Saucony Triumph 11

This is not the best photo of these shoes I've taken but it gives this gal the best chance to recognize her shoes.  It's the yellow socks that makes these shoes distinguishable as hers.

EB Games Doesn't Make You Buy Everytime

I go into that store several times a week and I don't always buy.  If I did that, I'd be broke and since Frontrunners is so expensive, how can I buy everytime?  Their expectations are unreasonable.  Sometimes you go to a store for the experience.  I'm a shoe fanatic.  So?  What's wrong with that?  Shoes to me are like video games to others.  Everyone likes different things.  People shouldn't be so quick to judge.  When the time is right, the looky-loos will eventually buy.  I ended up buying a few things from Frontrunners after a while.

By the way. my other hobby is playing video games, which is why I haven't posted too much in two months.  You can say that I hate being bored.

What I Think about C.K.'s Shoe Store...

If you have been reading my last post, you will know I'm talking about Frontrunners Nanaimo.  If you are new to the blog, read on.

Before the C.K. incident my impression of that store was that they expect you to buy on every visit to the store.  If you don't buy after a couple of visits, you are looked upon as a waste of time or a possible shoplifter.  As you can see with my blog, I have a tremendous passion for (athletic) footwear and I was able to get past that negative vibe.  I took me a while to buy something from them because their prices were quite high...and I didn't really need their merchandise.  Anything I'd buy from that store would be extravagant  I ended up buying from that store when I actually needed something or they had a sale on something that I wanted.  That's my take on that store.

I've also talked to 2 other customers about that store.  One said that if you don't buy something, you're a waste of their time.  The other person said that they put pressure on you to buy and that the staff members have a bit of a personality.  I'm going to be forthcoming and say that he's right.  Most of them do have egos.  When you walk in there, they seem to pat themselves on each others' backs, making it feel like they're "better" than you.

I'd have to say C.K. is the kingpin of all egos.  I don't like the way she works with her co-workers.  One example was when she tried telling her co-worker how to merchandise.  C.K. only works 4 hours/wk.  Is she the boss?  I didn't think there was anything wrong with how her co-worker was going to put out the apparel merchandise.  She's very manipulative and controlling.  That's the sense I've gotten from her at that time.

Now my biggest complaint about the store was my experience with C.K.  If you have been following my earlier posts you know all about it.  One day I went into the store just to buy a pair of shoes.  C.K. ruined my experience by scaring me from my hobby, even though the photo shooting wasn't done anywhere near her store.  Months later, she extended her Frontrunners job to her spin class at our gym by saying:  "Remember what we've talked about at Frontrunners?"

Rather than reiterating my story in full over and over, please refer to this posting for details.

Frontrunners' clerks, esp. C.K. can say all they want about shopping at their store b/c they have "better" customer service all they want.  However, part of good customer service is to not make your customers feel uncomfortable and C.K. should mind her own business by not getting her nose dirty.

I'm boycotting Frontrunners and certainly won't refer people to that store or any Frontrunners stores that make me feel uncomfortable.  Shoes are very expensive there too!  The shoe market so saturated that you can get the same shoes for less if you shop around and know when to shop for them.  I expand on my thoughts here.

Pictures of Shoes

It's not often that I get feedback from my viewers but I was able to run into one of them.  She said my blog is good but she was expecting lots of pictures of shoes.  She's right and I do want to get as many posted as I can but watermarking each and every one takes a tremendous amount of time.  Firstly, I have to pick the right font.  Secondly, I have to pick the right colour.  Thirdly, I can't just batch watermark the photos.  Every photo requires a different placement of the watermark.

Some have already complimented on my creativity.  Part of being creative requires being fussy with attention to detail.  I guess you can say I tend to get too fussy.  Oh well.  You take the good with the not-so-good, I suppose.

For the next little while, we're going to play:  "Do you recognize your shoe?"  If you do, shoot me an e-mail or respond within the blog and I will post more photos of your shoe.

We'll start off with the New Balance 610 v4.

I totally remember who you are but do you remember your shoe?

