to think that this is really not that hard to understand?

[TandB]

Rant alert!

I have one size 3 foot and one size 6 foot. This obviously means 2 pairs of shoes.

I went into a local shoe shop at lunchtime today and got some cheap work-type shoes - your bog-standard black slip-ons for £6.99 a pair. At the counter the assistant looked at me oddly and said "Do you know these are different sizes?" Now this happens every time and I just take a deep breath and say "yes, I have odd size feet".

At which point she leaned over the counter and peered at my feet.

I then made the mistake of asking if she could throw away the odd shoes in the bin behind the counter.

"Why?"
"Because I can't use them and don't want to carry them around on my lunchbreak."
"But you can make another pair with them."

At this point she lined up the unwanted shoes into a pair and pointed proudly at them.

"But I can't wear them?"
"Why not?"
"Because they are the wrong sizes."

She then looked very puzzled and said "But they are the same as the other ones".

I then explained slowly and carefully that no, they weren't the same as one had a left foot size 3 and the other had a right foot size 3.

So she moved them all around a bit more and then said "Well someone else could wear them".

By this time two other members of staff and a couple of customers were starting to snigger so I said I would just take them all and throw the unwanted ones away myself.

"No, no, you can throw them away here. But why can't someone else use them?
"Um, because I don't know anyone with the opposite size feet to mine."

At this point she came up with the best suggestion ever.

"Well can't you just wear them on the wrong feet?"

I don't think I have ever stared at someone with my mouth open for so long.

Seriously. This happens every bloody time I buy shoes. That is the first time I have had the wrong feet suggestion, but the rest is pretty standard.

Is it that weird? Really?

She just sounds a bit thick. I bet the sniggering customers and staff thought so too.

But it is every time. Everyone who works in a shoe shop can't be stupid, surely?

I can't believe that someone serving customers could be that rude! That's outrageous. Most people have different sized feet, surely they must come across it regularly in a shoe shop? Perhaps you could set up your own business matching odd pairs of shoes to other people in your situation

That is incredibly thick of her! Do you really get comments like that all the time? I cant believe there can be so many people that stupid!

I cant think of any off the top of my head, but if I were you I'd be very tempted to think up some witty responses to keep up your sleeve for the next time you get a similar comment!

Sorry - I feel your pain but the magically making two pairs by wearing them on teh wrong feet did make me snigger

I don't think she was meaning to be rude - she genuinely didn't seem to get it!

Clarks tried to do the feet match-up thing years ago but it didn't work. Suppose it might do better these days with the internet, but what would happen if you were a teenage girl and your "opposite number" was a hairy trucker? Or you were a young businessman and your opposite was a middle-aged lady who liked to wear pink spangles?!

I'd have been tempted to get the other shoes and whack her round the face with em.....might have sunk in a bit quicker Good god, hope you dont have that every time you buy some shoes, could get very tiresome!

Oooh, you do get it every time!! Shit!

The only place I have found shoe-shopping a pleasant experience was in a department store in the US where they have a policy to sell the odd shoes at the price of one pair.

I was like a kid in a candy shop. DP finished up going off for lunch on his own while I shouted "those ones! Get me those ones in Aquamarine!" and similar slightly hysterical things.

I'm sure the sniggerers were laughing at the shop assistant's mindboggling stupidity and not your mismatched feet, if that helps.

I have to confess to thinking you could take both pairs and wear them but in my defence I am poorly.

I'm sorry I actually snorted reading that

What a stupid woman. She will wake up at 3am, realise what she was suggesting and go crimson, I would lay money on it!

Good grief! Quite quite worrying!

Have you tried here? Maybe there is someone out there with the same taste in shoes and mismatched that are the opposite of yours. Or maybe there's an amputee support group near you that has members who could use your unneeded shoes. It does seem a waste to just throw them away or let the shop keep them while charging you for two pairs.

Ooh. And I've found this website where you can design your own shoes and they'll make them for you - presumably they'll be willing to make them in different sizes. I'll stop bothering you with suggestions now, for some reason it's just made me a bit sad thinking that you've probably not been having the shoes you want because you can only afford one pair of them :(

clarks used to sell the second pair half price, this was quite a long time ago, not sure if they still do it.

You should set up a web site, a dating agency to match shoes with different sized feet? 'Match-shoes.com'?

or 'plenty of shoes.com'

I think there must be a by-law that says each shoe shop has to employ at least one really stupid assitant. As demonstrated by the incomparable

Oh i totally understand, frustrating to say the least!!
I have left size 3 and right size 6 you don't happen to be the opposite do you? and like heels?

Jesus christ on a bike... you really do have to wonder about some people!!

I think you should donate the others to an amputee society or ebay them - there must be other women out there with one leg would would appreciate getting their shoes cheaper....

Next time I'd just say yes, the other size is for my daughter/friend/mother.... whatever.... do not go there explaining why.

I like the idea of giving them to an amputee support group, too.

I'd have never have though of that.