Tara was still frowning but did say “OK”, but did look unhappy about me using my handkerchief to dry her boot. I said “Ah, I see. So you must hate it when you get cat hair on your coat or at things like that engagement party.” I then wiped the leg of Tara’s boot, leaning forward so her boot pressed against my chest. This time I leant a little further, so Tara’s left sole pressed firmly against my chest, and her high heel dug into my stomach a little bit. Tara didn’t seem to notice. Then Jenny went to Brian’s office and spoke to him about the problems. Throughout the morning, Jenny spoke to every member of staff. She managed to catch the various professionals in between customers and had a private chat with each one, so our appointments were running a little late today. I could just hear Helen and Lynn talking away. No doubt they were talking about me cleaning Tara’s sneakers.

They said “What are you doing?? Are you cleaning her boots??” I knew it was a Helen’s voice, and thought that she was probably the last person I wanted to be busted by. On her very first day, Tara asked me a lot of questions about how the centre was run. At one point I asked Tara if she wanted a coffee and she took up my offer. But this led to some confusion, with Tara assuming that my duties included making coffees for the professional staff (!?). So I wiped the white rubber sole of Tara’s sneaker. Tara sat watching me, but kept glancing over at the doorway to reception. It was pretty obvious Tara was hoping Helen would catch me cleaning her sneakers. Tara sat drinking her coffee, and watching me wipe the soles of her sneakers, while looking hopefully at the reception doorway. Tara took her shoes out of the bag and said “Alright.... Now... I don’t want the entire heel replaced... If you look at the damage, it’s all in the very bottom layer of the heel.... so I want the bottom layer removed... only the very bottom layer.... and replaced. On both shoes! I don’t want them to do anything else to them... only replace the bottom layer!! Do you understand?” Then Tara told me about her meeting with Jenny.... She told Jenny about the argument with Helen and being threatened, and told Jenny she had been disappointed by Brian’s response.While PTFE is known as the industry gold standard, many enthusiasts opt for third-party upgrades to alternate materials. The two main contenders to PTFE are ceramic and glass. Ceramic mouse feet Friday was a little better for me. Helen still not talking to me, but is that such a bad thing? Tara had a rostered day off, but as usual she popped in for an hour or so to catch up on some paperwork. Tara has never paid for any of these food trips. Not even once. She has kind of offered money a few times (3 times actually), by saying “Do you want some money for that?” when I’ve delivered her food. I always say “No that’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” it’s been at least six weeks since the last time Tara offered to pay for her food.

Tara turned to face me and held her hands out at waist level, pointing down at her feet with both index fingers. Tara said “There were lots of puddles in the carpark again this morning. Would you mind?” Three weeks later, Tara rang for a coffee, but I was busy at the reception desk dealing with a customer complaint. Helen answered my phone. I don’t know exactly what was said, but I gather that Tara informed Helen that she wanted a coffee, and when Helen realised that Tara expected her to make it, she told Tara to make her own coffee. Tara was usually very calm and patient but that morning she was pretty angry with me. I think it was a combination of what I had said, added to the inconvenience of having to get her shoes repaired during her lunchbreak, and annoyance at her shoes being damaged in the first place. I dried the sole of Tara’s left boot with my handkerchief, rubbing with firm pressure in the hope that Tara might feel it through her boot’s sole. I said “When you called out ‘Thanks for cleaning my Nikes’, Helen and Lynn started talking non-stop about it to each other at the reception desk.”So Tara started telephoning me twice a day, when she wanted a coffee, and I happily made her coffee and delivered it to her office.

Tara said “Well, how much exactly? I need to know so I can withdraw the cash during my lunch break.” He didn’t want to involve Personnel and get Helen fired, saying he thought Tara and I might also get in trouble over me cleaning her boots and regularly getting her coffee and food. Brian also said that if he informed Personnel about the incident, they might fire Helen, but might also decide to transfer either me or Tara to another branch, to separate us. Helen looked absolutely furious. It was pretty scary. Then she turned and walked off, calling out “I’m going to lunch!!!!!!”Tara was very animated and happy today, after talking to Jenny, and Helen being pulled into line. I don’t think I’ve seen her so happy before.

Glass mouse feet have only recently started to break into the mainstream but they are rapidly growing in popularity. Don’t be surprised when companies like Corsair, Razer, and SteelSeries start manufacturing their own glass mouse feet. Note from DArchivist: I'll be reposting this story in its raw form, typos and all. The only thing changed was "dumb quotes" to “curly quotes” + formatting of the parts and scene breaks.

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As I walked past Brian’s office, the door was shut and the blinds closed. I could hear feint muffled voices which I assumed (correctly) were Brian and Tara. So presumably Tara had decided to go ahead with lodging a complaint about Helen. Damn! Since this morning, I keep thinking about whether I might be able to convince Tara to step on me, or get me to massage her feet, and various other ideas... just to antagonize Helen of course! Again Tara got her lunch herself, as it turned into a sunny day. But she must’ve avoided any remaining puddles outside, as she didn’t request any more boot cleaning that day. I said “It’s a long story. Let’s go to your office... and I’ll tell you the whole story while I’m cleaning your boots.” I said “Umm, I’m not sure they would clean them... they might expect customers to clean them up a bit before they bring them in for repair.”