Something saved from one of the Bunion Yahoo Groups.
This story was published a long time ago in the old Bunion Museum. I have taken the liberty of editing a few things from the original posting. I hope if the original author is a member of this group he is does not think that I stole his story. The original author is “Adrian”
Irene looked around her meager surroundings and sighed, at least she had a bed, even if it was rickety and the bar downstairs made so much noise she could hardly sleep. One thing that was kind of nice was the old dresser with the mirror on it, cheap but dind of stylish. On top of it was Irene’s make-up and hairspray and such. In her robe she sat in front of the mirror and brushed her long hair, 100 times right side, 100 times left side. She then applied cold cream and checked her face in the mirror. Working as a Sales Clerk meant having to look good since the store catered to the high end clientele who liked to shop at the most exclusive mall of the downtown area in Springfield. The job did not pay particularly well for such a richy store but it sure was better than hawking tables at a bar and having to deal with drunks like her previous job. Even though she could hear the rowdiness downstairs she decided to try to sleep. She was working late tomorrow being the holiday season she would be working all day trying to make some extra money and the store was short on help. She pulled out her clothes for tomorrow; new nylons, new black business suit, and her new work pumps. “It’s going to be hell breaking those in” Irene thought to herself as she looked down at her feet. Her big bunions angled her big toes over until the nearly overlapped her second toes. Years of having to work on her feet wearing tight shoes had taken its toll on her feet. She was in her late thirties; she had been a cocktail waitress for nearly six years when she had been married to Paul, then after her divorce she had to move to a different city and start all over again, she got the job at the woman’s appearal shop and had been there for almost eight years. As a cocktail waitress she had been required to wear at least 3” heel shoes and being only 4’9” tall she had opted to wear 4” to 4 ½” strappy sandals in order to look as good as some of the other taller girls competing for tips. Those ultra high heel sandals had given her bunions, tailor bunions, corns on both baby toe, and very large painful callouses on the soles of her feet. Her long slender toes had learned to bend inwards to try to relieve the pressure from her callouses and the strap over her baby toes had rubbed very large corns that constantly throbbed. When she got the job at the womans appearal shop she had been told that sandals were not allowed and she had to wear at least 3” high heel dress pumps. Irene being so vain had gone out and bought some business suits and 4 to 4 ½” high heel dress pumps to match, at least a couple of those shoes were one size too small. In the span of the last eight years her feet had gotten progressibly worse. Her bunions now looked like golf balls inside her shoes She now had large painful corns on every one of the joints of her lesser toes from her toes having gotten used to bending inwards by far the biggest and most painful corns being the ones over her second and fourth toes. Her callouses had gotten so big and painfull that sometimes she could not even walk on carpet comfortable, it was during at those times when she would get our her nail clippers and try to cut the callouses and corns with the aid of her nails. She would try to make it to the drug store on a weekly basis to buy her supply of corn and callus pads since she often had to put two pads on each corn and callus to relieve the pain. Today she had gone out and spent some of the extra money she had made and bought a new outfit and shoes, which she had decided not to try out at the store for the embarrasment of her feet with corn plasters all over her toes. She decided to go out for a test walk. She put on the new par of black 4 ½” high heels stood up and immediately begun to limp. She had been on a hurry when she bought the shoes as the store was closing and had not noticed how pointy they were. The new leather gave a little bit but not much. She looked down and it looked like she had golf balls in her shoes and she could see that her toes seemed to be bending much more than usual since there was not much room for them and were leaving inprints on the top of the shoes. She made her way to the end of the very long hallway to the payphone. She stood there for a moment waiting for her friend Nancy to get off the phone shifting her weight from one throbbing foot to the other. The pain from her feet was very intense, She bent down and removed her shoes and felt some relief on her corns but her callouses were also on fire. She just sat there nearly in tears and looked at her feet and wondered how she would be able to be on her feet all day tomorrow, that’s when she realized that she had failed to make it to the drug store during the day since she had left early before they opened and got off as they were closing
“Hi Irene,” Nancy said looking down at her sitting on the floor massaging her feet, “long day at work”
“Ouch” Irene said as she stood trying not to put pressure on the soles of her feet.
Looking down at the empty shoes picked one up.
“New shoes Irene?”
“Yes and they are going to kill me tomorrow” Irene slipped her foot into the one on the floor and let out a loud “ouch, oouch, ooouch”
Nance handed the other one to Irene and steadying herself on Nancy’s shoulder slipped it on.
“You wanna come in for coffee, or were you going to make a call?” Nancy said.
“I’d rather come in for coffee than listen to my mother since she can always tell when my feet are killing me, I really just came out here to try and get a headstart on breaking these in”.
