Does anyone go to traditional shoe shine guys any longer?
The idea of a shoe shine boy–or man, or whatever–is an offense to my sense of democracy. I’m just not comfortable with watching someone stoop while I sit. Moreover, I don’t know which would be worse: thinking the person giving the shoe shine felt class resentment or thinking he felt comfortable in such an inferior position. By the way, I can already hear people who are pro-shoe shine saying, well, they don’t think anything at all about the person shining their shoes or what that person is feeling when he’s putting on the polish, etc. because it’s not their business or concern. To which I say: well, I suppose it is not your business, and if someone chooses to work as a shoeshine and you want to pay him to shine your shoes, well, who should care about it? But I also think that it is important for people to take care of menial stuff in life themselves (indeed, one thing I like about the forum is all of the advice that is here for effective “do-it-yourself” care of your clothes and shoes
