A few years back, I needed a new pair of shoes.  Since the mall had a bunch of shoe stores, I thought that it would be the perfect place to go.  However, when I arrived at the mall, I discovered that there was only one shoe store left; Hanover shoes.   Apparently there was not much money to be made selling shoes so all of the other shoe stores closed.

When I entered the store, the clerk asked me what I was looking for.  I told him that I was looking for a pair of black wing tips.  After measuring my foot, he headed for the back room.  Moments later, he emerged with a pair of black wing tips.

When I tried on the shoes, I noted that the right shoe hurt the top of my right foot.  When I mentioned this to the clerk he responded that they needed to be broken in.  This sounded reasonable to me so I paid for the shoes and left.

I wore those shoes every day for a week and every day the right shoe hurt the top of my right foot.  After a week, I returned to the store for a refund.

When I arrived at the store the clerk told me that the shoes needed to be broken in.  When I told him that I had worn the shoes everyday for a week, he said that a week was not long enough to break in a pair of shoes.  He said that it might take up to a month for shoes to get broken in.  So, I decided to give it a few more weeks and left.

Having worn the shoes every day for a month, they still hurt my foot.  So, I headed for the mall to return the shoes.  And this time, I was not going to accept the “broken in” line.  But, when I got to the mall, the store was gone.   Drat!  Looks like I am going to be stuck with a pair of shoes that hurt my feet.

Well, I wore those shoes every day for a year and every day for a year, they hurt my foot.   Finally, when the lace on one of the shoes broke, I threw them out.  I was not going to invest any more money in a pair of shoe that hurt my foot.