Author – Jonathan
Ok, guys this is the story of my dream job and how I obtained shoes. When I was a teen, I had this longing to look down when I walked. I got a chance to see what everybody was wearing. Every time I saw a guy wearing Nikes or skate shoes it got me excited. I dreamt about trying on their shoes and seeing what they smelled like. I decided to get a job working at a shoe store when I was 18 and it was like being in heaven. I enjoyed providing service to guys who wanted to try on shoes. Thankfully I worked at an athletic store, so I rarely saw those ugly loafer kinds. After working there for many years, I was finally promoted to management. I thought of ways to experience my interest more, but I was not sure how. Unfortunately, my shoe store closed, and I had to find another place to work. I finally found my new home working for a skate company that starts with the letter Z. This store was underperforming, and I had to come up with ideas to pick up business. Being who I am, I decided to implement a few new ideas. First, I encouraged the green eco friendly idea of Reuse, Recycle, Reward. If anyone came in to donate their shoes for either the needy or for grinding down into mulch material, they would receive 10 percent off their purchase of a new pair of shoes. On weekends, we offered an extra bonus, come in with the shoes on your feet, donate them right there and then and get 20 percent off a new pair of shoes and be placed into our monthly free shoe drawing. This was very popular among teens and young adults both male and female. Thousands of shoes went to the needy and thousands more that were in bad shape went to be destroyed and mulched. The store started making a profit again and the sales staff were having fun with this promotion. I also created another promotion where you had one month to collect as many pairs of shoes for the needy as possible. The last day of the month, we would count all the pairs outside the store in front of a screaming crowd while rocking to some music. It was so awesome. The winner would win concert tickets, a signed skateboard by some of the pros, and a free pair of shoes. Most of the time they would get Vans, or Nikes, but sometimes they received Supras, and DC’s.
Now out of those thousands of shoes. How many did I get to keep. Lol. Well it was about 75 pairs. A hot guy would come in rocking some sweet Osiris, or DCs, or DVS and I worked my sales skills to be able to get them. Another cool thing about my promotions is that half the time people would buy new socks too. I mean who wants to wear brand new shoes with dirty socks on. They would leave those in the old shoes too or just throw them out. A few kept it in their pockets to wash back at home. I was able to grab some well-worn skater socks too. I have skate shoes the have holes in them from boarding, I have some with soles separating and they all have a great smell. My favorite time occurred when this guy was with his friend who was buying new shoes. His friend had small feet and he was wearing Adidas shell toe shoes. But this guy was wearing a pair of Osiris NYCs 83 in a colorway I have never seen before and they looked nicely worn in. It looked like they were my size and I wanted them really badly. I approached them and inquired if they needed any help finding pairs of shoes and about our promotion going on. The Adidas guy jumped at the chance because he knew his shoes were trashed. The Osiris guy said no and that he was not there looking for a new pair. I asked him anyway what size he was, and he said size 13. That is when I told him my truth. I said that I really liked his shoes and would like to purchase them right then and there. He was shocked and a little freaked out and when I saw that I quickly offered money. Forty dollars was way too low for him to consider it, so I raised it to sixty dollars. He asked if him and his friend can talk about it for a minute, so I walked away. After about 3 minutes they came back to me and asked me how much do I really want that pair? I was not sure, so I asked them to state what they wanted. So, they told me that they both wanted a new pair of shoes from my store and new socks too. I thought about it for a moment and I said sure to go ahead and pick out two pairs that they liked. They knew what they wanted and they both went and picked up the most expensive Supras I had in the store. Total it was over 200 dollars for both. I got really excited and agreed with it. It was early in the day and I was the only one up front with no other customers. I told them to put them on there and when they were done to leave the Osiris and enjoy the rest of their day. The phone rang behind me and I answered it. A customer over the phone wanted to know if a pair of shoes was in stock in the back. I went into the back to check and when I came back out the guys were gone. I quickly informed the guest that we had it in stock. When I hung up, I quickly went around the counter and what did I find?
Not only did I find the Osiris waiting there for me, but I also found the Adidas and they both were kind enough to leave me with their dirty socks hanging out of their smelly shoes. I was so happy that I quickly took off my black Vans and lowcut socks and placed the dirty socks from the Osiris on and the Osiris. I went into the back to put my Vans in my bag and took some whiffs of the Adidas. For a size 9 that guy had smelly feet. I placed the Adidas in my bag too. My coworkers later complemented me on my Osiris and so did a few customers. It was a great day and when I got home and took those Osiris off, the smell overpowered my living room. This was not the only story with these guys because they came in multiple times over the following months to trade out their beat-up kicks for new ones. So, I also have their Supras that I gave them originally. These Supras were skated in hard and were totaled.
I continued to be promoted and was eventually transferred to headquarters. That was a sad day for me as I could not longer get worn kicks. But then I realized something, I make more money now so I can just ask guys if I could purchase their shoes in the streets. I have been successful multiple times and I look forward to more adventures…..