Delaying Buying New Shoes for Work? Here's the Most Important Reason You Should Wait No Longer

Good luck identifying the new kicks fellas.

Bought some new shoes this weekend.  I'm no scrub, a decent dresser, not flasy, but not homely, but I do have one penny pincher tendency with my wardrobe and that is to squeeze out every possible day from my work shoes.  Doesn't matter that I've been walking around in shoes that make me look like I collect bottles for a living for the past couple of weeks, I just can't be bothered to buy a new pair until the old ones are on life support.

Well the time finally came this past week.  My feet got wet walking in through the rain, that pretty much did it.  The point when the soles are no longer water resistant is usually the key indicator for me telling me it's time to trade them in (appalling, I know). 

So I dutifully made my trip to DSW to pick out another non-descript pair of brown shoes.  Didn't think much about it until just this morning when I took a trip to the men's room.   As I walked past the first couple of stalls I noted the shoes to see if I recognized them as anyone I know around the office, a humiliating practice that I'm sure others have done knowing that I was in the stall, sharing my intimate bowel movements with 5 other guys because public bathroom designers are too cheap to extend the walls from floor to ceiling.  And you're only lying to yourself if you say you don't check out the shoes to try and identify your fellow stall mates. 

It then dawned on me what the best part of buying a new pair of shoes is...you can no longer be identified when dropping a deuce at work.  For a couple of days anyway, I can go to the bathroom with peace of mind, who's going to know its me?  No more meandering down a couple of floors to ensure no one I work with is in the surrounding stalls, no more patiently waiting out the guy taking a piss or washing his hands to I don't have to shamefully walk out of the stall to my audience.  Complete freedom for a couple of days in the office bathroom, that's what new shoes are really all about.  And if I'd thought of that earlier I probably wouldn't have worn my old shoes until they looked like my non-existent dog had attacked them as a snack.