They went inside Nancy’s apartment. Nancy immediately made her way to the kitchen to get the coffee brewing and Irene made her way to the couch and slipped her shoes off. Nancy came back and noticed that Irene was trying unsucessfully to cut one of her corns with her finger nails.
“Did you try lemon juice on your feet?” Nancy said “it worked for my sister when she was a waitress”.
“Yes” Irene said “I’ve had corns and calluses for about 14 years and I don’t think that anything could get rid of these things”.
Nance came over to the couch and grabbed one of Irene’s feet and counted “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, corns this one covers your entire baby toe and this other one over the second knuckle of your second toe must be at least ¼ inch thick ” she then inspected the bottom of the foot “this callus is rock hard and must be at least two inches in diameter and the one by you tailor bunion almost wraps around it, and your bunion looks like a red golf ball”. She then lifted the matching shoe and immedately niticed that in order to feet her foot properly had to be at least one and a half sizes bigger. “I am glad I’m not in your shoes I don’t know how you can walk all day with these things on your toes and soles of your feet.
“And I’ll be wondering at about noon tomorrow how I will be able to make it until 11PM since I run out of Dr. Scholl’s pads”. She looked at her feet and winced just thinking about it.
Nancy stood up to go to the kitchen to check on the coffee. Irene put her shoes back on and followed her. Nancy saw Irene limp into the kitchen.
“Irene why do you put your feet thru that torture?”
“I enjoy working at the shop and you know I have to wear ultra high heel shoes because I am only 4’9” tall and don’t want anyone to see me that short” Irene said “Plus I like the way the shoes make my legs look and puts all my other assets where they belong, I would like to find a good rich man someday so I can quit my job and wear these kind of shoes for his pleasure not just mine”
“Well they are your feet Irene” Nancy said “I just hope that when that man comes around you can still walk and enjoy life, let’s go back to the couch and drink our coffee, would you like to soak you feet?”
“That might be a good idea since I will have to spend some time trimming my corns and calluses tonight” Irene said.
Nancy came back with a pale of hot water, her nail clipper, a stone and something that looked like a razor.
Irene slipped her shoes off and sat back drinking her coffee with her feet soaking in the hot water. After a few minutes she took one foot out and started to pick at one of her corns with her nail, every now and then she would let out an “ouch”. It was then that Nancy told showed her how to use the razor. Irene was nervous that she might cut one of her corns and decided not to use the razor but started using the pumice stone on her corns and calluses. After about an hour she said she better get back home and go to bed. She put her shoes back on and thanked Nancy for the coffee and the stuff for her feet.
“Do they feel better?” Nancy asked.
“They feel a little better I think that they are still sore from being on my feet all day”. She went back home knowing she had just lied to her best friend. Her feet were not sore from being on her feet they were sore because the shoes were too small and because they were always sore.
Old story “Irene”
Part 2
Before Irene went to sleep she decided to wear a pair of her flat heel sandals since it was going to be a fairly warm winter day. Making that decision ease her concerns regarding working 14 hours in shoes that seemed to be very painful for her feet. She woke up the next day got ready for work and started looking for her sandals. She looked everywhere and could not find any sandals with a heel lower than 3” inches. Then she remembered that she had gotten rid of all her sandals at the end of the summer with the intention of buying new ones by the beginning of next summer. She decided to wear a pair of 3” heel without straps on the back. All the time it took to look for her shoes had made her late for the bus so she decided that she would drive her car. When she got downtown all the ramps that wear near the mall were already full so she was forced to park at a ramp that was about 5 blocks from the mall. She only had about 15 minutes to get to work on time so she could not stop at the drug store as she had planned. Before she came into the shop she sat down and changed shoes. She came into the shop and found out from Julie, the shop manager that it would be just the two of them all day until around 6PM. Her manager was a tall, beautiful, very distinguised lady in her early 40’s who like Irene always wore ultra high heel shoes. Julie had been a beauty queen and had also done a fair amount of modeling. Irene knew that Julie had been the store manager for about 15 years. Irene noticed that Julie was already in her bare feet something she had never seen in her 8 years of working there. Irene took a quick glance at her bare feet and saw that they had also taken a lot of abuse. She had very tanned and petite with the exception of her toes. She could tell that at one time they had been very long and slender just like hers and now they were severely hammered with very large corns on every single toe. Irene saw that Julie’s toes were rigid since they would not even straitened when she lifted her toes off the ground; something else that struck Irene was that Julie always seemed to walk on her her toes. Julie looked down at Irene’s shoes rolled her eyes and said “Irene I suggest you better remove you shoes until we open up in another 30 minutes since this might be one of the rare occassions that you might be able to do so today”. Irene happily removed her feet after she got over the stunning surprise. Julie had never mentioned to anyone to voluntarily remove their shoes at work and started realizing that this was going to be a very hard day.