Asics GEL-Kayano 20

I'm going to  put this style under the My Faves section.  This was posted by a Twitter user.  I'd like to run into someone wearing these and get the poses I want.

#newkicks #asics #kayano20 #brandspankin #runningonclouds #sponsoredbyFog pic.twitter.com/NAtbLyRmU1

— Nicole (@nicsta15) October 25, 2013

Those Cowards!!

For those who have been following my ordeal will know what I'm talking about.  Sometime in early to mid autumn of 2015 I approached a lady wearing a pair of shoes she bought from Frontrunners.  She wouldn't let me photo shoot her shoes but she took my business card anyway.  I have no doubt she would've told the store about my blog.  Subsequently, C.K. would've gotten word about my website.  I had this feeling the minute I gave her my card.

Here's the real catch to the situation.  At the time I didn't know it but I just found out today from a current member of my former gym, Nanaimo Athletic Club, the manager, Jane Moxam and the Mexican owner, Dave sold the gym shortly after my interaction with that lady.  The member said they sold the gym sometime in November of 2015.

Hmmm...that's got to make me wonder...  Now I know the gym has been struggling financially but they seemed to have gutted it out for 3 years but I really find that the timing of the sale suggested that wasn't the decisive factor.  They sold the gym because they wanted to dodge accountability.  If word gets out that they were supporting C.K. in getting me suspended via death threat, who knows what kind of an impact it will have on their already hurting financial situation.

So here's a recap of why I know the 3 of them had something to do with my suspension from work.  Only C.K. had been scaring me from my hobby.  I had no concerns brought to my atttention at the gym for the first 5 people I shoe-photo-shot over a 5-month span.  During the 6th month I made my shoe request after C.K.'s spin class.  It was then, C.K. pulled me aside.  She needed to involve an unaffected spin member/instructor (didn't ask her for shoe pics) to strengthen her plea to stop me from my hobby by saying:  "We don't want to see you get hurt.  Remember what I told you at Frontrunners".  C.K. said several people have gotten together to complain about me.

I brought the concern of people ganging up on me to the attention of Jane and Dave.  Jane asked me where I worked and Dave said I could be killed for my hobby.  Dave froze my membership w/o holding the so-called complainers responsible for giving me permission to photo shoot their shoes.

On my first day back to work after my days off, a young gal lured me to ask for an e-mail of her pink Nikes, told managment I scared her, and that I was banned from the gym.  She also got her boyfriend to threaten to kill me.

So C.K already established that she's made multiple attempts to dissuade me from my hobby and she seemed to be the only one.  Jane asked me where I worked and Dave said I can be killed for my hobby and the customer comes in on my first day back at work.  I should also mention that one of my co-workers has gotten me in trouble before and her future daughter-in-law worked at the gym.  Hmmm...and Dave and Jane decide to part ways from the gym short after I've given my blog info to a Frontrunners customer.  C.K. would've to have gotten hold of my URL and in turn, would relay my ranting to the gym management team.  Then, I found out they've sold the place not too long after.  It feels like they're trying to do a hit and run on me.

Haven't Approached Strangers in a While...

People are pre-occupied with the their Christmas shopping and the weather hasn't been that good so not only did I not want to bother people but people generally don't want to wear their nice kicks if they're likely to get dirty.

I've also been busy shopping for deals myself too and I haven't been in an outgoing mood as of late.  Hopefully I will find that spark to approach people so I can show you more cool shoes.

Know When I Post w/o Constantly Checking

I've mentioned it before and I'll mention it again.  I will go long stretches w/o posting anything and then I'll be right back to it.  To save yourselves the frustration of constantly checking back to no avail, why not subsribe to my blog through Feedburner??  When I post something, you'll be e-mailed a notification.

Also, why not use my "down time" to check out some of my older posts?  A lot of you weren't with me in the earlier months of my blog.  Just b/c they're old post doesn't mean they're not worthy of viewing.  Learn about the rough road I had to travel to get to where I am now.

I hope everyone had themselves a great holiday season.  When I get myself back to my shoe frame of mind, I will post some more - hopefully sooner rather than later.  Subscribe to my blog and stay tuned!!