George lost his temper and threw himself to the floor. He rolled on his back and clawed at his shoes. He cried out, “My God, why won’t these shoes come off my feet?” He lay on the floor covered with perspiration and couldn’t believe his plight. For a moment he thought this was all a bad dream. He tried to calm himself while thinking that there must be a solution to his problem. Remembering that he still had the receipt from the shoe store, George decided it was best to take the shoes back, perhaps they could help him with these faulty shoes. He got up from the floor, dusted off his suit, and carefully buffed away the few scuff marks that he, in his struggle, had so carelessly put on his shoes.
“Good sir,” said George to the shoe clerk, “I bought these shoes just yesterday, but I have a problem with them.”
“Those are certainly a nice pair of shoes, but we do have a policy on no refunds or exchanges,” said the shoe clerk.
“I ask not for a refund or an exchange, I only ask that you help me get these shoes off of my feet! The pain is quite exquisite sir.”
“Certainly your shoes come off, why everyone’s shoes come off.”
“Believe me when I tell you that they won’t even budge, you don’t know how hard I tried.”
The clerk called the manager over and together the two of them tried to get the shoes off of George’s feet. They sat him in a chair and pulled as hard as they could, but no matter how hard they tried, the shoes stayed put. Even a few customers joined in the effort of taking a crack at removing his shoes, but after an hour of honest effort, the shiny wingtips remained on George’s feet. The manager was perplexed and told George that shoehorns were invented to help people get into shoes, but he had no knowledge of a tool that helped people remove their shoes.
As the manager sent George on his way, he called out, “But those are a nice pair of shoes, you’re lucky you got those on your feet rather than a pair of work boots!”
And the clerk added, “Try the podiatrist down the street, perhaps he can help you.”