Both women performed their duties very rapidly and even had a few minutes to sit down in Julie’s office and talk before they had to open the store.
“I noticed that you always walk on your toes?” Irene said.
“I have been wearing high heel shoes since I was 15 years old and now I can’t walk any other way since my tendons have shortened over the years in fact I never wear any shoe with a heel lower than 4 inches”. Julie said as she reached in her desk drawer to look for something. She looked in every drawer becoming very frantic as she could not find what she was looking for.
“Can I help you find something?” Irene asked.
“I normally keep an emergency package of Dr Scholl’s pads in my drawer. This morning I forgot to put some in my purse because I over slept” Julie said as she raised her feet and invited Irene to touch her feet. “Go ahead Irene just don’t touch any of my huge corns too hard”
Irene reluctantly started to inspect Julie’s feet. Just as she suspected she could not straightened her toes they were locked in their position. Her corns were very hard and thick. The corns on the knuckles of her second toes were the biggest ones she had ever seen with a thorn in the middle of them. Her baby toes were completely covered by a massive corn that went from her nail bed wrapped all the way around the outside of her toes and had a thorn similar to the ones on her second toes. She had mild bunions with a callus on the outside of them. She had a tailors bunion on both feet. The balls of her feet were completely covered in calluses that reached al the way around her tailors bunions. Julie flexed her feet and the thickened skin did not even bend it looked like a piece of leather that had been out in the hot desert sun for 100 years.
“God I thought my feet were bad. How can you possibly walk around in your heels all day?” Irene said.
“That is what the Dr. Scholl’s pads are for. I spend at least $50-75 worth of pads a week. Looks like today is going to be hell. What kind of problems do you have with your feet?” Julie said.
“Same painful problems you have only not quiet as bad as yours yet” Irene said as she lifted her feet for Julie to inspect.
“Your bunions are bigger than mine but I got you beat on the corns and calluses. Looks like you had a pedicure last night. I quit getting those when I discovered that my feet actually hurt more if I had my corns and calluses removed. The problem is that the softer skin actually gets more sore as the day progresses. I prefer to wear pads since I can put as many as necessary to make the pain a little less intense. I guess today will be hell for you too”
That last comment sent a chill through Irene’s body all the way down to her toes.
“I say that because you and I will be the only ones all day until around 6PM when Lori comes in but then of curse the evening is a lot busier and we are open until 11PM. I suggest that we take turns behind the register if at all possible so we can slip our shoes off and on, just don’t get caught doing so if Michelle (corporate district manager) should happen to drop by. By the way you don’t happen to have any pads in your purse today?”
“I did not make it to the drug store this morning”. Irene said.
“just thought I’d give it a shot. It’s time to open the door we regrettably have to put out shoes back on”. Julie reached under her desk and pulled out two pairs of shoes. One pair were white 4 ½” spike high heel pumps the kind that had the metal spikes and also the metal point that was so pointy that looked like could be used as a weapon. The other was a pair of 4” sling back white open toe sandals. “The sandals were the ones I wore to come in today since I knew that the nearby ramps would be full from that convention that started yesterday. This other pair I actually purchased last night. I never try on any new pair of shoes before I buy them and I had to buy this pair one size too small. I went for a test run last night and they nearly put me in tears so that is why I wore the sandals to come in. I wish I could wear the sandals these are going to be absolute torture without any pads. If you see tears in my eyes don’t ask. The policy about no sandals is not mine its Michelle’s and I can’t risk her coming in today and seeing me in sandals since that is the reason she fired the manager before me”
“I did the same thing with this pair” Irene said.
Julie tried to slip the shoes on but could not do so without a shoehorn that she kept inside the desk drawer. She winced and said “ouch, ouch these corns are already on fire and it’s only 9AM only 14 more hours to go”.
