When we were kids my dad had a shoe shine box. It was maybe 18” square and about a foot tall.
Bolted to the top of the box was a place to put the shoe for buffing. Inside the box my dad had about a half dozen different color polishes. Mostly black and different shades of brown and tan. There was saddle soap. We also had rough brushes and finishing brushes. Polishing shoes was a family ritual and they looked good.
One of my memories of that box is when my brother George came home from the Marines. He had black polished steel toed boots. Of course the little brothers polished them up good. My dad tried them on. As a warehouseman he appreciated the steel toes and George demonstrated them for my dad. He went to stomp on my dad's toes. He missed the toes and got my dad's foot. We all had a good laugh. Well, it took my dad a moment or two to appreciate the humor. Polishing shoes was a chance for us guys to just hang.
Fast forward to today. I have one pair of dress shoes that I hardly ever wear. They don't get polished as
often as they should. We were having business meetings at a hotel in Portland. During a 15 minute break, I heard the voice of an elderly man. “Young man, your shoes need polishing.” He was right. I asked how long it would take and how much would it cost. “$7 dollars for 7 minutes, sir. We had a deal.
He led me to his station and I sat down in the chair and he went to work. He took pride in his work. We talked the whole time he was polishing my shoes. We talked about how good shoes looked when they were shined up. He told me that when he was a young man the girls would not go out with boys whose shoes weren't polished. They either shined their shoes, or the did not get the privilege of escorting the girls to dinner or a movie.
My dad's shoe shine box came up within the discussion. I told him the story of my brother and the
boots. We both laughed at that one. As we were chatting he was working. He took pride in his craft. He went beyond the leather and polished the sides of my soles. I gave him $10 and went back to my meetings having learned a lot from that shoe shine man.
This man was more than a shoe shine guy. He was a businessman. His marketing plan was to look for people whose shoes needed polishing. He asked for the sale. He took pride in his work. Once he got the job, he performed it as well as he could. He was also a teacher. He had just taught me how to do my job.