward to the fuzzy Santa hat* I wear at work every year topped off (or bottomed off?) by a pair of black, recycled-tire flip-flops with my ice-blue toes sticking out!

*Lest you think I'm a whole other sort of dork than I actually am, my fuzzy Santa hat is royal purple plush with a leopard-print cuff and a fuzzy white pom-pom.

6 comments:

  1. I think I've found my blog soulmate! Seriously, I own a TON of shoes, but the only thing I wear are flipflops! Even when I was in college (in the Wasatch mountains)...I'd wear flipflops in the snow.

    c'mon, don't give in quite yet! Unless your feet will sink into two feet of snow, you can dig the flipflops! ; )

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  2. You're not the only one. I'm from Boston, where it's cold already. I'm still wearing my sandals too. Yeah, I get the looks, but no comments. I've had these sandals for 4 years and I love them so much I hate just confining their use to 3 summer months.

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  3. I am a mix of both, I love a good pair of shoes but really and truly live to be barefooted. I can recall being at home over Christmas break when I was a kid and going outside to check the mail without shoes on because I refused to wear them. The first thing and the very first thing I do when I get home is take my shoes off. I am constantly asking, "have you seen my shoes?" I know it drives my husband mad.

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  4. That's hilarious! You should wear good snow shoes to work and then change into your flip flops. That would really drive her CRAZY! :)

    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

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  5. An update in the flip-flop wars:

    Last week I had a non-weather related setback in the flip-flop wars. I was rushing in the back door at work and caught the tip of my flip-flop on the deck stairs. I was flung (there is no other word that even comes close) across the deck, bashing my head off the door knob and scraping my knees. It was a lovely sight. Boss Lady says, "Oh, it's time for real shoes! Those flip-flops aren't SAFE!" I argued that since I had been wearing them all summer without incident, they clearly were safe and that it was the HURRYIING that was at fault for my fall. Therefore, I will be moving slower than a slug no matter what footwear I'm wearing. In the interest of safety.

    The weather, however, has been uncooperative. Temps in the teens and lower with snow measured in feet. I caved for a few days, but last night: a warming trend! We're supposed to see 60 today. If this keeps up, I'll be in flip-flops for Christmas!

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  6. See? Hurrying really IS unsafe--how else do you explain my putting (and leaving) two I's in hurrying?

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