I’m Weird #1: Shoe Shopping is NOT Fun

I’m starting a new “series” on my blog called “I’m Weird.”  I got the idea to write a blog post about some of the ways I’m different from most people—at least most Americans.  But the list got so long, and I knew I would always be thinking of more, so I decided to make a series.  So here goes:

I used to hear an ad on Pandora radio that started like this:

On a good day you go shopping
On a really good day you go shoe shopping with your best friend . . .

Really?  That’s a good day???  I hate shopping of all kinds.  It’s something I put off until the last minute.  I hate spending all that money, and often I can’t find what I’m looking for.  So it’s off to another store, and another store . . . until I finally give up and go home or just settle for something close to what I want.

Photo by Alvimann, from morguefile.com

And shoe shopping is the worst.  Who designs women's shoes, anyway? Yeah, high heels are supposed to make your legs more shapely, but in my case the shapely legs would be ruined by the wobbly walk (and probably the broken ankle I’ll get when I fall) and the grimace on my face from wearing the world’s most uncomfortable shoes.  Flats aren’t much better.  They’re always too tight in the ball of my foot and they slip in the back—if they even have a back at all. Why do shoe designers think women want to wear shoes that don’t stay on their feet?

I have a confession to make: I buy men’s shoes most of the time.  They are cheaper, fit better and feel MUCH more comfortable.  But I still don’t like shoe shopping.

And why would I go shopping with my best friend?  Why would I subject her to that torture?  That’s not what friends are for.  Occasionally we might stop in a gift shop or a museum store and prowl around a bit, but it’s always in conjunction with something more fun—like visiting a nearby town to have lunch, tour a museum and generally explore.  We would never go shopping just for the sake of shopping.

On a good day? I don’t go shopping.  I might go out for tea at a local coffeeshop, attend a concert or play, take a long walk with my camera, play board games with good friends, or jam Irish folk music in the basement of the music store.  Anything but shopping.