As soon as they opened the store It was completely swamped with customers. Julie and Irene could not keep up with the influx of people. Finally at around 11AM they had a period of about 10 minutes when there were no shoppers inside the store. Both women made their way around the back of the register and without saying anything to each other tried to kick of their heels. Irene had to grab the heel with one hand and pull the heel from her right shoe and then the other. Julie was almost in tears because she could not remove her shoes. She finally sat down and did so with both hands. Irene’s toes with extremely bent and her nylons had holes developing over her toes from the friction that was created by the shoes. Her corns were red and immediately became very swolen, it was as if someone had blown miniature ballons from inside her skin. The balls of her feet felt like someone had lit a torch under them. Her bunions looked like two salad tomatoes She wanted to seat down and massage her feet like Julie was trying to do. Julie’s feet were in very intense pain. Her corns had been pushed in and as soon as the pressure from the top of ther shoes was released they exploded. The thorns over the corns on her middle toes looked like might start bleeding. Her baby toe corns looked like small tomatoes. Her bunions were very red and swollen. She seemed to be paying especial attention to the balls of her feet and her tailor bunions. Irene just happened to look outside the store and saw that Michelle was coming and warned Julie. Julie immediately stood up and run to her office in the back of the store she was limping very badly. From the office came a very loud “ooouuch god my corns” and after a few seconds came back out limping even worse than before. Irene had managed to squeezed her feet back inside her shoes and was also limping and wincing. Michelle came into the store carriying some shoe bags and saw that there were no customers in the store signaled the two women to follow her to the back room. Michelle had been a store manager at this location for abour 5 years before being promoted to District Manager. She was in her late 40”s and had also done some modeling so she looked very distinguished and always wore high heels. Michelle came into the office and sat down behind Julie’s desk. Irene and Julie stood leaned against the wall and both tried to shift their weight from on foot to the other as Michelle explained why she came in today.
“I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I will be helping you out this afternoon and the bad news is that headquarters have informed me that we have to do inventory today. Hopefully we can get it all done while the store is open if not we will have to stay here until it’s done. I know that this task will be difficult to accomplish but I promise I will remember your efforts come raise time early next year. The way I have done this at my other 6 stores is that I stay back here with one of you to inventory the back room then when your evening girl gets in we can start the sales floor. The last inventory was finished by around 11:30PM this is my largest store but we have one more person than I had at the others. Since we may all have to be out in the sales floor helping customers through out the day I have my shoes here I just need you to help me decide which pair to wear. This pair is new and has a higher heel than what I am used to 4 ½” but is the one I like the most. This other pair only has a 3” heel and has been worn about 5 times so the leather has been stretched a bit but does not quite match my outfit. Which pair should I wear?”
“I agree with you the new pair” Julie jumped in thinking that if she had to be in here taking inventory today her manager might as well suffer along with her.
“I also like the new pair” Irene said thinking just like Julie was.
“Very well then can I borrow a couple of your pads Julie, I remember you mentioned to me that you keep a supply of them inside your desk drawer?
“I am sorry Michelle I don’t even have any for me”
“Very well I will just have to suffer along with you” Michelle removed her shoes and exposed her bare feet. She had about 6 corns all together that were fairly large but not swollen yet but the girls could tell that it was only a matter of time since her toes were severely hammered. Her bunions were much larger than Irene’s. She tried to slip her shoes on but had to use the shoehorn the Julie had. “God this shoes are going to be hard to break in”. Michelle said. They heard the bell that signified someone had entered the store and all three women came out into the sales floor.
After about an hour of constant customer traffic Michelle told Irene and Julie that they should take this time to go on their luch break. They got their purses and left the store.
“I am not sure that I am going to make it unless I get some pads over my corns they feel like boulders inside these shoes” Julie said. “the only thing is the only thing I feel like doing is sitting down and giving myself a good foot massage”
“let’s just walk over to the store downstairs and get some pads just imagine the relief, then I am sure we will have about 10 or 15 minutes to sit down eat and rub out feet” Irene said.
They came into the store and the place was packed full of people. Irene suggested that she should stand in line at the register while Julie went and got the pads and something to eat. She came back a few minutes later limping more than before with about $100 in pads enough for about 30 packages of corn pads and 10 packages of callus pads, a couple of sandwiches and two drinks they paid and went back to the shop.
They waived at Michelle as they limped by and headed straight to the office. Both women took their shoes off and compare each other’s feet. Irene’s corns were very swollen and her bunions looked like they were ready to explode, She checked the balls of her feet and noticed that her calluses were almost as big as Julie’s. Julie’s corns were extremely swollen and looked ready to explode. Her bunions were very red and swollen and the bottoms of her feet had calluses that were wet from sweat but harder than had ever been before. Irene put two pads on each of her corns of her second, fourth and baby toes and one on each corn of her other toes, she also took a couple of the callus pads. Julie had not purchased any bunion pads so she just took a couple of callus pads and put them over her bunions. Michelle took two pads for each of her toes and two callus pads for each of her feet. “You will most than likely have to put new pads later on today that is why I picked up so many your feet will sweat and the pads won’t stick I should have picked up a package of band-aids” Michelle said. Then they sat down and ate the sandwiches during the last remaining 10 minutes of their break. When they tried to put their shoes back on their feet hardly slipped inside the heels since their feet were swollen and had so many pads over their toes. “They feel better but they still kill” Julie said.
They finally were able to start taking inventory at around 1PM. Everyone was moving as fast as their sore feet would allow since they did not want to be here too late. They were able to get a lot of work done until around 2PM when Michelle informed them that she was going on her lunch break and give her feet a break. She came back a few minutes later with a bag and signaled to Julie and Irene to the back room.
