Shoe Trauma!

rad

Picture this, if you will. I am walking through Downtown Crossing - a large shopping area in Boston. Its a beautiful day and the handsome business men are out in droves, several of them in line outside a popular new take out place. I walk by, trying to look cool and sophisticated. I feel a tug and then, I am barefoot, one shoe is gone! I look back and my shoe is stuck, by the heel, in the space in the sidewalk! I hop back to my shoe and slide my foot back in but it is STUCK! x:'(

So, I try to very daintily kneel to pull the shoe out but its not budging. I have no choice, I need the leverage - I bend over, giving eveyone a very unatttractive view of my bottom (thank god I'm wearing pants today), and with both hands, yank my shoe out of the sidewalk. My heel made it through unscathed, I can not say the same for my ego. x:-8

Whatever

Glad to hear the heel made it. Of course, it means you lost the excuse to buy two new pairs of shoes.

safety

Whatever, you have just cleared the air, one destroyed pair of shoes is replaced with two pair of shoes.

Parabeagle

Just goes to show you, rad... sensible shoes are the only way to go. Besides, flats would probably look better with the tweedy, conservative Bostonian look I envision of all Boston residents. x;-)

rad

If you ever saw me you'd know why I am laughing so hard right now. I would look so ridiculous in tweed! Unless it was a beautifully cut Chanel suit. Then I'd look great.

Don D

With all the 'handsome business men' about, I seriously cannot imagine that a lady would not ask a gentleman, "Would you kindly retrieve my shoe for me?" Maybe it's a Southern thing. Down here five of them would have rushed to your aid.

rad

You know Don, you are right. They all just stood there like jacka**es while I hopped back to my shoe. Perhaps that should be the test for finding a good man - lose a shoe and see who retrieves it. I'll have dirty feet but I could find a great guy!

HRinNH

Alas, Don, we Northern women are very independent. Those nice looking men standing about probably would have thought her weak for asking. ...Sigh...

ScorpioHR

I feel your pain. Been there, done that! I worked for years in Manhattan. They had those "sewer grates" (you could look down and see the trains) you could step back and watch the women walking down the street, every once in a while one would take a little "hop" and veer left or right. You knew what they were doing, trying to avoid a heel caught in those grates. Heels rule, does not matter if once in a while they almost break our legs, they still rule!

deniseE

HRinNH....I have to agree...NorthEast ladies would have not likely considered asking for help...and the gentleman standing around would have been surprised by any such request.

We're just raised to do it on our own...chivelry isn't dead...it just goes both ways...I think women are just as likely to hold the door for a men...

I've traveled in the south a good bit...and while I appreciate the held doors and such, I'm unaccustomed to it and it makes me uncomfortable!!!

I feel like a 3-year old "I CAN DO IT MYSELF!"xx(

rad

I was born and bred in Boston and I have to say, I like being treated like a lady, whether that means having a door held open for me or being offered a seat. I have no problem opening a door for a man, if I'm there first, why not? Its just polite.

I was walking home one day and saw a woman with a baby in one of those front pack things struggling to tie her shoe. I bent down and tied it for her. I thought that was just a nice thing to do and I'd hope someone would do the same for me instead of watching me struggle.

I told my uncle the shoe story and shared Don's comment that a southern man would have helped me. He brought up a good point that many men around here are reluctant to assist a lady because they are afraid of being berated for it. I know that is a true concern but thats not my style.

Parabeagle

I don't really think chivalry is dead. Why, just the other day I was at the top of the steps in the train station and noticed a woman with a stroller at the bottom of the stairs struggling to get her luggage and her baby and the stroller up the stairs, one step at a time. Naturally, I went down to assist her and that's when the shooting started....

Oh, wait! That wasn't me. That was Kevin Costner... x:-8

HRinNH

>I was born and bred in Boston and I have to say, I like being treated like a lady, whether that means having a door held open for me or being offered a seat. I have no problem opening a door for a man, if I'm there first, why not? Its just polite.>

Amen to that! The Golden Rule in practice!

Don D

I will always take the risk! Not long ago I was walking through the parking lot toward the grocery store. A woman who appeared to be in perfectly good health was pushing a buggy full of stuff up to her trunk and popped the lid. She was probably in her mid 70s. I walked over and said, "Here, let me load these for you." And I simply started helping. She looked like she was grateful, but perhaps slightly scared. Then I said, "I would want somebody to help my momma load this many groceries." Then it was OK. I had redered myself harmless by comparing her to my mother. I reckon in another part of the country she might have screamed and taken off her heel and popped me with it.

It has nothing to do with who can or cannot do for themselves. I hate it when women feel like they have to demand that they be ignored to be 'equal'. Where I come from, men don't ignore women. Well, most of them don't.

HRinNH

>It has nothing to do with who can or cannot do
>for themselves. I hate it when women feel like
>they have to demand that they be ignored to be
>'equal'. Where I come from, men don't ignore
>women. Well, most of them don't.

It's not that the Northern women DON'T like to be treated with chivalry, I believe that a large percent do. I think the problem lies in the men. It's probably due to them not taking Chivalry 101 at home and in school. I know that my parents didn't "train" my brothers to open doors or pull out chairs for girls. My husband is from the South (South America) and they train them well in respect and chivalry. We didn't have sons to pass it on to but the young men who come to the house to see our daughters are expected to know it. /:)

rad

My brother was not trained either, I guess my mother did not feel it is important. I think it is important and if I ever have a son, I will make sure he understands the value of a woman and my daughters will know that they can be independant and treated like a queen at the same time.

Some folks confuse women wanting equal rights with us wanting to be treated like men. Wrong answer.

System

I raised my daughters to be 'independent' but to accept nothing less than being treated like a lady. My son knows 'proper etiquette' - with me and his three sisters, he better know it or get busted upside the head.

HRinNH

Hey, Sam, any of your sons not married?

Don D

My son is 24, college graduate, has a good job, lives alone, not married, 6'4", 215, not an ounce of fat, great sense of humor (you wonder?), respects his momma and sister, fishes, works out, no tattoos, no credit cards, cash only, saves his money, changes his own spark plugs and grills a mean ribeye. And before you ask, yes, I was present at conception. x:-)

HRinNH

Sounds like a hot prospect!! Test will be if he can find his way to Epsom, NH and last the whole winter working outside with my husband x:D I won't subject him to the usual arm wrestling match though.

rad

Don, you've just described the perfect man! ;;) Why can't he be ten years older and live in Boston x:D !