Today I figured it would be a good day to talk about fashion in the working world, specifically the working world on one’s feet. After being forced to come back to Austin based on low income and the idea of a support system, I had a couple of pairs of shoes and mostly athletic ware. If I had been able to get a decent-paying remote job, I might have gone into storage to get other clothes, but I was not going to travel for seasonal or low-paying work. My problem was that when I finally started a fast food job in August 2025–yes, that is how long it took to get paying work to keep me from homelessness–I only had the pair of shoes below, a gift from one of the hosts during Imperial Dialogue. These had already been worn through by a teenager, but I was ever so grateful to have them when I started work because I had no money to buy new black shoes. Furthermore, I had no energy to shop after work towards the beginning of the job.
In another six weeks, my feet would begin to hurt, and fortunately, I would have developed the stamina to do a couple of tasks after being on my feet all day. Therefore, my first task would be to get shoes that would make it possible to be on foot all day without my feet and knees aching. Those who think that they could easily do a fast food job? I want to remind everyone that I am an experienced endurance athlete, and even being in shape, this could be a stressful position. Also, if the feet and knees hurt before the job starts, the only thing to hope for is numbness. Based on a few YouTube videos, I got a pair of women’s work crocs–only to discover that they were narrow, and had slight heels. I will not explain why doing fast food work on heels is not a good idea.
However, someone who had served as a line cook swore by work crocs, so I decided to give men’s crocs a chance because of my wider feet. I had gotten men’s sneakers to prepare for a previous marathon, and the difference in width is another world, because no one expects men to have narrow feet. Finally, I had the shoes that allowed me to do too much. With these shoes, I was able to work the 9-11 hours, while also showing up on my days off because my feet felt almost the same at the end of a shift as they did in the beginning. All I needed at that point was a pair of shoes for living a regular life, and those would be the last pair I would get in 2025. For those who are disappointed with any shoes, I recommend donation because they are expensive, and if I had known about men’s crocs in the beginning, I could have saved some money.
One thing about working on foot all day is that feet spread, and mine had been wide since my feet started growing in childhood. Now that I had my wide feet working at least six days a week, I was shocked to find that they would no longer fit in my typical size anymore. Imagine my surprise to find that only a women’s size 11 would fit my feet. There was an older lady in the store with me, and I asked her about the feet spreading and she said, “Yes, I have been on my feet all my life, and I never get out of here in anything less than a size 11 now.” At almost 45, I was eligible for the foot-spreading sizes, but I never regret listening to that advice.
In the year 2025, companies are still making shoes, even work shoes, designed to make women’s feet look cute, but that do very little to keep women working. Companies who demand that everyone keep showing up need to consider that people will only do so if they can manage without self destruction. “Cute” is becoming in short demand because people are realizing that looks make very little happen. Foot and knee health will be the ultimate deciding factor on whether older people make it through the imperial destruction, and I intend to hold mine in high regard.
Chasing A Dying Empire 