“I went out and purchased some pads you are welcome to put them on your feet when you take your next break. I for one cannot wait my corns are absolutely intolorable, my bunions are very swollen and my calluses are extremely sore” she removed her shoes and her corns immediately exploded and her bunions were bright red. When Irene and Julie came back out to the floor they were happy that they would not be using their supply and complained to each other that their corn pads must have been slipping out of place because they could not feel the pads any longer protecting their toes from the tops of their shoes. Julie started to limp badly just as she had done earlier in the day. “my baby toe corns are killing me so bad that I would cut the toes right now if I had a knive in fact I think I would amputate my both my feet because my calluses must be the size of Texas and feels like I am walking on hot coals”
“Join the club” Irene said.
At around 4PM Michelle said “girls go take fifteen minutes and give your feet some rest I noticed that both of you are limping very badly”.
Irene and Julie rushed to the office and removed their shoes and just as they had suspected the corn pads had slipped off from their feet sweating. Irene’s toes would not straighten even when she tried to pushe them with her fingers and her corns were bigger that they had ever been. “God I can’t believe this my toes are starting to look like your they are stiff and my corns are bigger than I have ever seen them it’s a good thing that I don’t have anymore knuckes for bone spurs to develop corns. My calluses cover the entire balls of my feet and I have blisters over my bunions. This callus pads don’t work for bunions” Irene just sat silent looking at her feet in horror wondering how she was going to make it until her next day off which would not be until Christmas day still seven days away.
When 6PM came around Stacy came in and saw that they were taking inventory. She was in her early 20’s, she was a dance instructor during they day worked at the shop about 20 hours a week and also did some modeling. She said that she had been modeling at the convention which meant that she had been wearing a brand new pair of shoes that were killing her feet all day. She came in wearing a pair of 3” high heel pumps that had an extremely narrow shoe box. She cmae back out to the sales floor and started helping Julie take inventory.
“I have been wearing these shoes all day and I forgot to bring my heels that are already broken in. I looked at my feet earlier today and the corns on my baby toes are huge since these heels has been pinching them all day. I hope we finish this inventory on time tonight” Stacy said.
“Join the club girl. I have been on my feet since 8AM this morning and these shoes are too small for my feet but they were the only color that matched my outfit. I purchased about $100 worth of pads earlier and Michelle also got some. You are welcome to my supply but let’s use Michelle’s first”. Julie mentioned to Stacy.
“I am afraid that if I take these shoes off I won’t be able to put them back on again plus my corns will swell and will be a lot more painful when I put the heels back on”
The evening progressed with the store being slower than they had been expecting. Inventory was looking like it might be done on time. At 11PM sharp Julie started to run the register tapes. Irene rushed over and closed the doors. On cue Julie, Irene, and Stacy kicked off their shoes then Michelle emerged from the backroom. “Unfortunately we cannot take our shoes off yet. There are still customers walking around outside the store and it looks unprofessional. Believe me I wish I could give my huge corns a break but we need to wait a while longer”. The three women winced at the thought of having to put their heels back on. Julie had to her her shoehorn and as she was walking to the office accidentally stomped her foot again the side of the counter. She dropped down and nearly cried she had bumped three of her toes and it was the most excruciating pain she had ever felt. The corn pads had done very little to protect her toes and every one of her corns was very swollen. Michelle came over when she heard the scream and nearly fainted when she took a look at Julie’s feet. “God Julie your feet how can you stand walking inside those heels all day with those huge corns?”
“After today I wonder how myself. I’m going to have to buy bigger shoes to match this outfit. Tomorrow I was planning to wear another pair of new shoes. Last week I went on a spending spree and purchased about three outfits and five pairs of high heels to match. I better wear an older pair that is already broken in. I need inserts to cushion the balls of my feet you see these calluses almost hurt as bad as my 14 corns, woops 15 this one on the side of my right big toe just developed today their had been a blister there a couple of days ago and now it is another huge painful corn”.
“Oh god girl I would stay in bed for about a week if my feet looked like that” Stacy said when she saw Julie’s feet.
“Irene can you beat my feet?” Julie said.
“Well let’s see what my feet look like without any pads” Irene removed her shoes and counted 16 corns since she now had two new ones on the outside of both big toes. “16 corns, golf ball size bunions, and nothing but calluses across the balls of both feet. You guys be the judge”
“My vote is for Julie” Stacy said.
“Julie has bigger corns and calluses but smaller bunions and I know how much those can hurt. I think it is a draw,” Michelle said.
“What if neither one of us shave down any corns or calluses until Christmas then we will compare since we will both be working around the same amount of hours and we both can’t wear anything less than 3” heels due to our tendons having been shortened” Irene said.
