Would You Like A Shoe Shine?

When I was a little kid, I was walking through the O'Hare airport on our way to catch our transfer flight on the way home from either Disney World or Disney Land, I don't remember which trip it was.  Whilst walking around the place, I remember this was the first time I ever saw a shoe shiner shining someones shoes.  I was, and still am to this day, just shocked by the whole idea.

How could you ever allow yourself to get your shoes shined?  I mean, what kind of person says "Hey, shine my shoes, boy!"  Now I know, I know...It's like strippers.  They get paid by doing something a bit degrading in public for a few bucks.  Probably make better money than I do.  But with strippers, you have to go to a specific area of town with a specific set of rules and taboo of the whole thing to keep it a bit more legit and slightly less public.  A shoeshiner is just out there, taking scuffs of your overpriced shoes, on his knees, in a very, very public area like an airport terminal.

To me, it's wrong.  I could never, ever do it, even if someone else paid for it.  I don't care how much the guy says he want's to do it because he likes the money.  Hookers will do anything if the price is right, also.  But it's affected me ever since I first saw that back in either 1989 or 1993, whichever trip it was.  How could a dude just sit there while someone's rubbing their feet and read the Times, or whatever.  It just makes me uncomfortable.

And it's shoeshiners that I think of every single time I think of O'Hare airport.  Every time.