My Left Foot
Saturday, February 26, 2011 - Posted by -Kel at 5:54 PM
First, let me say HOLY CRAP! My last post has received 82 page views so far! I submitted it to the weekly simple things photo challenge over at simple as that, and Rebecca chose it and 2 others to feature for the simple things roundup! Yay me!
Any way. On with the story.
I work in the business office of a prison. This means that I must pass through a metal detector, and my bags are run through an x-ray machine everyday. What this also means is that I must undress a bit and take as much metal off of my body as possible so that I don't set off the metal detector. Nice in theory, but it just doesn't work that way. My bra sets the stupid thing off every time, and I sure as hell am not coming in without a bra on just so the metal detector doesn't beep at me. No one wants to see that. Trust me.
For the most part, the undressing and setting off the metal detector only to be "wanded" doesn't really bother me. The part that bothers me is having to remove my shoes. Most people don't know this but women's dress shoes, the kind with even just 1 inch of heel, have a metal "shank" running through the sole to help keep the shape of the shoe. OK, fine. So maybe you did know that, but I didn't until I started working at the prison.
Again! Onward! A couple of girls at work have started wearing these black, slip-on tennis shoe like things. They kinda fit snug like wrestling shoes and they go through the metal detector without setting it off. You see where I am going with this, right? The search was on for me to find a pair of these shoes. I hit the jack pot at Payless. I called the one closest to work and asked them to hold a pair in my size, and then I raced over there right after work.
I tried one on and it was just a tad too snug around my toes so I grabbed a wide width and the next 1/2 size up. The wide width felt best so I bought it and went home, excited to get to wear my new "metal detector proof" shoes the next day. So the next morning comes, and I am preparing to leave for work (at 5:15 A.M. mind) and notice that my shoes feel a little funny. And really, it's not that they feel bad, just different. As in, different from each other!!! I sat down and yanked them off to look at the tags inside each shoe. And what do you think I saw???
Yup. The right one (which is the only one I tried on in the store. I know I'm stupid) is an 8W. The left one is an 8. Regular. A normal person would have put them back in the box to exchange after work. Not me. I wore those shoes that I had lusted after for so long. And really it wasn't so bad. The left shoe is only slightly tighter than the right and I don't notice it unless I'm actively thinking about it. So I have come to two conclusions... 1. Always try on both shoes at the store. That or look at the tags in each and make sure they match. 2. My left foot is the only skinny thing on my body at this point. I'm getting there, but that's a story for another day.