This is what it’s all about.
You buy the Gillette Red-Tip off of eBay and when you get it, the paint isn’t as nice it looked in the picture. It makes you unhappy although it’s intended use is not diminished in anyway.
One person likes Simpson brushes with the label on it, others carefully peel it off.
These things have nothing to do with whether the razor provides you with a good shave or whether the brush makes a nice lather but rather it is the details of these items from which we derive some pleasure about things we are passionate about.
I don’t think it’s any great secret around these parts that I have a passion for footwear whether it be retro sneakers, shell Cordovan or bulling a pair of captoe shoes.
The Barbee is a very nice shoe. I liked it the first time I stumbled upon it and ordered it when it was re-stocked. And it is the reason I exchanged them rather than returned them.
The shoe conjures up an image in mind of a kind of nice and easy feeling. (think Dylan in Greenwich Village circa. 1962). Yes, it has a utilitarian function as well, they’re a pair of shoes.
But if everytime I looked down at these shoes and saw this:
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It would detract from my enjoyment of the shoe, and that nice and easy feeling would dissipate. So why wear it if you don’t enjoy it?
So... as my friend in Italy @Marco quite accurately stated:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
As my “There & Square” friend @Doc4 astutely points out, we have to sometimes temper our penchant for certain details with reasonableness.
As Mrs. Gold can attest to, I am far from normal and at times, so I’ve heard, I can be unreasonable at times (but she’s still adorable.)
In my dealings with Velasca customer service, I apologized if they thought I was being overly critical by this, IMO, lack of attention to detail.
The customer rep’s response was as follows:
And that’s why I will continue to deal with Velasca in the future. They get it and do you know why they get it?
Because they love shoes as much (probably more) than I do.
I’m looking forward to the “second-coming” of the Barbee.
Robert, not only I agree on everything you said above, but I also fully share and do understand your feelings. I am a perfectionist myself and, when there is something that I particularly love, I want it to be or be done in the most precise way possible. In order words, it MUST fulfill all my criteria and make be totally satisfied when I look at it.