My first insoles!

OK, I know it's a fairly easy thing to do. But I'm a noob, so I was thrilled.

So this guy brings in his daughter's shoes. The dog ate the insoles AND some of the blue padding.

So I made a pattern with tape, then paper.

And after I cut out the leather, I trimmed the pattern and then cut some padding out.

(The little T is there so I know what side is the top so I didn't get left and right mixed up.)

Then, I had to scythe the front edges so it laid flat at the ball of the foot. Instead of a knife, I used the grinder... which still terrifies me a bit. I have visions of grinding my knuckles down to the bone. After that, I could start glueing. First the blue bits:

And then the leather:

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A little spot remover on where my glue-covered thumb got in the way ....And that's it!

I know. It's no major feat in the grand scale of things. BUT, it was a first for me and I did it from start to finish, except for that one part where I had to go help a customer and Dan snuck in and cut the patterns out.

Seriously, he can't help himself. If he's walking through the shop and sees something that needs to be done, he just does it. So he's constantly walking around in this giant loop (the shop is really 2 shops combined with a wall between the two areas and open space at either end) all day and just picks up and does whatever distracts him. So if he's working on full soles near the grinder and he sets them up to glue, he'll walk over to the stitcher. He'll get up to stretch his legs and walk back to the computer and put in an order. His whole day goes like that. And there are jobs everywhere; some half finished, some about to be finished, piles of shoes here, luggage there. I wish I could do more than I do but I guess just managing the customers for him is a big deal. Yesterday, a few people came in and hemmed and hawed over whatever estimate was and then decided against having it done and left. It was like three in a row of that and after they left, Dan was all red faced and I said, "if I weren't here, those folks would've gotten yelled at, huh?" and he said, "Yup!" So, I "saved" three lives yesterday too!

It's funny how folks don't think anything of taking up someone's time. Like, if they have a question, they start with, "I have a question" which is like, yeah, duh. Then, they kind of go on and on about what they think needs to happen, and then, when they find out how much it would cost to fix, almost HALF of them will say, "That's more than I paid for thing to begin with!" Which, yeah, I get it. I too balked at the $20 full sole job he did on a pair of $15 sandals, BUT the soles are great, the sandals will last longer and replacing them would've been a bear. Don't walk in to a shoe repair shop with a cheap pair of shoes and expect them to be resurrected for a lot less than you paid for them. Usually, whatever made them cheap in the first place makes fixing them right expensive in comparison.

Also, I've noticed, most of the folks who come in are older OR foreign. Younger Americans don't typically think of fixing stuff. I don't know if they're just buying cheap crap and replacing it with other cheap crap or they have good stuff sitting all busted up in their closet collecting dust because they just don't know it can be fixed but they DO know it's too expensive to throw away, but they have no idea who would do such a thing.

There's probably a very good reason there's a dearth of shoe repair shops left in the American universe that has more to do with a lack of imagination than with the fact people are just buying cheaply replaceable shit.

And as for Dan, he's CONSTANTLY working, CONSTANTLY moving around, and he's done that his ENTIRE life. And I think he sort of likes what he does, but he's getting frustrated and not being able to get ahead. On one hand, the cost of doing business is outrageous to begin with: taxes, insurance, utilities, and the price of materials is going up like crazy. Especially the stuff made with rubber. But trying to pass on any of those costs to the customer, especially in such a small town, is tricky, resulting in even more people balking at what it costs to get their stuff fixed. The only way he's going to win this game is by attrition. If he's the ONLY guy left repairing shit for 150 miles, THEN he can hold folks hostage and charge them what the jobs are actually worth since nobody else will be able to do them. But will that happen before he collapses from work exhaustion? Who knows?

Being a trade/craftsman is hard work and not held in very high esteem. Along with teachers, garbage men and any other necessary job society needs to have done to function, folks in the trades are usually underpaid and overworked. It's a shame that in our capitalist society, those who contribute the most to the community are the ones struggling the most within it. But you know, at least our politicians and athletes and celebrities are well-paid. Because, you know, they're SO important when your shoe has a hole in it or your window pane is cracked and leaking heated air in the winter or your kid needs to learn to read.....