Compromise

I know what I like, and I generally don't screw around with what I don't like. I admire real quality, and rarely am I willing to settle for less. But I'm also an incurable cheapskate, and I'll be damned if I'll pay the accursed "retail" for anything, if I can help it. So, I've learned to compromise.

Two weeks ago, Fall came on hard and it rained quite a bit in New England. I was sorely wishing I had some rain shoes. No, not those silly rubber things that go over the dress shoes, but proper rain shoes. Specifically, the classic L.L. Bean rubber moccasin.

A true American classic, if ever there was one. Imagine, a rubber shoe, styled like a casual dress shoe. The perfect fusion of dress and casual. Worth every bit of $59, retail, made in the U.S.A., guaranteed to last forever, and so forth. Even I was ready to buy new, when all of a sudden:


this pair of Bean gumshoe lace-ups comes my way, for $9.99. Short top, three eyelets, fits like a shoe, not a boot. The day I found them, it was raining like hell, and I changed into the right there in the store, I was so excited.

Is the Bean slip on moc cooler than the lace-up? No question. Do I like the rubber moc better? No question. But, if you're going to be a cheapskate, you've got to learn how to compromise.

The trick is to do it without sacrificing quality, or real style. Because those are two points on which no gentleman should ever compromise.