A tribute I wrote to my beloved grocery store appeared in today’s Chronicle, in its own special section with a touching illustration. I added the photos below for extra flavor.
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Tag: personal essays
Flying Sole-o
Valentine’s Day was hard this year. I lost my solemate. AKA my shoe sole. It disintegrated.
Allow me to step backward in time. Many years ago, I purchased a pair of shoes from a shoe shop. I wore my moccasins on special occasions and when I couldn’t wear my sneakers. My new shoes remained new because I took such good care of them.
Right before Valentine’s Day, there was a downpour. When the sun came out, I couldn’t wear my soaking wet sneakers, so I turned to my beloved moccasins for back up.
I was horrified to see that the sole was falling apart. I showed them to the shoe shop manager. He thought the problem was I hadn’t worn the shoes enough. He said it’s better to wear the shoes all the time, otherwise the soles wear out. I had never heard of such a thing, but I guess the saying is true: time wounds all heels (and soles).
I called the company to get a second opinion. The customer service rep said the problem was not that I hadn’t worn the shoes enough, but there might be a shoe defect. He said I should return the shoe and the company would inspect and investigate.
Today I received the verdict: there was, indeed, a defect.
The company issued a $100 credit good toward a new shoe.
I’m looking forward to meeting my new solemate.
Cents & Centsibility
Find a penny, pick it up. All the day you’ll have good luck. I’ve collected a lot of pennies, which come in handy for buying tidbits, this and that, odds and ends. Consider me pro-penny.
Some people are anti-penny. They find pennies so useless and annoying, they’ve tossed them in the trash.
But over time, they may see the error of their ways.
I applaud small change. It shows people have come to their cent-ses.