“Sounds like a challenge to me so I’m game. I think that we should go without pads tomorrow being Sunday we are only open from 11AM until 8PM. Only nine hours should be no problem after today. My pads slipped off for most of the day anyway. Julie said.
“You got yourself a bet. Now what should be the prize for the winner?” Irene said.
“God my feet hurt just thinking about it”. Stacy said “I have problems with 6 corns and after today it feels like I have blisters which will soon turn into calluses on the balls of both feet. I can’t imagine having 15 or 16 corns with huge calluses and bunions”.
“If you two can keep this store running as good as it is with your feet full of corns, calluses and bunions. I will give the winner a month’s supply of pads plus a new outfit including shoes. I think I agree with Stacy as far as staying in bed if my feet looked the way yours do. When I was a store manager the most corns I ever had was 8 with calluses as big as Michelle’s but my bunions were not quite as big as Irene’s” Michelle said
“A month’s supply of pads and a new outfit including the shoes I’m definitely in” Julie said.
“So am I” Irene said.
“Well girls kick off your shoes and let’s finish so we can go home. I will be soaking my feet tonight. You two can’t if you want to win the bet”. Michelle said.
“Shit ouch that’s right no soaking because you want your corns and calluses as big as you can stand the pain that they will cause” Julie said.
“No problem” Irene said.
They were able to get out of the store around midnight. Michelle and Stacy left first and Julie and Irene stayed behind to secure the shop for the night. They both put on their sandals and limped out of the store. A few minutes later they both slipped their sandals off and limped to their car barefoot. Every once in a while one of them would step on a rock or sharp object on the ground and let out a loud ouch.
“I don’t think Michelle realizes how expensive this little bet is going to be,” Irene said.
“I think I’ve spent about close to $200 in pads so far this month plus she has to buy an outfit with shoes that will come close to $500. If I win I am going to get the highest must expensive heels I can find no matter how much they will hurt my feet. This is like getting a $500 bonus free of taxes. Ouch I can tell that my calluses are probably going to be the most painful part of my feet when this is all done” Julie said.
“I know what you mean but my toes will be very hammered since they try to compensate the pressure on the balls of my feet by bending inwards rubbing on the shoes. But you’re right $500 is a lot of money” Irene said as she approached her can. “Good night Michelle I will sit here and make your car starts” Irene said
“See you tomorrow and remember no pads” Julie waived as she got into her car.
On her way home her her feet started to really hurt. She removed her shoes since her sandals were putting alot of pressure on her baby toes. All of her toes were throbbing, the calluses on the balls of her feet hurt every time she had to stop on the break. She used the cruise control so she would not have to press down on the gas pedal. She finally got back to her apartment and saw that Nancy was standing outside the building smoking a cigarrette. Nancy saw Irene pull up and park in the only open spot which was the fartherst away from the door. Nancy came over to her car and greeted Irene. Irene removed her nylons, got out of her car and said hello Nancy. She was limping very badly. She was trying very hard not to put pressure on the soles of her feet. She was walking very slowly looking straight down at the ground to make sure she did not step on something that might hurt her feet.
“Irene how many hours did you work today? Nancy asked
“Let’s see I got downtown around 8:15 AM. I had to park about 5 blocks from the mall because there is convention in town this weekend so all the ramps close to the mall were full. I started working at 9AM. At around 11AM the district manager came in and told us we had to do inventory today. I left work at 11:45PM had a total of about 45 minutes worth of breaks. I figured I had my feet in heels for about fifteen hours. It is good thing that I trimmed my corns and calluses last night at your apartment” Irene said.
“Why don’t come up to my apartment have wine or coffee and soak your feet and trimmed your corns and calluses looks like they need to be done again” Nancy said
“The wine sounds good. My feet need some soaking and trimming but that is not happening until Christmas” Irene said.
The steped inside Nancy’s apartment. Irene went straight to the coach and put her feet on top of the table. Nancy went into the kitchen got a bottle of wine from the refrigerator and a pale with cold water.
“Irene here is the wine and the water”
“The wine is good. I can’t soak or trimmed my corns and calluses until Christmas Eve. I have entered my feet in a contest” Irene said.
“A contest? What kind of contest could you possibly win with your feet all deformed?”
“It’s like this. My district manager will buy a months supple of pads and a new outfit with shoes of preference to the girl with the worst feet problems. The biggest corns, calluses and bunions. I have the bunion part down but the corns and calluses have a ways to go yet. My manager Julie has corns and calluses much bigger than mine. She never trims them she just wears pads. She says that trimming them actually makes them more sore since the softer skin gets sore a lot easier than the hard callused skin. After today I can’t argue with her, my feet are worse than they were last night. I won’t be soaking them or putting pads for the next 5 days. I don’t think that Julie will even make thru tomorrow without pads. She has the biggest corns and calluses I have ever seen.” Irene said.
