The dogs are barking

Working on your feet all day is a painful endeavor. Restaurant slaves (or any long-houred, no-sitting staff) must be prepared for throbbing knees, pulsating heels, and an overwhelming desire to pop a squat at your table.

I have therefore recently gone on the hunt for the perfect pair of work shoes. Let me tell you, if you don't already know, shoes are either comfortable or good-looking. The combination of the two are literally non-existent.

I used to endure the agony of a double in cute little ballerina flats but the time has come and I'm going to make the leap towards the "hideous but comfortable" look. After some extensive research and interviewing, I've come to realize that in the "ugly is cool" department, three schools of thought exist:

1- Crocs are comfy... but little else. You can often find a collection of crocs in the kitchen because they are anti-slip, extremely difficult to get dirty and uber light. But the front-of-house-staff-crocs-look is really not my thing.

(trailjournals.com)

for servers/bussers/runners I suggest something that looks a little more like these, although I'm not sure if they are as reliable as the ones above:

(kaboodle.com)

2- Merrells are Crocs' classier cousin. But their grandparents are the same... so Merrell's are not that much cuter. Here are the ones I just bought myself but am very likely to return. Let me first point out that they are ridiculously comfortable. On the other hand, they refuse to abide by any of the laws of fashion.

(merrell.com)

3- And finally, the "made-for" school which includes all companies that make shoes specifically for restaurant staff, the most famous being restaurantshoes.com or shoesforcrews.com. (NB: I'm not going to pain you with more photos of the monstrosities presented there, if you are curious, you can certainly check them out for yourself.)

For now, I'm going to do a little more testing of each style and I'll get back to you on my final decision!