Last week New York City got blasted with yet another winter storm, one that dropped about a foot of new snow on a city that has already seen more than it’s normal share of the stuff this season, and who’s capacity and tolerance for dealing with the aftermath or repeated storms was clearly on the edge.
Really busy and crowded city + limited options for snow removal + slightly warmer temperatures the following day = one big mess.
Going to walk through that?
Just walking around the city, especially downtown and on the less-traversed side streets was an adventure in snow piles, slush, and navigating deep, dank, cold puddles on almost every corner. A mess, and a real pain for workers, merchants, and tourists alike.
But in all things, hardship for some means opportunity for others. On Sixth Avenue an enterprising provider of shoe-shining services had set up his stand near one of the many high-rise office buildings and proceeded to exhort passers-by, mainly men, to stop for a few minutes and have their leather dress shoes or boots shined.
The shine guy had a great pitch, as the businessmen passed by he shouted -
‘Look at those shoes! They’re full of salt! Come on over and I’ll fix you up!’
The shoe-shine guy had correctly observed that the vast majority of suited men had shoes that were in dire need of a shine. The snow, road salt, water, and general grime of the city had proceeded to coat most leather shoes with a caked-on, disgusting outer shell or grossness.
But still, in spite of the clear need on the part of many of the pedestrians for the shoe-shine service, in the few minutes I watched, no one took up the shine guy on his offer.
After a few more minutes, and silent rejections of his standard ‘Look at those shoes’ line, the shine guy seemed to get a little frustrated. Why weren’t people taking him up on the offer? They absolutely needed the service, it was convenient, inexpensive, he had no competition (at least on that corner), and he was a pretty engaging and interesting character.
As I turned to walk away, I heard the shine guy give one final pitch to a well-dressed man in leather boots that looked like they had been dragged along a river bank. The shine guy implored the suit:
‘Look at those boots! Come on! You can’t keep ignoring that!’
But the man in the dirty boots carried on down the street, even though he must have known he was making the wrong decision. I guess it can be kind of easy to ignore the obvious, especially when the message comes from an unexpected source.
Eventually the well-dressed man will get the boots cleaned, I mean the shine guy was right, he couldn’t keep ignoring it. It was so apparent. Perhaps he was the only one who couldn’t see it.
Really busy and crowded city + limited options for snow removal + slightly warmer temperatures the following day = one big mess.
Going to walk through that?Just walking around the city, especially downtown and on the less-traversed side streets was an adventure in snow piles, slush, and navigating deep, dank, cold puddles on almost every corner. A mess, and a real pain for workers, merchants, and tourists alike.
But in all things, hardship for some means opportunity for others. On Sixth Avenue an enterprising provider of shoe-shining services had set up his stand near one of the many high-rise office buildings and proceeded to exhort passers-by, mainly men, to stop for a few minutes and have their leather dress shoes or boots shined.
The shine guy had a great pitch, as the businessmen passed by he shouted -
‘Look at those shoes! They’re full of salt! Come on over and I’ll fix you up!’
The shoe-shine guy had correctly observed that the vast majority of suited men had shoes that were in dire need of a shine. The snow, road salt, water, and general grime of the city had proceeded to coat most leather shoes with a caked-on, disgusting outer shell or grossness.
But still, in spite of the clear need on the part of many of the pedestrians for the shoe-shine service, in the few minutes I watched, no one took up the shine guy on his offer.
After a few more minutes, and silent rejections of his standard ‘Look at those shoes’ line, the shine guy seemed to get a little frustrated. Why weren’t people taking him up on the offer? They absolutely needed the service, it was convenient, inexpensive, he had no competition (at least on that corner), and he was a pretty engaging and interesting character.
As I turned to walk away, I heard the shine guy give one final pitch to a well-dressed man in leather boots that looked like they had been dragged along a river bank. The shine guy implored the suit:
‘Look at those boots! Come on! You can’t keep ignoring that!’
But the man in the dirty boots carried on down the street, even though he must have known he was making the wrong decision. I guess it can be kind of easy to ignore the obvious, especially when the message comes from an unexpected source.
Eventually the well-dressed man will get the boots cleaned, I mean the shine guy was right, he couldn’t keep ignoring it. It was so apparent. Perhaps he was the only one who couldn’t see it.