“I think you are nuts. Corns pads a new outfit with shoes is worth what maybe $150-200?” Nancy said.
“Try more like $500-600. When I told you that I must spend half my paycheck buying pads I was probably pretty close. Just today we purchased about $100 in pads and more than half are already used up. The outfit will be around $100 and the shoes that I like are almost $200 and they are very nice with a five inch heel” Irene said.
“Geez that much in pads. Just go to a doctor to het your feet fixed” Nancy said.
“The first thing the Doc will tell me is to stop wearing heels and that is not going to happen. I will probably need surgery for my bunions. I have wearing high heels for over 20 years and I would probably loose my balance in flats shoes” Irene said.
Nancy put the water away and came back to set in the coach with Irene. Irene did not know that Julie was gay. She took Irene feet on her lap and started massaging the soles of her feet. She accidentally bumped on of her corns and Irene yelled.
“I appreciate the massage but please don’t touch my corns they are extremelly sore. Irene said.
Nancy massaged the balls of Irene feet and could not believe how hard the calluses were.
“This calluses are so hard you would have to soak your feet for at least an hour or two to soften them up enough to be able to trimmed them. Nancy said.
“They felt like rocks and the corns felt like someone is digging a knive into my toes when I was wearing the pumps earlier today. I can’t wait to see how they will feel tomorrow. Let me show you the shoes I will be wering tomorrow” Irene limped to her apartment and came back with a pair of shoes still in the box. They were 4 ½” spike heel shoes that strapped around the leg almost to knee. The toe box was extremely narrow and came to a sharp tip. The leather was very hard and did not look like it would give much. Nancy noticed that they were a pair of 7’s and she knew that Irene normally wears 8”s which were probably too small at that. Irene wanted to try them on for the first time, took them out of the box and tried to slipped them over her feet. It took her about 5 to 10 minutes to put them on and every once in a while she would let out an “ouch my corns this shoes are going to be murder”. She stood up and immediately begin to limp.
“Wearing these shoes for a couple of days, tomorrow for about 10 hours and Wednesday for another 15 hour day I should have Julie beat. I don’t think she is going to make it. Well I better go to bed. Thanks for the wine and the massage, maybe I will stop by tomorrow after work”
“You are always welcome Irene”. Irene walked over to her apartment in her new shoes and went straight to bed
The next morning Irene got out of bed, her feet felt better she could still feet the calluses on the balls of her feet but her bunions were not swollen, the massage that Nancy had given her the night before had helped with the blood circulation. She touched her corns and they felt like rocks, they were not red anymore but a yellowish tone. Her toes were all still bent inwards, she tried to straighten but they just bent back in again. The baby toe on her right foot seem to be also bending. “My corns are going to be much bigger by the end of the day. This baby toe corn will be huge but it is going to really kill me. Looks like I will also have corns on the side of my big toes that will certainly get bigger and harder by tonight. This 5” heels will for sure do the trick. I don’t think that Julie can stand another ½” in heel”
She got to work around 10:15AM and Julie was already there getting things ready to open the shop. Julie was barefoot like she had been the day before. Her corns were huge and yellow.
“Good morning Irene I see that you have some new shoes today. What is that about a 5” heel?”
“Yes I purchased them because they look hot with this outfit. How do your feet feel this morning?”
“My corns are huge but they are not throbbing. My calluses are a different story take a look” Julie sat on the carpet and raised her feet for Irene to inspect.
“Man they sure look ugly and mean. The entire ball of your feet have calluses and they wrap all the way around your tailor bunions. Between the callus around your tailor bunions and the corns around your baby toes you can’t see any skin just a big hard portion of dead epidermis. Are you going to make it all day without pads?”
“No problem I have done it before.”
They hurried to get the store ready and had about 20 minutes before they had to open.
“Good thing I want to give myself a foot massage my calluses are already killing me and that is just walking on carpet” Julie said.
The day was an extremely busy day at the shop. Stacy came in just before noon wearing her well-worn 3” heels.
“Good morning I see that the contest is in full swing. My feet still hurt after yesterday. Can I borrow some of your pads Julie?” Stacy asked.
“Sure use some of the pads that Michelle purchased first since neither I or Irene will be using them for a few more days. The contest is certainly in full swing. My feet are in extreme pain and we only have eight more hours to go”. Julie said.
“I am not sure that I want to see my feet by the end of the day. My corns feel like boulders inside my shoes, my calluses are on fire, and I think that I am developing blisters over my bunions. These shoes are too small for my feet”. Irene said.
