Friday, May 14, 2010

I Stand Corrected

I admit it.
I was wrong.
I thought Kyle was our resident fashionista, but I now have first hand experience that Reed loves him some shoes.
Before we get to Reed's shoe loving (and when I say 'shoe loving' I mean complete and total meltdown over a pair of shoes) let me tell a quick story about how not to be a saleswoman.
I was in the kids section of Famous Footwear and the saleswoman (who had introduced herself and every other employee in the store when I walked in) comes back and says something like: You have your hands full. (On a side note, this is said to me at least once every time I appear in public.)
Me: Oh yes.
At this point Reed is running around with a pair of pink tennis shoes he's found.
Crazy Saleswoman to Reed: Those will look nice on you. (I don't think she was kidding.)
Me: Um, I don't think Daddy will likes those too much.
Reed runs off leaving the shoes.
Crazy Saleswoman to Me: Will you pick those up and put them away. My back hurts.
Me: Oh (pause) kay.
(And BTW Crazy Saleswoman, these kids you see that are keeping my hands 'so full' want me to carry them all the time...my back has hurt since they were 6 months old.)
After following my putting away the shoes instructions, I start heading toward the door.
Crazy Saleswoman: So you don't want anything today?
Me (Still kinda put off that I was told to put away shoes. I would have done it without her directions.): No. I don't really want to spend $25 a piece on summer sandals. I wasn't really looking to spend $50 on shoes they can only wear a couple of months. (I actually would pay that for sandals, but not at a "discount" shoe store.)
Crazy Saleswoman: Well, these over here are only $20.
Me: Yeah, I'm not really wanting to spend $40 either.
Crazy Saleswoman following me out of the store: Whatever, it's up to you. They're your kids' feet.
(I had no comment. I know. Shocking.)
So we headed on down the mall and found a great selection of character sandals for the boys to choose from (BTW, they were $3.99 a pair). Reed immediately ran to the Diego pair, pulled off his own shoes, and started trying on. Kyle, diva that he is, had to try on Elmo, Thomas, and Diego before he selected Diego. With The Diva ready to go, I thought we were home free, but Reed started crying. He was not leaving the shoe section without Diego on his feet. I kept telling him we were buying Diego, but he couldn't put them on yet. (They had one of those alarms on them. I guess $3.99 Diego sandals are a hot item on the black market.) I literally couldn't get them on both his feet. He wouldn't go with me, he wouldn't put on his own shoes, he just sat there and wailed, "Diego shoes! Diego shoes!". Finally, I gathered up all the shoes, put barefoot Reed under my arm, and had Kyle tagging along behind me. We got to the front of the store and with tears rolling down his face, Reed was still hysterical about the shoes. (Wailing and gnashing of teeth doesn't even begin to describe it. Even Kyle was looking at him like, Dude, Mom's gettin' us the shoes...it's called shopping.)The lady in front of me was so nice and said, "Go ahead. I have 4 boys, I understand." After profusely thanking her, I plopped them both up at the cash register and have never seen a saleswoman cut alarm tags off faster. I got the shoes on them and we Go, Diego, Go-ed ourselves outta there!

2 comments:

GS said...

Great story! I am still laughing - not funny while happening, but your way of presenting the story has a way of making me feel like I was there. As it all started out, I was afraid his fit was going to be for the pink shoes and I know that would have been a very sad ending for Reed.

Anonymous said...

Oh the fun of shopping with toddlers--two of them! bless your heart.....Lu