Last night I was working and this big black woman was in there with what was probably her young son. He needed shoes and had wide feet, so I was trying to help this woman find some wide width shoes. There weren't very many available right then but I found one that happened to have some stretchy bands instead of laces and gave it to the lady so that her son could try it on.
It was this shoe, with the bungee closure instead of laces:
http://www.zappos.com/new-balance-kids-kv631bs-toddler-youth-blackYou can probably see the feature better on this one:
http://www.onlineshoes.com/girls-new-balance-kv790gp-bungee-grey-pink-p_id111244The shoe might have been a little bit too small, I was actually looking for a larger size when I heard her start chimping out.
"Who designed this shoe?" she eeked. I told her New Balance designed it and someone at Corporate decided to buy it to sell. In talking to her, I got the distinct impression that she actually thought the shoes were designed at store level. She said she wanted to speak to
"Mr. Corporate"!She kept saying "You can't even unlace it! How a Chile supposa get dere foot in dat shoe!"
I would have tried to show her how to stretch the shoe open, but she was too busy with her chimpout.
"Dere is NO WAY a CHILE can get dere foot in dere! Whoever designed dis shoe needs to be fired!"
I asked her if she wanted me to put it back and she said "Naw! Imma gonna go up to the front an' give dem a piece of my mind!"
Not that she had much to spare.
Anyway, her poor son looked really embarassed about the whole thing and just kept silent.
I laughed a little when she had left and this black guy needed me to help him and he said "Don't worry I won't act like that". I told him I didn't expect ANYONE to act like that! I can't say I'm surprised, though.