The Pink Shoe Diaries

Nine West is my kind of shoe store.

Why you may ask?

Well, yesterday I was leaving work (and really this whole incident probably would never have happened if I hadn't gotten promoted at work because now my office is on the east wing of the building so I park in the east parking lot. However I ALWAYS forget that I parked there and leave out the front door to go to the front parking lot as usual and so end up walking around the building)

Anyway, the sidewalk surrounding my office building is a bit treacherous and fairly often I find my heel stuck in a crack in the cement or caught between two bricks. So yesterday when my heel got caught for the umpteenth time I pulled my foot up and continues merrily on my tilted way.

Wait, tilted? Why am I tilted?

That's what I felt at first, for the first few seconds, until I turned around and saw that my heel had decided to make that crack in the cement it's final resting place and was STILL THERE.

And yes, these are the gorgeous Nine West black crocodile pumps that I bought less than 3 weeks ago.

It ain't right. It SO ain't right.

And as I hobbled forlornly to my car, broken heel in one hand, sadly heel-less shoe on my foot, I encountered my boss and told her the SADDEST thing just happened.

"Oh my god, what!?" she said, looking alarmed.
"This!" I shouted, waving my heel in the air and pointing to my broken shoe.

She burst out laughing while I tried to explain just how NOT funny it was. "When you said "the saddest thing happened" I thought you were going to say something about a car accident".

"Uh, this is as sad as a car accident to me! I bought these GD shoes 3 weeks ago!!!".

When I got in my car, I was filled with rage. The rage of a woman who pays full price for a shoe only to have it fall apart soon thereafter. Have you known that rage? If not allow me to tell you, it is motivating. So I called up my local Nine West store and told them about my situation. My show was new, my shoe was broken. As such I would be needing a brand new pair of the exact same shoe in my size, free of charge. The woman on the other end of the phone said she would have to talk to her manager. I told her to hold the shoes and I would come in myself and speak to the manager.

So 30 minutes later there I was. After traipsing/limping through half the mall with my no-heeled shoe, I arrived at Nine West and introduced myself, laying the broken heel on the counter.

The sales lady immediately started dying laughing. I modeled the heel less shoe for her and she called her manager out who ALSO started laughing.

"Hey! It's not funny", I said, laughing myself (because really it is kind of funny in a pathetic way). "It is SAD! These shoes are NEW!".

When the manager caught her breath, she told me that anyone who would walk through the parking lot and across the mall with only one heel on her pump deserves a new pair. I heartily agreed. So I handed her the derelict pumps and she handed me a brand spanking new pair.

When she examined my broken shoe, she informed me that it was actually a defective pair, since normally there are three screws holding the heel to the pump and mine only had two.

She also told me that Nine West offers free cobbling on all the shoes you buy in their store. So when the nail starts showing at the bottom of the heel (and I KNOW you know what I mean), you can bring it in to the store and they will re-cap the botom, free of charge.'

So between the new shoes, and free cobbling? I am happy with my Nine West experience.