Late last year, en route to Winnipeg, Manitoba on a work trip, I finally did a thing I've always…read morewanted to do: I got my boots shined.
No, that's no euphemism... though it really does sound like one, doesn't it? (Heck, it actually sounds like a really, really good euphemism. Someone get on that!)
Fall/winter/spring in Wisconsin is hard on footwear; if you're a lady, you're either one of two types:
1.) The type that goes for it regardless. Heels in snow on NYE? You got this.
2.) The type that goes for ergonomics and safety regardless. Heels in snow on NYE? Batshit.
I fall into category numero dos; I can appreciate and do occasionally don cute footwear, but in summertime/early fall/late spring exclusively. It's incredible how things change seasonally here. I have to wonder why I'm still in Brew City sometimes, especially given this past winter. Seriously. The worst.
Okay, so though I fall into category numero segundo, I know what's up. A stylish pair of black leather boots can go a long way for a work hard-play hard Milwaukee gal who's at least halfway cognizant of the "style" discourse. So I had this great pair for a long time - may their soles now RIP - that served me well for almost four years. But towards the end, they got a little scuzzed up, for lack of a better term. I took care of 'em as best I could, but as Boyz II Men so eloquently and beautifully once harmonized, "... we'd come/to the end/of the road."
In a last ditch effort to look put-together (and like I gave two shits about my soles), I stopped by Royal Shine II on my way out of General Mitchell, and all I can say is YES.
Legit shine. Legit polish. Legit dude workin'. Legit, legit, too much so to quit. (Clearly, because this noise is old school.)
Was it a little weird? Maybe. I always see middle-aged dude suits in these chairs, it matters not where I go. Hotlanta airport? Same dudes in those chairs as at O'Hare, as at Denver, etc. Business men with very important business-y type things to do. Guess what? I have important things to do, too. I too am busy. I too, am literally going places, and up the ante with the fact that I hail from a part of the world in which road salt and winter muck flows like whatever flows at Capistrano. I'm a lady and I needed my boots shined.
The gentleman (whose name now escapes me) working did a fab job... truly bang up. Those old soles looked as new and clean and matte-shiny as they could've for their age after the shine was all said and done. And while conversation was sort of, oh... I don't know, maybe a touch borderline uncomfortable ("Tell me more about how you and your wife sleep in separate rooms," and "Tell me I'm pretty just one more time," and "It's none of your damn business if I have a husband or not," etc.) I'm a grown woman and I can deal. I know how to navigate gender politics at this point, generally speaking.
I should maybe knock 'em down a star for professionality's sake, but I'm not going to. Royal Shine II guy meant well and was very sweet; he also was obviously from another generation... I'm not going to hate. The shine, all told, I think was nine bucks? I tipped him lots and ran on my merry way, finding that I almost missed my flight as a result.
Moral of the story: Keep your shoe game tight & don't miss your flight. Royal Shine II is where it's at.