At 3PM Julie took her lunch break. She went into her office and quickly removed her shoes. Her corns were very swollen and bright red, the calluses red but hard as a rock and her bunions were getting bigger and were also bright red. She almost could not put her shoes back on due to the swelling. She came out to the sales floor and approached Irene.
“God I am not sure that I am going to make it. I almost could not get my shoes back on”. Julie said.
“I figured that might be the case that is why I am not going to take my shoes off until I get to my car. I don’t want to run the risk of stepping on something sharp and cutting any part of my feet”. Irene said.
By 8PM Julie quickly closed the doors to the shop and removed her shoes. She could not even walk on the carpet without limping. Irene kept her shoes on but Stacy took hers off. Stacy had two more corns over her second toes and noticed that her blisters on the balls of her feet were now calluses. They all left at the same time for their cars. Irene decided not to take her shoes off until she got to her apartment. She removed her shoes and could not believe the size of the corns. They were very swollen and bright red. She had never had them so big before. Her calluses were very sore and laid down on her couch to rest her feet since she did not want to take another step. Her toes were now rigid she could not move them with her fingers and she now had calluses developing on the bottom of her second toes. She heard a knock on the door.
“Irene I saw your car in the lot can I come in?” Nancy said.
“Come on in I don’t want to get off this couch my feet are in extreme pain”. Irene said
“Would you like a foot massage Irene?’ Nancy offered.
“Just massage the bottoms don’t touch any corns please they are very sore”. Irene warned.
Nancy started to massage the balls of Irene’s feet.
“Ouch a little more gentle please. They are very sore” Irene complained.
“These calluses are so thick and hard I think that you need to soak your feet just to try to get the soreness out of them” Nancy said.
“No soaking I have to win this contest after the last couple of days I better win the outfit with shoes. I don’t think that Julie is going to make it. Today towards the end of the day she could hardly stand up and was limping more than I have ever seen her before she looked like an 80 year old lady. When she removed her shoes I could see that her corns were very angry. So just be very gentle and do not touch any corns please” Irene said.
The next morning Irene got out of bed she was still tired, as she had hardly slept because her corns were throbbing all night. She got ready for work and took out another pair of new shoes that were the highest heel that she had. They heel was about 5 ½” with a very small and narrow box. She got to the shop and Julie was not there yet. Julie walked in about 15 minutes later wearing a pair of 5” knee high black boots.
“I decided to wear this boots to keep from wanting to kick off my shoes all day today. I just need to get my bunions just a little bigger and I will have this contest in the bag. Believe me I got you beat on corns and calluses. Nice shoes Irene 5 ½” inch heels good getting big corns and calluses” Julie said.
It was a very busy day at the shop and Tracy had called in sick for the evening shift. Julie took her lunch break at around 1PM and Irene at 2PM it was the only breaks they were able to take all day. By the end of the day both of them were limping around very noticeably.
Three days later when the moment to choose the winner finally came both women were very glad they would finally be able to give their feet a rest. Michelle came in with two other District Manager friend of hers and Tracy came in with two of her Model friends. Michelle had set up a place in the back office for Nancy and Julie to show off their feet. She had also purchased two pairs of clear plastic 4” heel pumps. Both women would have to walk around wearing the clear plastic shoes for the judges then they would have to remove them and show their soles. Then each judge would touch each one of the corns and calluses.
Nancy was the first one to be judged. She had 16 huge corns that were hard as rocks. Her bunions were very red and swollen. Her calluses covered the entire ball of her feet and around her tailor bunions; they were very hard and yellow. Julie came next and all you could see were corns on her feet. She had intentionally left her without polish to make her corns appear more prominent. Her bunions had grown but were not quite as big as Irene’s. Her calluses were also big enough to cover the entire ball of her feet. It turned out to be a close vote but Julie won on the strength of her corns and calluses. Every one of the judges said that they had never seen so many corns so big and calluses so thick before. Irene won on bunions and tailor bunions.
“Well girls I have decided after seeing your feet that the runner up. I do mean runner up because neither on of you is a looser. I am going to buy two-week supply of corn, callus and bunion pads along with a pumice stone to trim those corns and calluses because I don’t know how you can walk with those huge things on your feet. After Xmas I will take Julie out to but the outfit and shoes and I will have a supply of pads here when you come back in on December 26th.
On December 31st Michele took Julie out to buy her outfit and shoes. She decided to buy a $200 outfit and a pair $125 sandals with a 6” heel that Julie said she would wear out to the club to catch a rich man who would have a sexual attraction to deformed women’s feet. Irene got her two-week supply of pads, which she used up after three days. Michelle ended up spending close to $700. By the end of the month she came in and told Michelle and Julie that next time she would not offer to buy a month’s supply of pads because it had cost her about $400 more than she had budgeted since she had never been aware that their feet had so many corns, calluses and bunions.
The end