The Shoe Patrol

Author – Jman

The student union had several study rooms, lounges and a snack bar. It was a comfortable place to study and hang out with friends. Often students would take off their shoes and roam the student union in socked feet. The problem was that when students took off their shoes they would leave them on the floor in walkways where people could trip over them. There had been a few times where students had almost tripped over other students’ shoes. Also it became hard to vacuum the floor with all these shoes lying about on the floor. These concerns were raised to the managers of the student union.

In response to this lockers were placed in the student union where students could leave their shoes and walk around in their socks. A policy was made that shoes must be kept in lockers and not on the floor and that any shoes left unattended would be removed. Despite the warning and the policy shoes were still being left on the floor in areas where people could trip over them. Many of the students did not want to pay the fifty cents to rent a shoe locker.

Unattended shoes were still a big problem and something had to be done. The student union decided to hire two students who would be known as the shoe patrol. There job would be to go throughout the student union with a trash bag and if they found any unattended shoes left on the floor, they were to take the shoes and put them in their trash bags. At the end of their shift the collected shoes were to be taken to the shredder in the basement where the shoes would be shredded and the remains would be recycled.

Joe and Wendy were hired to be the shoe patrol.. Joe and Wendy believed in following rules and believed in zero tolerance for breaking the rules. Joe and Wendy started their rounds.

Meanwhile Jason was in one of the study rooms. Jason had a habit of always taking off his shoes, leaving them in a study room and roaming the student union in his socks. Today was no exception. Jason took of his brown oxford school shoes and set them aside. He got up to take a break and left his shoes unattended. On the way back he stopped in the lounge and began to watch a tv show. He did not think about his shoes being unattended. He had left them in study rooms before and nothing happened.

As Jason went back to the study room, he saw Joe in the distance placing his shoes into the trash bag. Jason tried to get back to the study room to save his shoes but it was too late. The shoes were already in the trash bag. Once the shoes are in the trash bag, they cannot be returned but had to be taken to the shredder. As Jason, in his white socks, came into the study room, Joe said, “Were these your shoes?” ‘Yes,” Jason replied.

Jason accepted the fact that his shoes were gone. Joe continued his rounds.

to be continued…