Tuesday, February 21, 2012

TOMS: From One to Another

I have a beautiful pair of olive green TOMS.  I’ve had them for more than a year and they’ve served me well.  Except for the fact that I’ve sewn them up numerous times since my big toe always breaks through in both shoes, creating a gaping hole.  I’ve had numerous people tell me that my shoes have holes in them, and I always nod my head and agree.  Yes, yes they do.  Nice of you to notice.

I think I’ve sewn them up at least 3 times and I’ve placed duct-tape on the inside of the shoe to act as reinforcement.  In the end it didn’t help because my toes broke through again.  I reached a point a few weeks ago when I decided that it was about time to get a new pair. 

Picking a new pair of TOMS is one of the hardest choices in the world of apparel, since they all seem to be so darn cute.  I’m not much of a sucker for shoes, but I do love TOMS and would buy every pair if I had enough money.  I sat down at the computer and browed through shoes for about an hour, then I went back the next day and picked a pair and ordered them. 

They were metallic light blue and cream, and I was extremely excited about getting them and wearing for the first time. 

A couple of days later I went back and checked the reviews on the shoes… during the few days since I had bought my shoes several reviews had begun to appear about the shoes being way too big and not fitting correctly.  One of the reviews was titled too long and skinny.  Great.  My feet are short and wide, the exact opposite.

The shoes arrived right on time and I walked down to the mailroom to pick them up.  I walked back to my room and sat the box down, then proceeded to just look at it.  I knew they would be too big and that they wouldn’t fit correctly.

I opened them anyway.

I was right.  Bummer.  Major bummer.  I’m kinda ticked about this.  I showed a couple of my friends the TOMS and put the new size 8s next to my old size 8s.  There was probably a difference of at least an inch in length.  I didn’t understand how in the world that could have happened.

At first I considered sending them back, but I didn’t want to pay for the shipping.  As I sat there and thought about it I decided my best option would probably be trying to sell them to someone at the school.  I posted to a few different group pages on Facebook, advertising the fact I would be more than willing to sell some brand new TOMS to whoever wanted them and fit in them. 

A few of my friends tried them on, and I met up with a girl from another dorm so that she could give them a try.  I can’t begin to imagine how flustered the prince from Cinderella must have been when he was trying to find Cinderella and allowing hundreds of other girls along the way to try on the glass slipper. 

If I was him I probably would have given up.

Suddenly, I had a major Ah-ha moment, which we had ironically been talking about is Psychology that week.  Something sparked in my brain and I picked up the shoes and marched toward the elevator.  I got off on level two and ran to my friend Kendra’s room.  (She and I went to the same high school together.  We were close friends before SPU, and remain so.) 

When I didn’t find her there I ran to the longue at the end of the hallway and was thrilled to see she was there.  “Kendra!  Do you want some TOMS?!” 

She laughed and asked if these were the ones I was trying to get rid of via Facebook.  I sighed and answered yes.  Then I handed her the shoes and said, “I remembered randomly that your feet are probably long and skinny and I guess I just assumed these might fit you really well.”

They did. 

Then, since we’re great friends, the argument about pricing began.  I insisted that she just take them, but she wanted to pay me.  In the end we decided she could pay me about half, if I let her.  I ended up letting her about a week or so later when she knew for sure that she wanted to keep them and had received several compliments on them. 

They were her first pair of TOMS and I had aided in the process of getting them to her.  I was actually rather proud of that fact.  Ironically, looking back on the pair that I picked, they would have looked way better on her from the very beginning.  The colors on them fit wonderfully with her blond and beautiful self, and I was happy that I had bought them.

Guess they were meant for her all along.

Which I’m quite happy about. 

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