I loathe thinking about my time selling shoes at Sears. Wind me up, and I'll horrify you for hours on end about the terrible shit that has happened to me or that I have seen in that godforsaken place. But there are a few good stories and interesting things that have happened there. Not many! But a few.
I worked in shoes in general, but I was usually put to work in men's shoes. That ranged from dress shoes to work boots. Sneakers fell under a different category. (And, on a side note, I always thought it was fucking weird that we didn't sell Nikes.)
There was one day I was across the aisle in sports shoes. I'd already straightened out men's shoes and was waiting for just one person to come along and fuck up an entire row of shoes, which is what usually happened. This big guy came along, dressed like he'd just come off a jobsite, and said he was looking for work boots. Those were on the far end of men's shoes before you head into another department. I led him over there and helped him pick out what he needed. He went with Die Hards. And like I said, he was a big guy, so his shoe size was pretty big, too.
He looked familiar. I tried to place him, but I couldn't do it. Until he said the next thing.
"I'm also looking for some fashionable women's shoes," he said. "The biggest size you have."
Aha! He used to come into one of my previous jobs! Except he's trans, and I'd only ever thought of him as a her because that's the way she presented at the other place. I caught on quickly and brought him across the department because that's where the women's dress shoes were, at the very end before you went into another department. I didn't think we'd have shoes big enough, but it turns out we did.
I remember thinking at the time how odd it must be, to live your life as a construction worker by day and then go to drag shows at night (because I also saw her at Rocky Horror when I covered that with my Primitive Underbelly partner years before for the Leader). It must have taken courage to ask me for help.
It is my hope that more people become accepting of those who are trans or non-binary. Everyone deserves the same rights that I have, and it angers me when that isn't the case. I saw a meme a while back, and I wish I could find it, but it said something along the lines of, "The trans agenda is not to get killed." It's funny until you think about it a little bit, and then it's pretty horrifying.
No one is asking you to understand it. I don't think anyone could unless one is in that kind of situation. I don't understand it. But it's not mine to understand. It's mine to accept and to be welcoming and inclusive.
All right, all right. My misanthropy will surely recommence next week. Because have you seen the number of this column?
We're close.
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