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Mrs jb has had some winter ankle boots for about 10 years now.

They look as good as new (pat on the back for jb the Shoe Cleaner..), but the rubber sole’s getting a bit crumbly, so a new pair’s on the immediate horizon.

And given that the summer fashion turned up while we still had snow on the ground this year and the winter models have been around for a couple of weeks already (and we didn’t have a day below 30ºC last week…), the immediate horizon was last Saturday.


French brand, only a couple of stores around here stock them, they’re HORRENDOUSLY expensive, but at €30 a year over 10 years, that’s less than 10c a day.

Finkschuhe is one of the major shoe retail chains around here, they stock the brand, doors are open, we walk in.

“We don’t open until 10”

Not “I’m sorry, we aren’t open yet, would you mind coming back in “x” minutes?”

Effectively: “Go away”

“x” was 12 minutes, which is fair enough, so we do some other stuff and we’re back just before 10 and wait outside while the staff set up their pavement displays.

They’ve got this down to a fine art, because they’re finished at 9:59.

They then PULL TWO DISPLAYS ACROSS IN FRONT OF THE OPEN DOORS and retreat inside.

“Forget it” says Mrs jb “Let’s go”. (Which is normally my line, with an expletive thrown in for good measure)

I pop my head inside the door and let them know (which I think is fair enough) that they just lost a €300 sale.

“Well, you could have come inside” says a salesgirl.

By clambering over the barricade. Yeah right.

“Bit difficult” I said “Putting up a barrier sends a pretty clear message to someone you know is waiting to buy something”

And then someone (who’s obviously more senior) chips in (and this I still don’t believe)

Maybe.

I would have thought that – in the middle of a recession – serving customers might be pretty high up on the list of priorities.

Or “things to do”

But – then again – what do I know….?