Back in January, I took the plunge and bought my wedding shoes.  My mom and I were on a marathon shopping spree, with nothing but the wedding in mind.  We went to a few different stores and left with nothing but disappointment.

Then we walked into DSW and the clouds parted.

There they were!  The shoes I had pictured.

The funny thing is I had a very specific shoe in mind.  I wanted them to have high heels, to be peep-toe, and to have some sort of embellishment on them.  I’m really not sure why, as I’m not much of a shoe person.  There are a lot of wedding details I could care less about, but I was set on what kind of shoes I must have.

So, back to the clouds parting…

I was so excited to find them!  Then I looked at the price tag – $50.  This was discouraging as I really hate to spend that much on a pair of shoes I may only wear once or twice.  I grabbed the only box they had in my size and headed for the clearance section.  I found a couple of pairs of shoes in my size that would work, but wouldn’t be the shoes I wanted.  The shoes on clearance were half the price of the shoes I wanted.

I took the dream shoes out of the package and examined them.  My mom quickly noticed they had a few small dirt smudges on them.

“These are dirty.  I think they’ve been worn before.  I wouldn’t get them” my mom said.

“But they’re perfect Mom!”

“Or,” she said, “I would ask to talk to a manager.  You could get a discount.  You might even get them for 1/2 price.”

I gave her a funny look.  ”Really?!”

“I’ve done it before.  They want you to buy the shoes and they’ll give you a discount if that’s what it takes.” she tells me.

The prospect of doing this made me very anxious.  For some reason I can haggle at a flea market, but the thought of doing so in a regular store feels very different.  But then I thought of the possibility of having the exact shoes that I want for a price I can live with.  I charged toward the front of the store.

I told the sales clerk they were dirty and I thought they’d been worn.  She inspected them, told me she didn’t think they’d be worn outside of the store and she could give me 10% off.  ”Or, I could ask my manager and he may approve a deeper discount.”  I chose the 2nd option.

When she came back from talking to the manager, she told me he approved a 50% discount.  SOLD!

I gleefully left the store, with my perfect wedding shoes in tow for $25.  As for the dirt my mom spotted – it really isn’t much at all and nothing that will be noticed.